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Photos: Ultima Thule Outfitters: a family-run lodge in the Wrangells

"My definition of wilderness is unpredictability," said Paul Claus, our pilot and owner of Ultima Thule Outfitters, as we flew into a fog-filled pass. He had just radioed the lodge for a weather check, where "Granny" (his mother Eleanor), said it was blowing snow and she could hardly see Bear Island. "Weather is the most unpredictable," he said.

Our group of seven, piled into a turbine Otter along with the weekly grocery haul, was headed toward the unpredictable, the unknown—toward Ultima Thule, in fact, both the lodge and the idea. The medieval definition of ultima Thule is any distant place located beyond the known world. As we wound our way 100 miles deep into the Wrangells, that's how it felt.

In addition to a weather briefing, we had all received a functioning headset, and now a guided geography lesson. It was a land of superlatives we entered: Wrangell-St. Elias National Park—the largest in North America; Bagley icefield—the largest non-polar icefield in North America; Mt. St. Elias—the largest vertical rock face on the planet. Paul called this place the last true wilderness on earth.

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