Wrangell-St. Elias

Declared in 1980 under the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, it is the largest national park in the United States — as big as Switzerland — and takes in nine of the country's sixteen highest peaks, along with the meeting point of four separate mountain ranges (the Wrangell, St Elias and Chugach mountains and the Alaska Range). Together with the adjoining parks of Kluane in Canada and Glacier Bay and Tatshenshini-Alsek, it forms the largest set of contiguous transboundary protected areas on the planet, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in its entirety. Inside it stands the abandoned mining town of Kennecott, a relic of the copper rush of the early 20th century.