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Spruce forest and a braided river below a snow-capped range
Stand-in: Wrangell-St. Elias, the park around the lodge. Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0

Dispatch № 007, 11 August 2026

Ultima Thule Lodge

The owner flies the last leg himself.

Ultima Thule Lodge has no address: a gravel bar on the Chitina River, inside America's largest national park, about a hundred miles from the nearest road.
Door to door
19 h 20
As searched from London
Searched for
15 September
Tuesday 15 September 2026
Fare as found
€12,225
Sampled on 11 August 2026; €205 of it the last flight, flown by the owner
The last leg
Bush plane
flown by the owner

Three generations of the Claus family have flown it, and the son flies the last leg in person.

The line we searched: British Airways from Heathrow to Seattle, Alaska Airlines on to Anchorage by four. The lodge's Super Cub lifts at six and is down at ten past eight: the last flight of the day, into dusk.

Nineteen hours and twenty minutes, door to airstrip.

The place

Ultima Thule Lodge is a family-run lodge on the Chitina River inside Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, about 100 miles from the nearest road. The Claus family fly their guests in and out themselves.

There is no road: the last leg is a bush plane, flown by the lodge.

When to go

  1. January: out of season
  2. February: out of season
  3. March: out of season
  4. April: out of season
  5. May: out of season
  6. June: in season
  7. July: in season
  8. August: in season
  9. September: in season
  10. October: out of season
  11. November: out of season
  12. December: out of season

Summer, June to September

Make it yours

Start from your own city: the composer opens with Ultima Thule Lodge as the destination. Nothing runs until you press Find routes.
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