Wrangell: Cultural History and Nature

Wrangell offers travelers two clear points of interest: cultural history and nature. If you’re looking for a hotel in Wrangell, you can choose the focus of your stay based on whether you’re particularly interested in Tlingit cultural sites and the museum, or in the landscape and trails. The places and activities differ both in their subject matter and in the kind of guidance they offer for planning your trip.

Getting to Wrangell

The main ways to reach Wrangell are Alaska Airlines’ daily jet service and the Alaska Marine Highway System. Check the specific connections for your travel dates before planning the rest of your trip. This lets you factor in your travel arrangements early and then decide which cultural and natural sites will be the focus of your stay.

Cultural history and Tlingit traditions

The Wrangell Museum highlights Wrangell’s rich cultural and natural history. On Front Street, the Cultural Center & Carving Shed of the Wrangell Cooperative Association is an active workshop where master carvers, artists, and apprentices preserve Tlingit traditions. If you’d like to include the workshop in your day’s plans, check its opening hours before your visit.

The site of Petroglyph Beach State Historic Park in Wrangell is about 8,000 years old. An accessible boardwalk leads to an observation platform overlooking the beach, the Stikine River, and the Zimovia Straits. Here, the site’s long history and the surrounding landscape come into view in different ways: its age puts the site in historical context, while the platform opens up views of the beach, river, and straits.

The Chief Shakes Tribal House on Shakes Island in the center of Wrangell’s Reliance Harbor is a faithful replica of the traditional Tlingit clan house of the Naanyaa.aayi clan. It underwent extensive restoration in 2013. In downtown Wrangell, Kiks. ádi Totem Park lies on the way to the Chief Shakes Tribal House. It was originally erected in 1895 in honor of Chief Kahlteen of the Kiks.ádi Clan. The dates relate to different places and events: 1895 refers to the park’s original construction, while 2013 refers to the restoration of the Tribal House.

Landscape and trails

The Volunteer Park Loop, also known locally as the Nature Trail, offers an easy walk through muskeg, wetlands, and rainforest near Wrangell. Both names refer to the same route. When choosing this trail, both its description as an easy walk and the different types of landscape along the way are relevant.

The trail to Rainbow Falls gains 500 feet in elevation before reaching the waterfall. The information about the two trails answers different questions: the Volunteer Park Loop is described as an easy walk, while the elevation gain is the main consideration for the trail to Rainbow Falls. They therefore cannot be compared as equivalent measures of difficulty. When weighing your options, you can take these different points of reference into account in your planning.

Discover more destinations: Petersburg

For the broader travel overview: Petersburg Census Area.