Planning a Trip

Getting There

Alaska Airlines (tel. 800/252-7522; www.alaskaair.com) serves Wrangell once daily with a jet flying 28 minutes north from Ketchikan and another 19 minutes south from Petersburg, a flight that skims treetops the entire way.

Wrangell is on the main line of the Alaska Marine Highway System (tel. 800/642-0066; www.ferryalaska.com). The voyage through the narrow, winding Wrangell Narrows north to Petersburg is one of the most beautiful and fascinating in Southeast Alaska. It's quite a navigational feat to watch as the 400-foot ships squeeze through a passage so slender and shallow the vessel's own displacement changes the water level onshore as it passes. The route, not taken by cruise ships, which approach through larger waterways, is also a source of delays, as the narrows are deep enough for passage only at high tide. The walk-on fare is $36 from Ketchikan, $32 from Petersburg. The terminal is downtown (tel. 907/874-3711) a block from the Stikine Inn.

Visitor Information

The city's Wrangell Visitor Center is in the new Nolan Center, along with the Wrangell Museum, on the water in the heart of town at 296 Outer Dr. (tel. 800/367-9745; www.wrangell.com). Staff from both the Nolan Center and the U.S. Forest Service are on hand to answer questions.

The Forest Service's Wrangell Ranger District Office is at 525 Bennett St. (P.O. Box 51), Wrangell, AK 99929 (tel. 907/874-2323; www.fs.fed.us/r10/tongass), located on the hill behind town. Forest Service personnel here or at the visitor center have local knowledge of the logging roads and fishing holes, offer printed information on each Forest Service cabin and path, and, for $9, sell a detailed Wrangell Island Road Guide topographic map, which is printed on waterproof material. The district office is open Monday through Friday from 8am to 4:30pm.

Orientation

The main part of town is laid out north to south along the waterfront on the northern point of Wrangell Island. Front Street is the main business street, leading from the small-boat harbor and Chief Shakes Island at the south to the city dock and the ferry dock at the north. Most of the rest of the town is along Church Street, which runs parallel to Front Street a block higher up the hill. Evergreen Avenue and Bennett Street form a loop to the north that goes to the airport. The only road to the rest of the island, the Zimovia Highway, heads out of town to the south, paved for about 12 miles, then connects to over 100 miles of gravel logging roads built and maintained by the Forest Service, most of which are usable by two-wheel-drive vehicles in the summer.

Getting Around

You can do the town on foot, but you will need wheels for the airport or Zimovia Highway. Practical Rent A Car is located at the Wrangell airport (tel. 907/874-3975). Northern Lights Taxi is at tel. 907/874-4646. Rent bikes, canoes, or kayaks from Rainwalker Expeditions (tel. 907/874-2549; www.rainwalkerexpeditions.com) at the city dock.

Special Events

The Garnet Festival, held the third week of April, marks the arrival of the sea lions, hooligans, shorebirds, and a great concentration of bald eagles on the Stikine River Delta, a spring tornado of wildlife in the region's largest coastal marshes. Community activities take place in town while jet boat tours traverse the delta. The Wrangell King Salmon Derby, held during the last half of May and first half of June, started in 1953. Contact the Wrangell Chamber of Commerce for details (tel. 907/874-3901; www.wrangellchamber.org). Wrangell also puts on a classic small-town Independence Day celebration.