Wrangell, Alaska Photo Essay

Flowers in front of the fabulous Wrangell Museum

These photos are from our June trip to Alaska.  What an amazing place!  It's so very different from the Arizona desert.  First of all, there's WATER!!  Second, there's RAIN!!  Oh, wait, that is water.  Third, there are pine-type trees.  Next, it's cold (to us) in June. 

This page shows Wrangell, Alaska.  Wrangell is a small town that is missed by most cruise ships.  Too bad for them. 

View from the picnic table in front of the Wrangell Museum

A boat in the repair facility in Wrangell

Wrangell is small enough that we could often see who was driving where and what boats were heading out and coming in.  After walking past the fishing tender Frigidland (above) in the repair facility a few times, we later saw it motoring away. 

Tribal House of the Bear on Shakes Island

Shakes Island is a small island in the Wrangell Harbor.  You walk to the island across a pedestrian bridge. 

One of the totems on Shakes Island

View from Petroglyph Beach

About two miles from the center of Wrangell, is Petroglyph Beach.  The ancient peoples carved or pecked images into rocks on the beach.  You can wander around and try to spot as many as you can. 

View of Wrangell from observation post on Mt. Dewey Trail

 The Mt. Dewey trail will definitely get your heart pumping!  It's mostly on wood planks and takes you into thick rainforest.  It goes up and up.  Then it pops out with an observation post that overlooks town. 

Cruise ship arriving!

 When we saw the cruise ship pulling up to the City Dock, we picked up our pace a bit on the trail.  We were planning to lunch at the Stikine Inn & Restaurant with the gray roof.  We moved a bit faster to beat the crowds.  We needn't have worried. 

The people at the Stikine Restaurant were very friendly and accomodated my husband's special diet needs as best they could. 

The Charles T in a Wrangell repair facility

We walked past this repair dock several times in our days in town.  The Charles T caught my eye.  It's a fishing boat that was built in 1919.  Crab fishing season opened while we were there.  That meant a lot of activity in town and in the harbors. 

We spent almost four days in Wrangell.  Town is pretty compact so we walked almost all the time.  When we went to and from the airport and the ferry terminal, we got a ride from Bruce, owner and operator of the Sourdough Lodge where we stayed. 

While we walked about town, we started recognizing some of the locals and they waved and greeted us as we passed. 

Crows are all around town.  There was at least one that hung out in the downtown area that cawed and then beeped like a Toyota (or was it a Nissan?) when you use your key to unlock it.  Made me look a few times.  When I figured it out, we laughed and then enjoyed the mimicry each time we heard it.  It was funny to hear that sound when it came from high in the trees. 

Go to Wrangell to enjoy the relatively unhurried pace of life here.  It's not a ritzy place, but it's real.  It has its own kind of charm.  Watching the tides is amazing! 

What is your next adventure?