Wrangell

Attractions

• Anan Wildlife Observatory

  In late June through August, one of Southeast Alaska’s largest pink salmon runs enters Anan Bay and heads up Anan Creek, located 30 miles southeast of Wrangell on the mainland. From an observatory and photography platform on Anan Creek, you can safely watch eagles, harbor seals, black bears and a few brown bears feasting on the spawning humpies. This is one of the few places in Alaska where black and brown bears coexist at the same run or the very least put up with each other. Anan Creek is a 20-minute floatplane flight or an hour boat ride from Wrangell and many tour operators in town offers a full-day excursion to the observatory. The more adventurous will book the U.S. Forest Service’s Anan Bay Cabin, which is only a mile hike from the observation area.

• Bearfest

  Wrangell celebrates all the bears of Alaska for five days in mid-July with the Bearfest Festival. Festival events include a bear symposium on bear management and interaction, photography workshops, music and art events and boat trips to Anan Wildlife Observatory to see and photograph the black and brown bears that feast on the pink salmon running in Anan Creek.

• Chief Shakes Grave

  Wrangell has an impressive collection of totems with more than a dozen scattered through town that can make for a pleasant walk around town. One of the most popular totems is the killer whale totem that adorns Chief Shakes Grave.

• Chief Shakes Hot Springs

  The beautiful and wild Stikine River begins in the high peaks of interior British Columbia and ends some 400 miles later just north of Wrangell in the Stikine River delta. Many charter boat operators offer trips on the Stikine, often using a jet boat to spend a day traveling up the river. One of the most popular stops is Chief Shakes Hot Springs, where visitors can first admire Shakes Glacier spilling into Shakes Lake and then soak in one of the two bathing huts built over the hot springs nearby.

• Chief Shakes Island

  This small grassy islet, located in the middle of the boat harbor and reached by a pedestrian bridge, is the most enchanting spot in Wrangell. The tiny island with its totems, tall cottonwoods and the half dozen eagles usually perched in the branches is a quiet oasis compared to the hum of the fishing fleet that surrounds it. In the middle is Shakes Community House, an excellent example of a high-caste tribal house that contains tools, blankets and other cultural items. Just as impressive are the six totems surrounding the tribal house, all duplicates of originals carved in the late 1930s.

• Muskeg Meadows Golf Course

  Wrangell's golf course may be a USGA-certified nine-hole, par 36 course but it is uniquely Alaskan. It was carved from a rain forest and is surrounded by the natural beauty of the ocean and snow-capped mountains. Players are rarely alarmed when a bear comes bounding across a fairway and then there is the club’s Raven Rule: if a raven steals your ball you may replace it with no penalty provided you have a witness. The course also features a 250-yard driving range.

• Petroglyph Beach State Historic Park

  Just north of town is this state historic park where you can see primitive rock carvings believed to be 8,000 years old. From Evergreen Avenue, less than a mile from the ferry terminal, a boardwalk leads you past a series of interpretive displays that explain the history of the carvings and then descends to the beach. From there you turn right and walk north about 50 yards and - with your back to the water - look for the carvings on large rocks, resembling spirals, birds, fish, whales and faces. Check a tide book before you arrive because there are almost 50 petroglyphs in the area but most are submerged at high tide.

• Sea Kayaking

  One look at a nautical chart of Wrangell will have sea kayakers dreaming as islands and protected waterways abound. Experienced kayakers will paddle across the vast Stikine River flats while beginners can enjoy paddling around the harbor, over to Petroglyph Beach or to Dead Man’s Island. Outfitters in town rent kayaks and offer guided trips that often include transportation so you begin in wilderness setting in a remote corner of Wrangell Island.

• Sportfishing

  The waters surrounding Wrangell are a fisherman's paradise and the town is well equipped with charter fishing operators who offer day trips, overnights and multi-day fishing adventures. Action often begins in late April or May when king salmon are the first to begin spawning and Wrangell stages its annual King Salmon Derby from mid-May to mid-June. Along with salmon, anglers fish for trophy halibut that can weigh more than 100 pounds along with red snapper, ling cod and sea bass.

• Stikine River Birding Festival

  During the last week of April, Wrangell celebrates its annual Stikine River Birding Festival. The five-day festival is a celebration of the arrival of spring and includes an art fair, fish fry dinners and even a golf tournament at Muskeg Meadows. Perhaps the biggest draw, though, are the bald eagles and thousands of shorebirds. The largest spring concentration of eagles in the Inside Passage occurs along the Stikine is enjoyed by hundreds of birders during the festival in specially arranged boat cruises.

• Wrangell Museum

  Completely renovated in 2004 when it relocated in the Nolan Center, Wrangell now has a museum worthy of its extensive and colorful history.