Underrated Travel Destinations - Wrangell, Alaska

 By Trey Stephens 

        In my latest feature on underrated travel destinations, we will look at the small Alaskan town of Wrangell. Wrangell is a city of just over 2,000 people in the Alaskan panhandle, it sits at the northern tip of Wrangell Island, which is fully surrounded by the Tongass National Forest. The city's nearest neighbor with a significant population is Petersburg, which is about 30 miles to the Northeast as the crow flies. Despite being so close, a trip from Wrangell to Petersburg will take you some 3 1⁄2 hours, having to travel a large portion of the trip via ferry. I recently visited Wrangell on board the Cunard Queen Elizabeth, during a nine night Alaskan Panhandle cruise. This is by far the most common way to visit almost every Alaskan destination in the panhandle region, also called the Inside Passage. In fact, coming by boat is one of only two ways to arrive in Wrangell, the only other method being by airplane as the small town gets two flights a day.
        I remember when I first stepped off the ship in Wrangell, walked off and I was like, “Wow, there is nothing here.” That is part of the beauty of Wrangell, when you approach most places, islands, towns, ports, etc you start to see civilization as you approach, that is not the case with Wrangell. You are thinking the entire time, “Lord please don’t let the ship break down here because if so I will go ashore and it will just be me and the bears.” But, then all the sudden you come around the bend and out of the Alaskan fog appears a town, albeit not much of one. As you come into town you begin to think, well this is just a collection of nothingness, but then you travel deeper into town, you stroll down Front Street, see the shops, talk to locals, and explore. You quickly realize that Wrangell is not like any other Alaskan cruise port, it isn't like Sitka, Ketchikan, or even Juneau. Those places, while picturesque, are tourist destinations with some Alaskan culture mixed in. Meanwhile, Wrangell is a true Alaskan town that does not disguise itself in an attempt to become more of a destination, it is authentic. You can see this everywhere, instead of walking through town and seeing T-shirt and trinket stores, you see hardware stores, a catch all grocery store that also doubles as the town bakery and coffee shop. You see evidence everywhere of the fishing economy that supports the town, it is a real cultural, Alaskan experience. Wrangell hosts incredible natural beauty as well, being surrounded by the lush forest, and high peaks. The area also hosts Native American history of the Tlingit people, many of which still live in the area today. Other notable attractions include Petroglyph Beach home to scientifically unexplained engraved prehistoric stones.

    I could talk for a long period on the various attractions of Wrangell, but I won’t spoil all the nuggets of intrigue for you. Not only that, but Wrangell is the type of place that produces unique experiences for travelers. Two people both going to Wrangell may go and see very different things. But, whatever you may see or experience in Wrangell, I can assure you it will be authentic, it will be what life really looks like for people living in remote Alaska, and it will teach you about lives so different from our own. And that is what travel is largely about.

Trey is a McConnell Scholar at the University of Louisville in the Class of 2028. He is studying political science.