Wrangell (Alaska) - Tidbits, Odds-and-Ends

Outdoor Activities ...

As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy).

When in Wrangell, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Wrangell and the surrounding area.

Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Wrangell

Astronomy & Satellites ...
- Whether using binoculars, a small telescope or the naked-eye, the Heavens-Above website can help you to find your way around the night-time sky. In addition to detailed sky charts, their website will help you find planets, asteriods, comets, satellites and their tracks across the sky.
- To give accurate results, Heavens-Above requires the latitude and longitude of your location. As a starting point, when we link to Heavens-Above, we pass this GPS location for Wrangell:
- 56.40571, -132.337106
- Once you're on the Heavens-Above website, you can improve its accuracy by giving a more precise longitude and latitude as your actual position.
- The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Wrangell

Waymarking ...
- Looking for somewhere out of the ordinary? Find a unique place and want to share it with others? Then it's time to visit Waymarking.com:
- Waymark.com

Curious and Interesting Names Near Wrangell ...

As we travel, we always see a community with a name that gives pause. While there are names which are interesting or familiar, some catch our attention or strike our fancy. We always wonder about such a name. If time permits and the community is not too far, we'll usually try to make a side-trip.

Boundary
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Boundary came from an uncertain source and they still need to be verified:<1>
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boundary
Olive Cove
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
- Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Olive Cove. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Olive Cove
Whale Pass
(36 miles [57.9 km] to the southwest)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whale Pass
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Whale Pass <3>

How Far From Wrangell to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a city such as Wrangell to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<4> beginning in Wrangell and extending to:

Juneau, which is the State Capital of Alaska, lies 152 miles [244.6 km]<4> to the north northwest (NNW). If you could drive a straight line from Wrangell to Juneau, with an average speed<5>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 9 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 6 days.
The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,748 miles [4,422.5 km] to the east (E). Driving would take 6 days, a buggy would take 108 days and walking would take 157 days.
The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,296 miles [10,132.4 km] and it lies to the north (N).<7>
The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,035 miles [11,321.7 km] and it lies to the north (N).<8>
The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,337 miles [8,589.1 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<9>

Off-the-Road Links ...

The official website for Wrangell: www.wrangell.com/

The official website for State of Alaska: alaska.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>	If we found a location and have questions about the accuracy of our information, we will simply say that the marker is 'in the vicinity'. We are not confident about the location and the position of our marker is only a rough guide. If we have too many doubts about the location, we will not include it in our database.
<2>	An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<3>	While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>	Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Wrangell) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Wrangell. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 56.4057, Longitude: -132.3371
<5>	While we have tried to pick reasonable speeds, the rate of travel is very theoretical - obstacles like fences, hills, lakes, river crossings and rest stops have been ignored. When we say 'Days' of travel, we're assuming 8 hours of travel per day.
<6>	The shortest line can be visualized by stretching a string on a Globe from Point A to Point B - this is known as a Great Circle Route. Where you might expect the shortest route from Wrangell to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.
<7>	The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 349.456 degrees.
<8>	The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 352.547 degrees.
<9>	The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 333.903 degrees.