Mount Wrangell Volcano
This colossal shield volcano may be one of the largest landforms in Alaska—rising 14,163 feet in an immense white mound containing about 220 cubic miles of material. The summit area features an ice-filled caldera more than 3,000 feet deep. The massif visually resembles its own range of mountains more than a solitary peak. Wrangell is awake too, producing occasional seismic rumblings or steam clouds, and is actively monitored by scientists. People often reported activity in the 1800s, but the last major eruption might be as long as 80,000 years ago.
Glennallen Area
About 180 miles northeast of Anchorage
A great view of Wrangell (and its sister volcanoes of Drum and Sanford) fills the windshield during the final 10-mile-drive east into Glennallen on the Glenn Highway. Wrangell will be about 50 miles out, south of Drum and Sanford, and will resemble a huge ridge with its own subordinate peaks. More views can be found along the Richardson Highway and at the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park Visitor Center at Mile 106.8 of the Richardson Highway, about 10 miles south of the intersection with the Glenn Highway.
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Getting There
Coordinates
Latitude: 62.00694Longitude: -144.016
Wrangell is a colossal ice-and-snow massif inside the national park on the other side of the Copper River from Alaska’s highway system. It has no practical overland approach. But backcountry adventurers and mountaineers do visit and climb Wrangell, usually after getting dropped off by small aircraft. Wrangell is a popular flightseeing destination.