The Mount Dewey Trail is Wrangell’s quintessential town-summit hike, combining rainforest ecology, local history, and panoramic coastal views within a compact 45-minute round-trip excursion. Rising directly behind the historic downtown street grid, the trail quickly leaves the sounds of town behind, immersing hikers in an old-growth canopy of mature Sitka spruce, western hemlock, and lush devil’s club thickets.

The trail is famous for its direct connection to pioneering naturalist John Muir. In October 1879, during his historic explorations of Southeast Alaska with Presbyterian missionary S. Hall Young, Muir set out after dark during a stormy evening to climb to the top of Mount Dewey. Upon reaching the rocky crest, Muir constructed an enormous bonfire using resin-rich yellow cedar snags, illuminating the surrounding mountains and shocking the local residents and miners below in town. Interpretive signage along the route commemorates Muir’s nocturnal ascent and his writings describing the dramatic archipelago landscape.

Modern hikers climb a series of well-engineered timber staircases and boardwalk sections constructed to protect the delicate rainforest floor from erosion. As the canopy begins to open near the top, the trail crests a rocky ridge and leads to an elevated timber observation platform.

From this vantage point, hikers enjoy an unobstructed 180-degree view spanning Wrangell Harbor, the commercial fishing docks, the historic mill site, Zimovia Strait, and the jagged mountainous backdrops of neighboring islands. It is one of the best locations on the island to watch bald eagles riding thermals at eye level and monitor marine vessel traffic navigating the coastal waterways.