New signs pointing the way to Mt. Dewey trailhead

Towering over town as it does, Mount Dewey is just about impossible to miss while in Wrangell. The feature draws visitors about 400 feet up to its summit throughout the year, with a viewing platform there offering a unique view both of the town and of the surrounding islands.

The quarter-mile boardwalk trail winding its way up to the platform also offers glimpses of the Back Channel, scattered muskegs and the industrial park. It makes for a short but active climb, and so has proven popular with visitors and residents alike. But getting to the trail can be tricky for those unfamiliar with the area, and its trailhead on Third Street can easily go unnoticed to passersby.

Living nearby, Cindy Martin had over the years noticed a number of tourists attempting to blaze their own trail up the hillside, clambering up its steep and rocky incline. Sitting on the Wrangell Park Board, in 2014 she proposed that they commission signage to more clearly indicate the way to the proper trail.

"We were concerned about their safety, foremost," she explained.

Approved by the board, in January 2015 Martin said an agreement had been worked out with the industrial arts program at Wrangell High School to manufacture the signs. Operating under the name Wolf Fabrications, students make use of the school's different cutters and imaging software to produce a number of commissions.

For the signs' design, Martin worked with her brother, Paul Berger, a sign maker with Image Works in Ft. Collins, Colorado. What they came up with was identifiable, easy to read and foresty in color scheme. Eleven were fabricated out of a polycore material, with the intention of placing them along a route leading from the main dock up the hill, and to the trailhead.

Problems arose, however, when it was determined the new signs could not go onto existing street signposts.

"Ultimately it was not kosher per regulations," said Martin. Alaska's Department of Transportation has stringent guidelines about roadside signage, with rules on the size, color, reflectiveness, height and even orientation of indicators.

"The project was delayed for quite some time," said Kate Thomas, Parks and Recreation director.

Unable to post her signs on the roads themselves, Martin instead turned to private properties, working with the owners of residences and businesses along the route to complete the project.

Six have finally found their mounts, across from the Stikine Inn on the wall of Angerman's Inc., on the wall of Ottesen's True Value, in the yards of Jim Thomsen and Joy and Ed Burns, Saint Rose of Lima Catholic Parish, and at the base of the stairs next to Jeff Angerman's home. Five more signs have yet to be installed, preferably on routes commonly accessed by tourists.

"I've been told that it would be helpful to have one down by the ferry terminal," Martin said.

Improvements to the trail itself are also in the offing. Thomas said staff were in the process of laying down new wire mesh on the boardwalk, and that improved interpretive signage and a handrail at the trailhead could be expected later this season, likely August.