Group Hosting
Impactful Educational Excursions unlike any other
Educational Outings & Programs
We have many resources to provide educational hosting for college/university courses, high school outings, field courses, and other educational excursions. See below for the many things we can offer to make your group’s trip to the Wrangells an immersive and impactful learning experience.
Research Groups
The WMC is a resource for researchers and research groups who need a base of operations. Let us help you maximize your time in the Wrangells.
Retreats, CPE & Workshops
The WMC hosts Continued Professional Education programs. workshops of all kinds, and retreats. Our campus is ideal for focused productivity and creative energy, and exciting group opportunities abound when you are surrounded by glaciers and North America’s largest National Park.
Youth Programs
We accommodate groups of all ages, for many purposes, and we can work with you to design an unforgettable experience for your youth.
Participants in an educational excursion overlook a beautiful moulin on a sunny day on the Root Glacier, located mere miles from the WMC Campus in historic downtown McCarthy, Alaska
As a place-based educational organization, we seek to maximize your wilderness experience in this extraordinary place with logistical support and opportunities for growth through science-based learning and artistic creativity
Tailored to your group’s interests and goals!
The Wrangells and the WMC Campus are conducive to creative, place-based learning
A youth participant in our Geology Camp program (ages 12-16) put on by our partners, the Wrangell Institute for Science & Environment
Offerings & Support
The Wrangells
An incredible location, unlike any other. As an organization that is interwoven into the fabric of the community, we offer experience and expertise in navigating the extraordinary and inspiring natural features in the Wrangells. As a place-based organization, we regularly witness the transformative potential of human connection to wildlands and we are eager to help you and your group make a special connection with this exceptional place.
Itinerary Planning
With decades of experience, we have the insights and expertise to open up all that this area offers so that you can maximize your time and budget. We can customize your itinerary according to your goals and interests.
Logistical Planning
Navigating a wilderness environment is serious business. We can alleviate your anxieties and facilitate a safe and smooth outing so that you can make the most of your trip, from helping with transportation to getting your group safely onto the glacier.
Lodging Options
Bunkhouse style lodging available for groups and students with single spaces available for instructors and chaperones. All told, we can provide lodging for up to 20 people, subject to availability.
Meals
Tailored to your group’s dietary needs/preferences, meals are nutritious and plentiful to provide your group with all the energy needed for an action packed schedule. Fresh greens are often on the menu (subject to seasonal cycles). Meals are served on your timeframe so that you can make the most of your schedule. To-Go lunches are available for outings. Maximize your time by letting us dial in your food.
We can also provide cooking classes, with an emphasis on the significance of working directly with food and the positive impact this has on the planet and the person.
Guiding
Qualified Wrangell Mountains Center staff can assist and guide your group and help bring the landscapes and ecological features to life. Nature hikes are available.
Facilitating Educational Opportunities: Scientific Instruction and Creative Workshops
The WMC can arrange for professional instruction and workshops tailored to your group’s goals and interests. Examples include: Flora and fauna guiding, glacier and geological lectures/sessions, sketching workshops, photography, writing and other arts and creativity, all designed as place-based education.
Primitive Off-Grid Living Instruction
Tour our facilities or arrange for a visit to a local homestead. We can help your group explore the mechanics of primitive living in today’s modern world, for its own sake as well as a component of an educational experience regarding sustainable living.
Gardens! We can build in an educational experience around gardening, providing hands on experience along with instruction as to the positive impact of gardens on the planet and the person.
Additional Support & Features
Classroom space for lectures, creativity and instruction
Office space in the Old Hardware Store
Internet connectivity (can be somewhat limited, at times)
Room and board for small research teams, large educational groups, and visiting artists & creatives. Lodging is available for group up to 20, and we can accommodate groups up to 40 for meals, teaching, creating, and living space. We also have access to near-by NPS permit camping for larger groups.
Space to store and stage field equipment and art supplies
Bench space for small-scale processing of field samples
Local knowledge and a responsive, can-do attitude to facilitate off-site trips and the out-of-the-ordinary requirements of fieldwork
A framework for local public outreach through the weekly, popular Summer Arts & Lectures Series, Wrangell Mountains Walks, and other events and programs
A local base of operations in a beautiful landscape
A welcoming, intellectually curious atmosphere with a two-decade history of supporting the arts and academic, private, and government researchers
A staff and community of creative people supporting our arts venue
Take a look at our Facilities
Research
Research Opportunities Accessible from the WMC Campus in McCarthy, Alaska
Glaciology
An easy-to-travel, 400 square km, glacier complex, with a history of research, just a 45 minute walk from the end of the road.
Geomorphology
An alpine-to-lowland landscape responding to glacier base level fall, with avulsing, incising and meandering creeks and rivers. Landslides and soil mass movements of various types. Alpine and low-land periglacial and permafrost regions.
Hydrology
A range of clearwater and glacierized creeks and rivers fed by snow and glacier melt and shallow groundwater systems. Local community depends on the quantity and quality of nearby surface water for drinking and other uses. Boreal lakes.
Planetary Science
Terrestrial analog viscous flow features such as plentiful rock glaciers and debris-covered glaciers with a history of study. Mixed snow/ice/debris avalanche cones. Periglacial geomorphology.
Note on Permitting
A Scientific Research and Collecting Permit is required for most scientific activities pertaining to natural resources or social science studies in National Park System areas that involve fieldwork, specimen collection, and/or have the potential to disturb resources or visitors. When permits are required for scientific activities pertaining solely to cultural resources, including archeology, ethnography, history, cultural museum objects, cultural landscapes, and historic and prehistoric structures, other permit procedures apply. Learn more at the Park website.
Adventure!
Explorations & outdoor fun accessible from the Wrangell Mountains Center campus
Glacier Hiking and Ice climbing on the Kennicott and Root Glaciers
Other Hiking and Camping: Alpine hikes with opportunities to see copper mines from a hundred years past
River rafting and pack rafting
Flightseeing
Backcountry, fly-out trips
Exploring historic Kennecott (National Park Service), including an excellent Mill Tour provided by a local guide service
McCarthy-Kennicott Museum in downtown McCarthy
The Old Hardware Store on the WMC campus also has a small library as well as an art room, and these are available for your use on a rainy day or a mellow morning.
Local restaurants often have multiple live music options on the weekends, in historic downtown McCarthy (The Potato and The Golden Saloon), which are located a short walk from the WMC.
Friday night community softball near to downtown McCarthy and WMC.
The local swimming hole is about a half mile from the WMC
In addition to all of the above, there is a steady stream of summer activities hosted by the WMC: author readings, arts and science-oriented workshops, small living room concerts, open mics, and a storytelling festival, to name a few. The WMC also has a good guitar in the Old Hardware Store, available for any skilled musician to use.
The results of a knife carving workshop, Summer 2023
Contact Us
Please contact us at info@wrangells.org to learn how we can facilitate a once-in-a lifetime experience for your team or group. We will help you achieve your group goals and maximize your time in this remarkable wilderness setting.
