Chitina Alaska Map

About Chitina, Alaska

Chitina is a locality in Copper River, Alaska, United States. It is a small community with a population of 101. The population density is 0.5 people per km². Chitina is located at 61.5530°N, 144.1753°W. It observes the Alaska Time (America/Anchorage) timezone. ZIP code: 99566.

Chitina occupies a rugged, wind-swept confluence of earth where the copper-hued soil meets the vast, untamed expanse of the interior. It lies 160.2 miles east of North Lakes, AK (from North Lakes, AK: bearing 90°T), and is situated 68.7 miles east-northeast of Valdez. The landscape surrounding Chitina is defined by the sharp, imposing presence of the Wrangell Mountains visible on the horizon, their snow-dusted peaks catching the subarctic light until the sky bleeds into a bruised indigo. Deep, glacier-cut scars mark the terrain, leading toward the turbulent waters of the Chitina River just a mile away, where the silt-heavy current rushes with an insistent, cold vitality that defines the local atmosphere. Eight miles distant, the quiet surface of Strelna Lake offers a glass-like reflection of the taiga, providing a stark stillness that contrasts with the relentless, carving energy of the nearby Wood Canyon.

Chitina remains a place of weathered timber and resilient memory, born from the frantic ambition of early twentieth-century mining ventures that once connected these wilderness reaches to the world through steel rails. Today, the economy leans into the quiet, seasonal rhythms of those who traverse the edge of the Wrangell-Saint Elias Wilderness Area, a sprawling domain that looms just a mile from the center of activity. Life in Chitina moves with the deliberate pace of the seasons, where the arrival of autumn brings a sudden, sharp clarity to the air and the winter settles with a heavy, muffling silence over the land. The legacy of its industrial origins persists in the rusted remnants scattered along the brush, yet the true character of the locality is found in the way its residents observe the immense scale of the wilderness, moving through their days with a profound awareness of the vast, indifferent beauty that encircles them.

About This Chitina Map Page

This page provides an embedded street and satellite map of Chitina, Alaska. Coordinates: 61.553038, -144.175268. Live weather conditions are sourced directly from the National Weather Service. Real-time local and world news feeds keep the page current.

Detailed location data for Chitina includes the ZIP code (99566), telephone area code (907), county seat of Copper River, and school district assignment (Copper River School District).

Location data is drawn from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) and cross-verified against 2020 US Census records by coordinate proximity. Population figures are sourced from the 2020 US Census.