Sitka is located in the lower portion of Alaska, an island off the southern coast, and is often a tour stop for the cruise lines. We flew to Sitka from Haines to Juneau on a tiny, tiny plane with plywood floors and fold up up seats and then on Alaska Air to Sitka. We had a rental of a tiny apartment and stayed three days. It was a very neat place and a great experience. The Russian Bishop’s house was just down the street and was built in the 1820’s. It is part of the NP and still houses an active Russian Orthodox Church in a room upstairs. The heart of the park here is a walk through a woodland with many totems - some quite old, others more recent. We actually were staying next door to the official park carver and he was working on a totem outside next to our temporary home. One of the park rangers and I got into a long discussion about the home and she suggested that since she was off work the next day that she would take us on a tour of the island. We drove from the extreme ends of the pavement up to the highest peak on the island accessible by car, to small villages and native settlements, and to a lake. We picked berries by the buckets mostly for her. We then took her to dinner to thank her for the day. On our last day we toured the town, the remains of a fort and the docks plus dinner at a wonderful outside fish restaurant that was on one of the docks.
We flew back to Juneau and then took a water taxi for the 40 mile trip back to Haines and along the way saw whales, seals, and lots of seabirds as well as two old lighthouses. Super trip and well worth the time and effort to see it.
The mountain on the left is the one we drove to the top of with the ranger.
It was about a two mile hike to this lake and time for a picnic.
Lots of eagles
A part of Sitka harbor
The natural settings added a lot to the 30 plus totems on the park grounds.