Things to Do in Alaska

Sitka, Alaska

Getting to Sitka

This is a view from the window of the Alaska Airlines plane I took to get to Sitka from Anchorage. What you see here is the Chugach Mountains in the early morning.
Sitka is a very small town on a large island in Southeast Alaska. Southeast does get a lot of rain, but I got there on a sunny day. Fantastic getting there and getting back.

 What to do there.

The trail from the visitor's center.

I rented a car for the day and wasn't sorry. The town is small but I wanted to drive around without being on a timetable not of my choosing. That was the correct move for me. There are oodles of tour busses downtown in the harbor area if you don't want to bother with a vehicle.

The trail parallels the beach and is an easy hike. I managed in a skirt and sandals. I also saw an opening to the beach and took it.

Down the road. 

I drove out a few miles to the end of the road and found this, Mosquito Cove. The sign is a warning that a black bear had been frequenting the path and travel at your own risk. Sure. Turned the tunes up on my Iphone and away I went.

Above is the start of the trail and it isn't easy, perhaps more medium. There is one alternate that is marked hard and this is a correct designation. The second shot is of the beach the trail follows.

Downtown.

There you find all the tour busses and this covered shed. On one side was this huge canoe. While I was there two fishermen were also getting their net ready for the season on the other side. There were kayak and jet ski rentals and water tours offered. The museum is in a large building right on the shore.

The upper picture is a picture taken of the cathedral in the 1800s. The picture is in the museum. I took this picture afterward taking the one in the museum. The street splits around the cathedral. I did tour the inside. Very beautiful. They need a new roof and I donated all my change to them.
Diagonally across from St. Michael the Archangel Cathedral is the refurbished Lutheran church. It is historic as well. They had a grand tour going at the time.

Sitka, the town. 

The upper picture is a shot of Sitka near the harbor. The bottom shot is of the town from the island where the airport is located. Japonski island has the airport and car rental on it. The old Indian School is still there. It closed a few years ago, but I drove around it before turning the car in.

Here you have a photo of Mr. Edgecumbe as the plane banked. Going home, I took the milk run and stopped in Juneau and Yukatat. Grand fun.