Sights in Sitka
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Chichagof Island's Western Shoreline
Chichagof Island's Western Shoreline is one of Southeast Alaska's best blue-water destinations for experienced kayakers.
Unfortunately, the trip often requires other transportation, because few paddlers have the experience necessary to paddle the open ocean around Khaz Peninsula (which forms a barrier between Kruzof Island's north end and Slocum Arm, the south end of the West Chichagof-Yakobi Wilderness). Either rent a folding kayak and then book a floatplane or hire a water-taxi service to take you there.
The arm is the southern end of a series of straits, coves and protected waterways that shield paddlers from the ocean's swells and extend over 30 miles north to Lisiansk…
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Katlian Bay
This 45-mile round-trip from Sitka Harbor to scenic Katlian Bay (on Kruzof Island's north end) and back is one of the area's most popular paddles. The route follows narrow straits and well-protected shorelines in marine traffic channels, making it an ideal trip for less experienced blue-water paddlers who will never be far from help.
A scenic sidetrip is to hike the sandy beach from Katlian Bay around Cape Georgiana to Sea Lion Cove on the Pacific Ocean. Catch the tides to paddle the Olga and Neva Straits on the way north and return along Sukot Inlet, spending a night at the USFS Brent's Beach Cabin. Plan on four to six days for the paddle.
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Princess Maksoutoff's Grave
Across Marine St, at the top of Princess St, is Princess Maksoutoff's Grave, marking the spot where the wife of Alaska's last Russian governor is buried. But for a strategically placed chain-link fence, the grave would be in the Russian Cemetery. But a bright and shiny sign proclaims this tiny three-grave site as the Lutheran Cemetery.
Cynics might postulate that the princess probably lost her status as a bona fide Lutheran when she married the Russian Orthodox governor, but now that she's a bona fide tourist attraction, the Lutherans want her back.
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Sheldon Jackson Aquarium
Housed in the Sage Building is the Sheldon Jackson Aquarium, a classroom during the school year but Sitka's top attraction for children during the summer. The aquarium features an 800-gallon 'Wall of Water' filled with sea anemones, rockfish and starfish and three touch tanks where kids can feel the spiny skin of a huge starfish or the coarse shell of an abalone.
It is also home of the country's only on-site, college-run hatchery, an especially impressive sight when thousands of king, coho, pink and chum salmon boil the water during feeding.
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Whale Park
If you don't have funds for a wildlife cruise, try Whale Park, 4 miles south of town, which has a boardwalk and spotting scopes overlooking the ocean for whale watching. Fall is the best time to sight cetaceans; as many as 80 whales - mostly humpbacks - have been known to gather in the waters off Sitka from mid-September to the end of the year. If you don't mind cold, rainy weather, the Sitka's is the first week of November.
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Russian Cemetery
Old headstones and Russian Orthodox crosses can be found in the overgrown and quintessentially creepy Russian Cemetery, located at the north end of Observatory St, or just squeak through the gap in the chain-link fence behind the princess' grave), where the drippy verdure seems poised to swallow up the decaying graves, like something out of a Stephen King novel.
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Isabel Miller Museum
Within the Centennial Building is the Isabel Miller Museum, which is one room with a good portion of it a gift shop. The rest is crammed with a collection of relics, a model of the town as it appeared in 1867 and displays on Russian Alaska. Outside between the museum and the library is an impressive handcarved Tlingit canoe, made from a single log.
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Alaska Pioneers Home
Across Katlian St from the square is the prominent, yellow Alaska Pioneers Home. Built in 1934 on the old Russian Parade Ground, the home is for elderly Alaskans. The 13ft-tall bronze prospector statue in front of the state home is modeled on longtime Alaska resident William 'Skagway Bill' Fonda.
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Castle Hill
Kiksadi clan houses once covered the hilltop site, but in 1836 the Russians built 'Baranov's Castle' atop the hill to house the governor of Russian America. It was here, on October 18, 1867, that the official transfer of Alaska from Russia to the USA took place. The castle burned down in 1894.
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Shelikof Bay
You can combine a 10-mile paddle to Kruzof Island with a 6-mile hike across the island from Mud Bay to Shelikof Bay along an old logging road and trail. Once on the Pacific Ocean side, you'll find a beautiful sandy beach for beachcombing and the USFS Shelikof Cabin.
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St Michael's Cathedral
St Michael's Cathedral is a replica of the original 1840s Russian Orthodox cathedral destroyed by fire in 1966; priceless treasures were salvaged by residents.
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Alaska Raptor Center
For an eye-to-eye encounter with a bald eagle, head to the nearby Alaska Raptor Center where injured birds relearn to fly in its flight training center.
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Visitor Center
The visitor center features Russian and indigenous artifacts and traditional carving demonstrations.
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Blockhouse
The Blockhouse is a replica of what the Russians used to protect their stockade from the Indian village.
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Russian Bishop's House
Built in 1842, the Russian Bishop's House is Sitka's oldest intact Russian building.
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Sheldon Jackson Museum
Sheldon Jackson Museum houses an excellent indigenous culture collection.
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