Sitka, AK

Getting off the ferry was as hair raising as getting on!  I had to BACK out.  Luckily the guys on the ferry are really good at directing so we did finally get out.  We arrived on June 21^st – the summer solstice!  But it was cloudy so we didn’t get to see the sun “not” go down.  And we weren’t up at midnight anyway.

Our planned campsite in Sitka was in the rain forest with no hookups.  A little too remote so we found one closer to town that was actually just a parking lot but it had full hookups and a wonderful view of the bay.  And we were there for 3 full nights!

The 2 full days we had in Sitka were wonderful.  The weather is usually rainy and dreary but we had 2 beautiful sunny days.  The first day we did a Ranger guided walking tour of the downtown Russian-American history.

The second day we went to the Sitka Natl Park for a Ranger led Totem walk through the rain forest.   Very interesting.  Then we did a “Bach’s Lunch” at a local college where we heard some very fine music while we ate lunch.  But the best part of the day was the “Fortress of the Bear”!   This is a rehab center that rescues orphaned bear cubs.  They had 8 bears – 5 brown and 3 black.  They were so much fun to watch.  They actually do tricks for food.  They can’t be released back into the wild so they are sent to zoos around the world.  And there are local eagles who will come when called and catch food mid-air.  I got them flying but not catching the food.