Sitka (8.4.15 – 8.11.15)

 

As we make our way south, we took the ferry from Haines to Sitka. Loading the RV into the ferry is an interesting experience. Per boarding instructions, we arrive at the terminal 2 hours early. At check-in, we are given a lane assignment, which relates (we think) to the type of vehicle and the ultimate destination. Driving onto the ferry is a leap of faith – visibility is poor, the exterior rear view mirrors are folded in, and the driver must precisely follow the hand signals (sometimes ambiguous) of the staff. We park right next to a large cargo container, so closely that we can only exit the RV from the drivers' door.

The trip lasting 18 hours, covers 150 miles. We are informed that because of the location of our RV, we will need to come down at 11:45 pm to move it so that one of the cargo containers can be off loaded in Juneau. Bad planning on their part. We didn't make Juneau a tour stop on this trip because we had already been there 8 years ago.

 The dining room had reasonable priced meals served by Alaska Ferry System employees (no tips allowed) and the bunk bedded berth was adequate, although very basic 

  Many overnighters do not commit to a 'state' room.  They just set their tent up on a deck, duct taping it down, or occupy a lounge chair with bedding and 'camp'.  We saw the most spectacular sky of the entire trip on this sailing. A sunset that colored the ENTIRE sky area. It could not have been more beautiful.  

 

We arrived in Sitka and went right to the local Rotary club meeting. Since Tom is a Rotarian, and it is common for Rotarians to visit other clubs when they travel, we felt comfortable showing up for their lunch meeting. It was a great opportunity to get a flavor of the town, meet some folks (who we later saw during the course of our week), and get a heads up on activities that we didn't already know about.

Camping at a national forest campground for all 7 days, half price ($7 per night) for seniors was a great value. It only had pit toilets (very clean) and a centrally located water source.  We managed just fine.  The camp had wonderful hiking (through old growth rain forest and a muskeg) and fishing opportunities.  Kris caught a sculpin – nasty fish promptly returned to the river, and a lovely pink salmon.

 

 The forest at our campground AND on the hikes was COVERED in moss. We've never seen so much green.

 

 And the tree roots grow in odd ways to make it look like a forest of spiders.

 

 

 

There were many slugs – these run about 4” long, and are slimy and slow moving. They are ground mollusks without a shell. Most of the ones we saw are black, but we have also seen brown and yellow ones. They are pretty gross. When we went across the country camping with the kids in 1991, Becky wandered away from our campsite … we were frantic. She turned up, all proud of herself, for having collected at least a dozen slugs, all arranged neatly on a grocery store Styrofoam meat tray.

 

 

This tree had fallen recently – see second picture for size reference.

 

 

The hiking was hard on tis trail - there were many steps built to navigate around steep and slippery up and down hills. 

Similar to Haines, Sitka has an annual Seafood Festival, with completely different games and activities. Highland games, 'tub' paddle races (these are the commercial tubs fish are packed into for shipping), fish head bobbing (like apple bobbing … but with fish heads – YUCK!) and a small parade.

 Sitka is an interesting constellation of three cultures, Tinglit (for 9000 years), Russian from 1799 to 1867 (with a maximum of 860 colonists), and American since 1867. Russia 'occupied' the territory to exploit the fur trade. That business enterprise was never profitable to Russia, and over time, the territory was too expensive to supply and defend, so Russia sold Alaska to the United States in 1867. The transfer took place on Castle Hill, a small fort area developed by Russia. Native land claims were not addressed in the purchase agreement. Native elders still claim that Russia did not have the authority to sell Alaska.

Kris likes old graveyards, so we made a point to see the Russian Orthodox graveyard, which was really interesting with the graves all cattywampuss and sunken. The oldest graves went back to the 1880's. There were many graves with missing markers.

 

 

The Sitka National Historic Park is dedicated to the preservation of the history of totem poles. In addition to a nature trail where many totems are located, there is a master carver on site who discussed the science and art of carving totems. He was very knowledgeable (hence the title 'master') of native 'form line' design' and classic art forms. Kris loved talking with him and learned so much about how some of the 'rules' of design appear throughout native art. She could have listened to him talk all day. Tom was glad she didn't.

 

 

Totems are carved from a single red cedar trunk, hallowed out down the back and mounted onto a pole inserted into the ground. Traditional totem poles were not carved as far north as Sitka. Missionaries and governments discouraged totem carving in the 1800's and the art was nearly lost. The few remaining carvers gained employment in the 1930's through the Civilian Conservation Corps. Totems relate stories or clan history and cannot be 'read' without knowing the clans' history. Totems were often erected as decorative corner posts on houses (not supporting) and would be carried between winter and summer camps so that no harm would come to them. They were not intended to last forever. Like us, they eventually decay and return to the earth.

The totem park museum holds a collection of historic photographs of totems in the environment for which they were intended

 

The Sheldon Jackson museum has a collection of over 5000 Tlingit and other local native art and daily living artifacts. The collection was amassed by Sheldon Jackson, a Presbyterian minister. Baskets are made of sea grass and can be so tightly woven that they hold water. Larger, loosely woven baskets are used for berry picking, food storage, other storage. The baskets were decorated with feathers, caribou or goat hair, whale baleen, and dyed grasses.

In the museum, we watched a native artist making doll faces out of seal skin. She talked about tucking, molding and folding the skin until the face took on a personality. She worked with such delicacy. We didn't buy a doll. They were $400 each.

 

In the Russian Bishop's house, we learned about the Russian Orthodox church influence on Sitka. The house was built in 1842 as a school, chapel and residence. It is one of the few surviving buildings from Russian occupied Alaska. The museum houses a very rare marker, one of 20 that were buried between Northern California and Alaska. The iron plaque states “this land belong to Russia”.

 

St. Michael's cathedral is built on a small in-town roundabout. The original building burned in down in 1966. What stands now is a re-build. Still lovely inside.

 

 

Our stay was rounded out by a production (local children) performing Tlingit native dances. We even joined in on one! That was fun.

 

 

We visited EVERY museum, national park site and attended every event we could find during our one week there. We bought a fundraiser raffle ticket for the local public radio station.  We attended a second Rotary meeting on the morning we left.  If we stayed any longer we would have started signing up for volunteer activities. We're movin' on ..

Next Post: Wrangell