Things To Do In Sitka

If you miss see­ing a brown bear out­doors in South­east Alas­ka, you can see sev­er­al here, a non-prof­it park and learn­ing cen­ter. Offer­ing aer­i­al and ground-floor view­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties, this wildlife edu­ca­tion and view­ing facil­i­ty was launched as part of an effort to res­cue two, orphaned bear cubs. 

Arrange a water taxi ride to this man made arch­i­pel­ago extend­ing into Sit­ka Sound, a rel­ic of decay­ing for­ti­fi­ca­tions built to defend Alas­ka from for­eign inva­sion dur­ing World War II. Dur­ing World War II, Sit­ka was the hub of mil­i­tary activ­i­ty in South­east Alas­ka, with a U.S. Naval Air Sta­tion and oth­er installations.

If you’re here on a sun­ny day, you know this peak — it’s the dom­i­nant, gen­tle vol­cano that fills the view to the west. And intre­pid hik­ers can walk all the way to the top. The trail is about 10 miles west of Sit­ka and is only acces­si­ble by boat, so you’ll have to char­ter a boat and be com­fort­able with wilder­ness hiking.

Once the admin­is­tra­tive head­quar­ters for an empire stretch­ing from Asia to Cal­i­for­nia and Hawaii, Cas­tle Hill today is lit­tle more than a grassy hill with a few inter­pre­tive signs, a mod­est stonewall, sev­er­al old can­nons, and a few flag­poles. But when you vis­it the top of this hill, you’re stand­ing on rich his­toric grounds.

This is a big climb: you’ll gain 2,550 feet en route to the sum­mit. And you can con­tin­ue along an alpine ridge to the next sum­mit (about one hour), Arrow­head, which sits at 3,300 feet! If you make it to these peaks, you’ll be reward­ed with big views and a beau­ti­ful alpine envi­ron­ment. And the trail can be accessed via pub­lic transport.

This beau­ti­ful trail is part of an exten­sive local sys­tem of trails and board­walks. It’s pop­u­lar with locals and state fer­ry trav­el­ers, since it can be linked via trail to the fer­ry ter­mi­nal, the For­est and Muskeg Trail, and the Estu­ary Life Trail.

Start­ing from the Bara­nof Street trail­head, it’s about 2 miles up to 2,400 feet! That’s steep — steep enough to make for a chal­leng­ing race, the Alpine Adven­ture Run, which coin­cides with an annu­al meet­ing of spe­cial­ists in the sports med­i­cine field. The trail starts eas­i­ly, with a raised board­walk that takes you through open mead­ows and then a for­est of big hem­lock and spruce to a steep trail, with stairs and steps. You can climb this for 1.6…  ...more

One of the newest trails in Sit­ka, this beau­ti­ful hike fol­lows a creek, pass­es sev­er­al water­falls, and takes you through old-growth for­est. It’s quite pop­u­lar, and you’ll find the Her­ring Cove park­ing area crowd­ed on the week­ends. It’s also great for fam­i­lies, despite being a lit­tle steep at points, thanks to fun trail fea­tures and fish­ing plat­forms at a lake stocked with grayling. The trail — made from grav­el, rock steps, and…  ...more

This is one of the pret­ti­est trails for a vis­i­tor who’s not a big hik­er. It’s an inter­pre­tive trail with a self-guid­ed brochure, and you’ll trav­el through prime exam­ples of the dom­i­nant for­est ecosys­tems in the area: for­est and muskeg. Learn about these ecolo­gies while walk­ing a gen­tly slop­ing trail of grav­el and board­walk. One of the best ways to enjoy this trail is to park at Old Sit­ka State Park locat­ed just ½‑mile north of the Ferry…  ...more

Start­ing at the Nation­al Park Ser­vice Vis­i­tor Cen­ter, this trail sys­tem takes you through rich coastal for­est and along a salmon stream, then opens to views of the shore­line and coastal moun­tains. It also trav­els past totem poles and memo­r­i­al sites, includ­ing that of the 1804 Bat­tle of Sit­ka. The last armed con­flict with the Tlin­gits in Sit­ka and the begin­ning of Russ­ian rule, this bat­tle is memo­ri­al­ized with a plaque installed in 2011. Park…  ...more

You won’t find any old build­ings here, but there are great inter­pre­tive signs and numer­ous hik­ing trails at this state park. And it’s an impor­tant place — the site of the first Russ­ian set­tle­ment on Bara­nof Island.

This pop­u­lar trail is well suit­ed for fam­i­ly out­ings. It leads through stunt­ed forests to a board­walked sec­tion of the trail near Beaver Lake. Once you have reached the lake, there is a boat avail­able for pub­lic use. This is a great place to take the kids and keep an eye open for grayling in the lake. It was peri­od­i­cal­ly stocked with grayling between 1986 and 1991. 

Over­look­ing the East­ern Chan­nel, this park is designed for whale watch­ing, with 3 cov­ered view­ing shel­ters, pub­lic-use binoc­u­lars, and 11 inter­pre­tive signs. Learn about whales’ feed­ing habits, migra­tions, and biol­o­gy while walk­ing the boardwalk.

This is a great, easy walk that can be linked to the For­est and Muskeg Trail and Mos­qui­to Cove Trail. The board­walk trail trav­els through a rich tide­lands ecosys­tem, where you’ll find good bird watch­ing for shore and seabirds. You may even spot bears, who show up here to feed on young grass­es in ear­ly sum­mer and return in mid-July to the end of Sep­tem­ber for the pink and sil­ver salmon runs. The U.S. For­est Ser­vice man­ages the area, and the…  ...more

If you’re look­ing for a nice day along the water­front with the fam­i­ly, this is the spot. Watch fish­ing boats come and go, have a pic­nic at one of the cov­ered shel­ters, or go tide­pool­ing with the kids. At low tide you can access Mag­ic Island and look for sea crea­tures. A nice one-mile loop trail winds through the park — it’s a good place to stretch your legs. And there’s an inter­est­ing mod­ern totem pole, carved by Tom­my Joseph in remem­brance of…  ...more

This trail is close to town and starts on a flood­plain. The Cross trail inter­sects Gavan Hill Trail at mile 1 then leads throough thick trees. Anoth­er off-shoot trail leads to Sit­ka High School. The next part of the trail is an old log­ging road and comes out behind the base­ball field. The trail ends short­ly thereafter.

This is a pop­u­lar trail for cyclists, fam­i­lies, and swim­mers! Yep, on sun­ny days this is one of the warmer spots to take a dip. That’s because the small lakes warm up in the sum­mer (relatively…if you’re from Flori­da you might dis­agree). The trail can be accessed using pub­lic trans­port, and cyclists can even mount their bike on the bus. A local bike shop does a tour here, and if you come back down Blue Lake Road there are some fun, steep…  ...more

Har­bor Moun­tain Trail­head can take you to the sum­mit of Har­bor Moun­tain, but you have to dri­ve up to 1,800 feet. This road was orig­i­nal­ly built dur­ing World War II to pro­vide access for mil­i­tary instal­la­tions. Be care­ful: the road is in decent shape, but it’s nar­row. From the trailhead/​parking area, the trail fol­lows a ridge with great views in all direc­tions. It’s had recent upgrades, so it’s easy to fol­low and there are rock bench­es and…  ...more