Around milepost 24 on Glacier Highway, take a left onto Almaga Harbor Road to enter Ernest Gruening State Park, named after a territorial governor and one of the state’s first senators. In his summer home here, he wrote his 1953 manifesto, “The State of Alaska,” which articulated why Alaska should be a state. (Statehood became official in January, 1959). From the boat ramp parking lot, walk along the driveway to Senator Gruening’s home. The path ends where Peterson creek cascades down into Lynn Canal. It’s an amazing place for wildlife viewing when the salmon are running. Since the salmon can only enter the creek at the highest tide, they congregate in great numbers at the creek’s mouth, attracting sea lions and the occasional orca. You might even wet a line here, but the salmon, generally chum, are well on their way to being inedible at this point. If you’re here mid-July through August, check the bushes for blueberries as you walk back to your car.
