Sitka

7/15/11

Sitka, looking from University of SE Alaska

Alaska is so different from any other states in the US.  Put aside the fact that the scenery is totally mind-blowing wherever you go, and that everywhere you look, it’s wild…and, if you go traipsing around in the wild, you are not on top of the food chain as in the rest of the US.  Transportation to most of the cities is either by plane or boat, especially in the SE area.  Except for maybe Anchorage (population 350,000), the cities are really small towns, even the state capital Juneau (population 30,000).  Sitka is the fourth largest “city” in Alaska, but its population is only 9000.  Compared that to Santa Cruz, California with a population of 60,000, which is considered a town next to the 4rth biggest city in California - San Jose, a population of 7.5 million.

So when I first looked at Sitka, I had to admit that I was somewhat disappointed that it was so small, it seemed not much bigger than Friday Harbor.  But, after living here for the last couple of weeks and talking to various people, either locals or live-aboards, it seems to have a very close-knit social network, especially apparent after tourist season, and all of the amenities that one would hope for in a very small town.

Sitka is set in a really beautiful area – more so than any other place that I have seen. It’s steeped in history, having been the home of the Tlinget Indians, a Russian settlement (fur trading), a former booming pulp mill (until they closed it down), a still large fishing industry, and a booming tourist trade without the in-your-face tourism environment like Juneau and Ketchikan.

Anything not tied to tourism is tied to fishing – there are a ton of commercial fishing boats – when I was there, many slips were empty because the boats were out fishing.  The docks are busy with activity around the fishing boats that are there, with lots of loading of food, fixing broken down equipment, and lots of talking back and forth about…fishing.  Lots of noise and activity during most hours of the day sometimes make for a restless night.  Other things is the busy boat yard full of commercial boats about 5 miles north of town.  There are a couple of fish packing plants along the road to town.

The harbor is also filled with a lot of transient traffic, mostly trawler yachts stopping to get food and walk around. Just about every boat that you see in "Passage Maker" come here, with an especial abundance of Nordic Tugs, which must be the trawler version of Catalina sailboats.  Still and yet, there are a lot of live-aboards that stay in Sitka during the winter.  I am remembering how cold it was in Friday Harbor and find it hard to imagine staying here during the winter.  Maybe it’s OK in a comfortable home on land, but the walks to the head and showers would be daunting, to say the least, in sub-freezing temperatures.  No thanks.

The ubiquitous raven

The downtown area of Sitka is about a half mile away from the harbor, so I’ve been using my bike to tour the city. I did rent a car for one day to tour the areas beyond the city (only 7 miles north and south) and to see if the boat yard was any good (and to transfer another solar panel from West Marine).  There’s a lot of trails that meet the road, none that I went hiking on. This is one port where the cruise liners do not tie up to the city.  They anchor out in one of the channels to the south and transfer tourist to land by way of their launches.  In that way, the cruise liners don’t visually dominate the shoreline and the area looks and feels much nicer.

Psst! Hey dude, check out that tasty-looking pile of fish guts!

Sitka would be a great place for a remake of  “The Birds”.  There are a million black birds/ravens, all cawing and making other noises that you wouldn’t believe come out of those bodies.  Alaska is crawling with them, and Sitka has more than its share.  There are also many bald eagles, all sitting around looking for handouts and other tidbits, usually sitting on top of fishing boat masts to get a good view all around.  I spent a half hour watching one bald eagle try to get something that was underwater, but near the surface.  It would swoop down dragging its claws through the water and, with wings pumping furiously, climb back up in the air, getting ready to try again.  Eventually the eagle gave up and went back to its treetop throne.

 I did visit a bear “sanctuary”.  By sanctuary, it means that a non-profit organization take orphan bear cubs and, I guess, raise them in a couple of acres of.  Two brothers, Killisno and Chalk, who are seen here playing with each other, were orphaned as cubs when their mother was killed after she broke into a lodge kitchen looking for food.  I quote from the "Fortress of the Bear" organization:

"The Brown bears of Southeast Alaska represent a distinct population, genetically dissimilar from any other bear. Research suggests these bears are remnants of a Polar bear population stranded in Southeast Alaska following the last ice age. They have adapted to the rain forest environment and learned specific behaviors and marvelous survival skills. They successfully hunt everything from mountain goats to seals. Their ability to adapt sometimes brings them into conflict with their upright urban neighbors. The means to deal with these bears has been limited or non-existent. Our goal is to seek a solution that is better than simply shooting them.

"In order to accomplish this mission we have established a bear habitat. We are utilizing 2 abandoned Clarifier Tanks which are 14 and 17 feet high respectively and 3/4 of an acre each. Our habitat allows for public viewing and an educational experience."

Anyway, it's next to a big recycling area and has two stadium-sized areas with big ponds, stumps, etc. that the bears can play in.  One spot had the two brothers, the other another family of young bears.  They all seemed very happy, and they were certainly photogenic, as I couldn't help but snap a ton of pics at their hijinks.  Sorry for the abundance...

Every garbage container that you see in town and in the harbor is usually massive with complicated methods of opening them, so that bears can’t get in.  I had thought garbage scavenging was a problem associated with black bears, but brown bears tend to seek human garbage and end up getting in trouble with it. Once a bear gets hooked on getting food in human towns, it's all downhill for the bear.  Only today, there have been warnings of a wounded bear (shot by cops) located somewhere near Sitka deemed "armed and dangerous".  Also I'm hearing bear sightings on some popular trails - and people are warned to be cautious.  It sounds like a Hawaiian shark watch.

Kruzof Island is to the left

Islands and lots of reefs surround Sitka.  But it still looks out to the open ocean and can get some surf.  There used to be a surf shop, but it has closed down. I learned of a couple of spots outside of town, and there's a couple of places on Kruzof Island,  a few miles northwest of Sitka. When I leave Sitka (probably tomorrow), I am planning on going west of Kruzof Island to check out some of the spots.  Not that I could do anything about it, since I don’t have a surfboard and I’m out of shape for that kind of thing anyway.  But it still would be nice to look.

Speaking of surf spot, I heard the primo spot in Alaska is Yakatat, about 100 miles north of SE Alaska, which is doable for my boat.  I think I’ll visit it next year before heading south.

I’m planning on leaving tomorrow to head back up (via Kruzof Island) towards Auke Bay to meet with Rick and Chris for an exploration of Glacier Bay.