Sitka, Alaska
Sitka is a wild and scenic place. Enveloped in rain and a culture of living off the sea this small town unfolds its true glory in the summer. Located on the northwestern edge of Baranof Island Sitka offers a diverse array of landscapes and weather. Unlike many inland Southeast Alaska towns, Sitka’s weather patterns are fleeting in the summer, rain turns into sunshine within hours and dark skies can become clear within a day. Even though Sitka doesn’t receive as much liquid sunshine as the inland towns do, it still enjoys the mild temperatures.
The waters of Sitka Sound lie in the shadow of Mount Edgecumbe, an extinct volcano. The volcano is the mother of Sitka’s landscape, giving birth to the hundreds of granite and basalt islands and the variable rocky / gravely bottom where multitudes of fish find food and shelter. The ecology of Sitka Sound in the summer is robust. Having one of the largest concentrations of herring left on the Earth, the Sound lures in a wide array of fish, mammals and birds that depend on this food web. During any day in the summer one can see feeding Humpback whales, rafts of sea otters floating along without care, flocks of puffins and auks plopping in and out of the water and outstretched eagles drying their wings upon a perch. Thousands of people travel to Alaska each year to just catch a glimpse of some of these animals, but when you go on a fishing charter in Sitka these gorgeous animals are not only scenic displays, they become your companions.
For those of you who prefer to spend more time on solid ground there are many alluring sites and exhibits. The town in surrounded by a network of trails, some large enough to drive on and others are more inclined to mountain climbers. Three major creeks drain through Sitka. In the summer hundreds of spawning salmon can be seen splashing about in the shallow waters of these rivers. The town also offers a rich native and Russian cultural heritage, not to mention many fine restaurants. Many buildings and edifices exemplify the cultures that have called Sitka home. To really appreciate this jewel of the Pacific one has to spend a summer day immersed in the landscape and simply sit down in the late evening to enjoy the glorious sunset dipping below Edgecumbe.
View local photographer, Dave Bryant, web site for more photographs of Sitka
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