May 31

The Sitka airport is large enough to handle B-737 craft. So, Alaskan Airlines today, instead of Alaska Seaplanes. The airport is 1.2 miles from historic downtown, with another mile needed to reach the VC for the Sitka NHP. Sitka has the largest quantity of port facilities in Alaska, with seven piers and nearly 1,500 births. The large cruise ships stop here, flooding the historic section with tourists. I have a feeling the merchants do not mind. I walked smack dab into the 5,000 “sailors” as I came over the large bridge span (which connects the airport island to the larger island). On a side note, when I was done for the day, around 4:30 PM, and walking back through city, it was like a ghost town. Beak Restaurant is known for its reindeer sausage. Yes, it was good. And every restaurant in town was advertising halibut, rockfish, crab, and chowder. Nothing beats an ocean town.

Ranger Tim met me at the VC. Turns out he graduated from Illinois College, in Jacksonville, IL. This is a top-ranked liberal arts college, preparing students for graduate study. The interesting tidbit is my mother graduated from MacMurray College, in Jacksonville, though, many years earlier. Though Illinois College is doing well, MacMurray had to close its doors in 2020 due to insufficient enrollment. But Tim also had archeological opportunities in Barry, IL. Anyone want to guess what specifically in Barry was his interest? It was the New Springfield historic site, which is now our country’s 424th national park (check my MO-KS-CO-UT-NM Loop).

He told me the best path to the Alaska Raptor Center, another key tourist attraction in Sitka. The center handles upwards of 200 sick or damaged raptors a year, releasing most back into the wild after their rehabilitation. The center has a flight-facility which is used to help restore flight capability to the birds. Currently, five bald eagles are being readied for return to the great outdoors. The path to the center ran right though a section of the NHP. So, on my way back to the VC, I took a turn onto the Totem Trail. The trail goes to the site of Fort Sitka, which the Tlingit had built after pushing the Russians out of the area in 1802. But the fort was unable to halt the 1804 invasion by Russian forces. Nothing remains of the fort, just a location based on literature evidence. The trail continues back to the VC, passing a number of towering totem poles. Each has its own story, and what the markings mean to the Tlingit and Haida peoples. On my return I heard something that sounded like an axe cutting wood. Turns out there is a covered area behind the VC where Tommy Joseph is creating his next masterpiece. One of the park’s totems is supposed to have a twin. So, Tommy is making it. The wood is supposed to be red cedar, but the NPS could only find a piece of yellow cedar large enough for the duplication effort. Keep in mind, this is not like 3-D printing, or photocopying. Tommy is going to have to make this new totem completely by hand. He is one of a few master carvers versed in totem pole work. And he uses traditional Tlingit tools. No Black-and-Decker on the premises. Park Superintendent Miller walked out to see how things were progressing. We had a chance to chat about the park system and my Quest. She has had her share of wilderness experiences and animal encounters. Those are memories which one cannot get from a book. She agrees with her counterparts at Fort McHenry and Dayton Aviation that making people aware of and educating them about all 424 parks is important. All are intertwined with our country’s history, cultures, and lands, not just the 63 parks with the suffix of “National Park”.

My last stop with the Russian Bishop’s House. When the Russian Orthodox Church sent a bishop to manage the region, this house was built. That was 1842. By 1969 the house was in miserable condition, on the verge of collapsing (it sits on the top of soft ground, due to the proximity to the ocean). The Church closed the building. But the NPS stepped in, in 1973, buying the property. It took 16 years to rehabilitate the structure. This is one of only four buildings still standing in North America which were built by Russia interests from that country’s colonization period. Remember, for 125 years, Imperial Russia was the only game in town for the North Pacific. The upstairs looks the way it did for the early bishops. The alter was used by the bishops and eventually for services with “regular people”. Though the Church decommissioned the sanctuary in the late 20th century, it has since been reauthorized to hold religious ceremonies. That makes this the oldest active Orthodox Church in the western hemisphere. The ranger who gave me a tour of the upstairs said just last Friday a person had come into the building to pray at the altar. History in the making.

Hats off to Superintendent Miller and her entire staff. All were pleasant and helpful during my visit.