1,000 Places to See in the U.S.A. & Canada Before You Die (102 page)

A Treasure Trove of Colonial Russian and Tlingit History

Alaska

Known in the early 19th century as the “Paris of the Pacific,” Sitka is the least touristy large town on the Alaskan panhandle, with 9,000 residents and a rich history that encompasses its days as a center of Tlingit Indian
culture and the capital of Russian America. Sitka preserves both of its heritages in one of the prettiest settings in the region, surrounded by mountains and facing the vast sweep of the Gulf of Alaska.

The rich, powerful Kiksadi Tlingit clan occupied land at the head of Sitka Sound for centuries, but in 1799 Alexander Baranof, manager of the Russian-American Company, arrived to establish a fort, expand his fur-trading operation, and consolidate Russia’s territorial claims. Faced with subjugation, the Tlingit attacked the fort in 1802 and killed almost everyone inside. Two years later Baranof returned with reinforcements, forcing the tribe to make way for the new colonial city of Novoarkhangelsk (New Archangel).

The Russian Orthodox St. Michael’s Cathedral sits at the very center of town. Designed and built by Bishop (now Saint) Innocent Veniaminov in the 1840s, it’s full of icons and paintings from the period and has a congregation composed mostly of Native Alaskan peoples. Nearby, the Russian Bishop’s House, run by the National Parks Service, features a museum of Sitka history and several restored residential rooms. Furniture built by the Renaissance-man bishop is on display, as is his private chapel. Down the road, the Sitka National Historical
Park preserves the battleground where the Tlingit and Russians waged their bloody fight, which you can learn more about at the park’s interpretive center. You can also walk the haunting forest trail lined with totem poles.

Back in town, performances by the Sheetka’Kwaan Naa Kahidi Dancers and the New Archangel Dancers help preserve the town’s dual heritage. Other sites worth exploring include Castle Hill, where Russia ceremonially transferred Alaska to the U.S. in 1867, and where the first U.S. flag was raised on Alaska soil, and the Sheldon Jackson Museum of Native arts.

Snow caps the dome of St. Michael’s Russian Orthodox Cathedral.

W
HERE
: 150 miles southwest of Juneau.
Visitor info:
Tel 907-747-5940;
www.sitka.org
.
R
USSIAN
B
ISHOP’S
H
OUSE AND
S
ITKA
N
ATIONAL
H
ISTORIC
P
ARK
: Tel 907-747-0110;
www.nps.gov/sitk
.
D
ANCE
I
NFO
:
www.sitkatribe.org
and
www.newarchangeldancers.com
.
S
HELDON
J
ACKSON
M
USEUM
: Tel 907-747-8981;
www.museums.state.ak.us
.
W
HERE TO STAY
: Alaska Ocean View B&B, tel 888-811-6870 or 907-747-8310;
www.sitka-alaska-lodging.com
.
Cost:
from $79 (off-peak), from $159 (peak).
B
EST TIMES
: May and Sept for smaller summer crowds; early Nov for the annual Sitka Whale Festival (
www.sitkawhalefest.org
).

There’s Gold in Them Thar Hills!

Skagway, Alaska

In 1896, prospectors discovered gold in a tributary of Canada’s Klondike River, and thousands of starry-eyed men started dreaming of wealth. Trouble was, they had to go to Alaska to get it, setting out on the 33-mile
Chilkoot Trail bound for the Yukon—and that was a bit more than most of them bargained for. Though it’s only 16.5 miles from the old supply town of Dyea to the Canadian border, the Chilkoot rises some 3,600 vertical feet through the coastal mountains, with 2,300 of those feet inside a short 7-mile stretch. By itself that was manageable for a determined gold-seeker, but Canada’s mounted police required that everyone entering their territory carry an entire year’s worth of provisions. This forced prospectors to take an incremental route, carrying a portion of their supplies to a drop spot and then returning to Dyea for more, all the while numbed by temperatures that could fall to 50 below zero. The process often took as many as 20 trips, and once it was completed they still had to make the long trek to the goldfields.

Today hikers can re-create that tortured march in three to five days. Pick up your trail permits in nearby Skagway, then catch a taxi-van 9 miles north to Dyea—or what’s left of it, since nearly everyone vacated by 1903. From there, you have an easy start through coastal forest. Even though the terrain is rough and often muddy, you might start to feel cocky—that is, until you look up and see the huge wall of granite rising in front of you. Beyond Sheep Camp, the forests thin out until
you’re in high alpine terrain, and by the time you reach the Scales—where the miners’ goods were once weighed—you’ll know exactly why so many of those miners just chucked it all and went home. From here you don’t even have a trail to follow until you’re past the summit; it’s just “up.” Take heart: From the top you hike down through beautiful boreal forest and on to Lake Bennett. There’s not much there now, but during the gold rush there was a restaurant called the Arctic, run by entrepreneur Fred Trump, Donald Trump’s grandfather.

Though physically taxing, the Chilkoot Trail rewards those who persevere with stunning views of the Alaskan wilderness.

W
HERE
: Dyea is 111 miles northwest of Juneau.
Hiking info:
Tel 907-983-2921;
www.nps.gov/klgo
.
Cost:
permits $16 (U.S. side only); $45 (entire trail).
H
OW
: Klondike Tours provides shuttle service to hikers (tel 907-983-2400;
www.klondiketours.com
).
Cost:
$90.
B
EST TIMES
: Trail is generally free of snow mid-July–mid-Aug, though this is also the busiest season; mid-Aug–late Sept has wetter weather and colder temperatures, but hiking conditions generally remain good.

Deep Powder, Steep Slopes … and No Tracks

Valdez, Alaska

Stretching east to west just above Prince William Sound (see p. 919), the 300-mile Chugach Range is perfectly positioned between warm air from the Pacific and arctic air from the Alaskan interior, which mix together to
make snow—lots of snow. It’s the kind of fine, dry, deep powder that skiers dream about, and when layered over almost unlimited runs of 4,000 to 5,000 vertical feet across 2,500 square miles of empty, pristine slopes, it’s some kind of heaven for advanced to expert skiers only. The town of Valdez is the hub of backcountry skiing in the Chugach, home to numerous operators, guides, and extreme skiing competitions. The average annual snowfall in town is 325 inches, and in the Thompson Pass area, outside town, 600 inches isn’t uncommon. Valdez Heli-Ski Guides and Alaska Backcountry Adventures both offer guided Chugach heli-skiing, with skiers able to choose as much or as little adventure as they want, from full-day six-run programs to weeklong packages. Small groups of four to five skiers and professional guides head by helicopter to mountains that match the group’s level of experience. It’s all about fast, hard skiing, with the average run lasting up to an hour and the average guest completing six to ten difficult runs a day. With daylight in springtime often stretching until 10
P.M
., you have all the time you need.

Worthington Glacier, in the Chugach Mountains, offers a spectacular vantage on alpine tundra.

W
HERE
: 120 miles east of Anchorage.
V
ALDEZ
H
ELI
-S
KI
: Tel 907-835-4528;
www.valdezheliskiguides.com
.
Cost:
full-day packages $750. Weeklong packages $6,600, includes lodging.
When:
late-Feb–early May.
A
LASKA
B
ACKCOUNTRY
A
DVENTURES
: Tel 888-S
WAYBACK
or 530-581-1767;
www.alaskabackcountry.com
.
Cost:
full-day packages $595. Weeklong packages $3,226, includes lodging.
When:
Mar–Apr.
B
EST TIMES
: Feb–Mar for the deepest powder, though days are shorter and colder; Apr–May for longer days and a mix of powder and corn snow.

The Heavyweight Champ of National Parks

Alaska

Imagine a wilderness bigger than Vermont and Rhode Island put together, but where fewer than 250 visitors show up most days. Imagine further that it’s connected to another enormous stretch right across the Canadian border
(Kluane National Park), forming one of the largest internationally protected ecosystems on the planet. That’s Wrangell-St. Elias, the largest of the U.S. National Parks and the only binational World Heritage Site on the globe.

Located a day’s drive east of Anchorage where the Chugach, Wrangell, and St. Elias ranges converge, the park is home to 9 of the continent’s 16 tallest mountains, as well as the largest collection of glaciers in North America. At 18,008 feet, Mount St. Elias is the second-highest peak in the U.S. (after Denali, see p. 912), while 14,163-foot Mount Wrangell is one of the continent’s largest active volcanoes.

Hikers can choose from short, marked day-trails near the visitor center or unmarked multiday routes that reach remote lakes, valleys, glaciers, and abandoned mountainside copper mines. Rafters and kayakers can run the 77-mile route down the Copper River from the village of Chitina to the Gulf of Alaska, passing through some of the park’s harshest terrain. Visitors with more horsepower than stamina can explore the rugged McCarthy Road, a 61-mile gravel drive from Chitina through the heart of the park, full of great hiking, camping, wildlife-watching, and fishing opportunities. Four miles beyond the end of the road, accessible via shuttle, the old company town of Kennecott preserves some 40 mine-owned buildings in various stages of restoration. The ghost town is considered the best remaining example of an early 20th-century copper mining operation. Five miles down the road, McCarthy is a more active town with restaurants, lodgings, and other visitor services. Beyond the remote southeast
corner of the park and accessible only by air and ferry, the small town of Yakutat is notable for exceptional salmon and halibut fishing as well as (believe it or not) surfing.