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Started By
Message
re: Alaska for a Weekend (Trip Review of Sitka Page 2)
Posted on 9/3/21 at 12:21 pm to CuseTiger
Posted on 9/3/21 at 12:21 pm to CuseTiger
Well the weekend has finally come and I am headed to Sitka tonight! Forecast is rain but I'll have a good time. Have a tour scheduled at the Sitka science center, bought a ticket for the Alaska Raptor Center, and likely going to wander/hike tomorrow. Sunday is a salmon fishing trip then head back Monday morning. Will post pictures once I am back
1
Posted on 9/3/21 at 12:43 pm to CuseTiger
quote:
Well the weekend has finally come and I am headed to Sitka tonight! Forecast is rain but I'll have a good time. Have a tour scheduled at the Sitka science center, bought a ticket for the Alaska Raptor Center, and likely going to wander/hike tomorrow. Sunday is a salmon fishing trip then head back Monday morning. Will post pictures once I am back
Nice! Enjoy your trip
Posted on 9/3/21 at 1:16 pm to gaetti15
Thanks! I booked this what feels like ages ago and glad the time has finally come.
Posted on 9/3/21 at 3:27 pm to CuseTiger
quote:
I found roundtrip flights from Seattle to Fairbanks for $118 in August, Ketchikan or Sitka for $175, and Juneau for $180 over Labor day weekend.
Got a little excited reading this. Flights from Bham to Sitka next weekend are $1200 roundtrip.
Posted on 9/3/21 at 8:44 pm to RogerTheShrubber
My wife wants to see the northern lights but so far she has refused to go to AK in the winter. Assuming I can convince her some day, how much time do I need to allow. I assume it’s not an every night thing?
Posted on 9/3/21 at 9:33 pm to CuseTiger
Man, I’m pretty excited to hear about this trip. I feel like you always helping everyone else with travel plans and you are getting a chance to do yourself. I’m sure you do plenty of trips but I don’t hear about them often. Hope you enjoy your time!
Posted on 9/3/21 at 10:08 pm to Stexas
Sitka is kickass and one of the most beautiful towns You'll find.
Its been raining like hell though, a pineapple express is dumping tons of moisture this weekend.
Its been raining like hell though, a pineapple express is dumping tons of moisture this weekend.
Posted on 9/3/21 at 11:39 pm to RogerTheShrubber
I’m on the Cook Inlet Coast for a 10 days but it looks like wind is coming Tuesday and it’s going to be here for a while. I’m guessing it’s the same system that’s bringing you rain? Have a feeling my 10 day trip is going to be closer to 20.
Posted on 9/5/21 at 10:51 pm to TimeOutdoors
quote:
on the Cook Inlet Coast for a 10 days but it looks like wind is coming Tuesday and it’s going to be here for a while. I’m guessing it’s the same system that’s bringing you rain? Have a feeling my 10 day trip is going to be closer to 20.
It's been rainy here and overcast for what seems like the entire summer
Posted on 9/6/21 at 8:26 am to RogerTheShrubber
I’m piggybacking on this thread...
Hey Roger, what is the best way to get back and forth to Kodiak island from Anchorage? I will be on the island next summer for a week of fishing. Or is it better to go from Homer?
Thanks!
Hey Roger, what is the best way to get back and forth to Kodiak island from Anchorage? I will be on the island next summer for a week of fishing. Or is it better to go from Homer?
Thanks!
This post was edited on 9/6/21 at 8:26 am
Posted on 9/6/21 at 5:56 pm to weagle99
quote:
Hey Roger, what is the best way to get back and forth to Kodiak island from Anchorage?
From Kodiak, fly. There is an occasional ferry from Kodiak to Whittier, but its not worth it. Homer, you can drive to Anchorage. Just depends on what you want to experience, but Homer is a jumping off point to the Alaska Peninsula too.
This post was edited on 9/6/21 at 5:57 pm
Posted on 9/6/21 at 5:58 pm to TimeOutdoors
quote:
I’m on the Cook Inlet Coast for a 10 days but it looks like wind is coming Tuesday and it’s going to be here for a while. I’m guessing it’s the same system that’s bringing you rain?
Yeah, we got an early fall storm pattern here. Just continuous flows of Aleutian Lows...
This post was edited on 9/6/21 at 5:59 pm
Posted on 9/6/21 at 6:41 pm to RogerTheShrubber
Thanks much
Posted on 9/6/21 at 8:13 pm to RogerTheShrubber
The drive from Anchorage to Homer is an easy drive and very pretty. Then you fly to Kodiak.
This post was edited on 9/6/21 at 8:14 pm
Posted on 9/6/21 at 11:42 pm to madamsquirrel
Trip review below (picture heavy). Huge thanks to our alaskan posters for the help and suggestions on this quick weekend trip, I had a blast and am ready to head up there again 
.
Friday night- Flew up to Sitka from Seattle. Checked in with a very good Delta agent who was asking all about Sitka. She didn't realize there was much to do on the island so when I told her what I had planned she got excited. Roughly a 2 hour flight and only 30 people onboard so we left and made it into Sitka a bit early. Realize my cell service is roaming with Verizon and immediately turn off the mobile data. No airport wifi to connect to so end up going outside looking for a cab. Didn't find one and everyone else on the flight had shuttle services (I did not rent a car as it was $125/day). Find a couple outside that was also on the flight that just got off the phone with a cab after calling 6 times. They thankfully ask if I want to split their cab, otherwise my plan was walking the 34 minutes to the Super 8...
So I get to the Super 8 and check in. Couldnt figure out how to open the door and had to go back to the front desk. Felt like an idiot when he said push up not down. Get in the room, it was exactly what I needed for the weekend.
Crash and move onto Saturday
Saturday
Wake up around 8 and head downstairs for breakfast. Finish eating and start walking over towards a Raptor Sanctuary down the street. Nice small town on the southeast coast of Alaska, was surprised the sun was out as rain was forecasted.
Walk across the Indian River and notice all of the dead/zombie like salmon trying to swim upstream.
A bit further up the road is the Raptor center so I head inside. Watch a quick intro video that was pretty cheesy, then get a personal tour since I was the only one there. They house and rehabilitate birds that have issues like getting hit by cars, eating fish hooks, and clipped wings. We walked over to a spot with 17 eagles and wow they were big. I would not want to mess with any of them. The stronger ones can reach the higher rope
They also had a gray owl inside which was a recently new addition. Saw some pretty badass bald eagles when I walked outside to the permanent residents.
Saw a few other owls and bald eagles then made my way down towards Sitka National Park to see the totem poles. Walked along the water to get down there and got a few pictures.
Walked past the science center (I had booked an 11am behind the scenes tour) and into Sitka National Park.
Started by walking around outside a bit then walked inside. Learned about the Tlingit tribe, the russians, and some of the history behind what went into totem pole making.
Some of the background behind the colors for totem poles
I head outside and want to walk around a bit near the walk. I see a bear sign to warn of recent bear activity near the park. Last encounter was 9/2 at 7am, it was 9/4... So was on alert a bit more than usual but saw plenty of other people walking around with dogs, radios, etc. so didn't have any issue walking around a bit.
Saw some more totem poles, but it was time to head to the science center for a tour. Get to the science center and am early for the tour, but find out I'm the only one scheduled. I wait a few minutes out in their aquarium. Saw some sea urchins, didn't know what they looked like on the other side of the spikes.
So the tour starts in a science looking classroom that was originally part of the college across the street. The college stopped functioning so the science center was founded (aquarium, hatchery, and education focused). Once we finished in the classroom, we went outside to the hatchery. I had never been to a fish hatchery before so had no clue what went into it. This part alone was definitely worth the behind the scenes tour and my favorite part of the weekend besides fishing. The circle of life starts with salmon swimming upstream to lay their eggs. As they do this, they act pretty zombie like in that their bodies are literally decaying. Whole goal is to get the eggs out of those fish , incubate them, and ensure a population of whatever breed of salmon is wanted. So in this case, we had chum in the stream (there are 5 different types of salmon). The fish are loaded up into a net and picked up.
Then they are given a blow to the head (think of a knockout punch) and separated by males and females.
The females have their eggs and milk filtered out
Then the eggs get taken to the incubation room where they are stored in giant vats. Once they hit a certain age, they get transferred to another incubation area and begin the circle of life all over again. Truly awesome to see this whole experience in person and had no idea it was so conflicting to people. Then we went to the aquarium section and got to see their new octopus addition. Tour wrapped up but all in all, I'd highly recommend this behind the scenes tour during a salmon run. Really good insight into salmon and some of the cool research going on. Asked where a good spot to eat lunch was and was recommended Ashmo's, a food truck.
Walked over to where Ashmo's was but couldn't find it. Ended up passing the location about 4 times then walked into the movie theater, where they said it closed up a day earlier... So they recommended a filipino restaurant across the street. Got a burger top with an egg and some brown gravy and rice, was absolutely delicious.
After lunch, walked around, stopped at a gift shop, and found Baranof Castle so I walked up the steps to the top. From here, you could get a really good view of the town and surrounding area
Was getting tired so decided to head back to the hotel and drop off my gift shop bag. After a quick break, decided to go to the Fortress of the Bears. Was told it was worth it, but in my 50 minutes there I thought it wasn't what it was hyped up to be especially compared to the raptor center or the science center. I did get to see several brown and black bears.
They fed the brown bears apples
Black bears got grapes
Taxi showed up and went back to the hotel to change and head to dinner. Found good reviews for Bayview so went over and sat at the bar to watch the LSU game. Great bartender Scott, got the hallibut fish and chips and it was excellent besides how shitty LSU played. Went back to the hotel and decided to hit the hay for an early fishing morning on Sunday.
. Friday night- Flew up to Sitka from Seattle. Checked in with a very good Delta agent who was asking all about Sitka. She didn't realize there was much to do on the island so when I told her what I had planned she got excited. Roughly a 2 hour flight and only 30 people onboard so we left and made it into Sitka a bit early. Realize my cell service is roaming with Verizon and immediately turn off the mobile data. No airport wifi to connect to so end up going outside looking for a cab. Didn't find one and everyone else on the flight had shuttle services (I did not rent a car as it was $125/day). Find a couple outside that was also on the flight that just got off the phone with a cab after calling 6 times. They thankfully ask if I want to split their cab, otherwise my plan was walking the 34 minutes to the Super 8...
So I get to the Super 8 and check in. Couldnt figure out how to open the door and had to go back to the front desk. Felt like an idiot when he said push up not down
. Get in the room, it was exactly what I needed for the weekend. Crash and move onto Saturday
Saturday
Wake up around 8 and head downstairs for breakfast. Finish eating and start walking over towards a Raptor Sanctuary down the street. Nice small town on the southeast coast of Alaska, was surprised the sun was out as rain was forecasted.
Walk across the Indian River and notice all of the dead/zombie like salmon trying to swim upstream.
A bit further up the road is the Raptor center so I head inside. Watch a quick intro video that was pretty cheesy, then get a personal tour since I was the only one there. They house and rehabilitate birds that have issues like getting hit by cars, eating fish hooks, and clipped wings. We walked over to a spot with 17 eagles and wow they were big. I would not want to mess with any of them. The stronger ones can reach the higher rope
They also had a gray owl inside which was a recently new addition. Saw some pretty badass bald eagles when I walked outside to the permanent residents.
Saw a few other owls and bald eagles then made my way down towards Sitka National Park to see the totem poles. Walked along the water to get down there and got a few pictures.
Walked past the science center (I had booked an 11am behind the scenes tour) and into Sitka National Park.
Started by walking around outside a bit then walked inside. Learned about the Tlingit tribe, the russians, and some of the history behind what went into totem pole making.
Some of the background behind the colors for totem poles
I head outside and want to walk around a bit near the walk. I see a bear sign to warn of recent bear activity near the park. Last encounter was 9/2 at 7am, it was 9/4... So was on alert a bit more than usual but saw plenty of other people walking around with dogs, radios, etc. so didn't have any issue walking around a bit.
Saw some more totem poles, but it was time to head to the science center for a tour. Get to the science center and am early for the tour, but find out I'm the only one scheduled. I wait a few minutes out in their aquarium. Saw some sea urchins, didn't know what they looked like on the other side of the spikes.
So the tour starts in a science looking classroom that was originally part of the college across the street. The college stopped functioning so the science center was founded (aquarium, hatchery, and education focused). Once we finished in the classroom, we went outside to the hatchery. I had never been to a fish hatchery before so had no clue what went into it. This part alone was definitely worth the behind the scenes tour and my favorite part of the weekend besides fishing. The circle of life starts with salmon swimming upstream to lay their eggs. As they do this, they act pretty zombie like in that their bodies are literally decaying. Whole goal is to get the eggs out of those fish , incubate them, and ensure a population of whatever breed of salmon is wanted. So in this case, we had chum in the stream (there are 5 different types of salmon). The fish are loaded up into a net and picked up.
Then they are given a blow to the head (think of a knockout punch) and separated by males and females.
The females have their eggs and milk filtered out
Then the eggs get taken to the incubation room where they are stored in giant vats. Once they hit a certain age, they get transferred to another incubation area and begin the circle of life all over again. Truly awesome to see this whole experience in person and had no idea it was so conflicting to people. Then we went to the aquarium section and got to see their new octopus addition. Tour wrapped up but all in all, I'd highly recommend this behind the scenes tour during a salmon run. Really good insight into salmon and some of the cool research going on. Asked where a good spot to eat lunch was and was recommended Ashmo's, a food truck.
Walked over to where Ashmo's was but couldn't find it. Ended up passing the location about 4 times then walked into the movie theater, where they said it closed up a day earlier... So they recommended a filipino restaurant across the street. Got a burger top with an egg and some brown gravy and rice, was absolutely delicious.
After lunch, walked around, stopped at a gift shop, and found Baranof Castle so I walked up the steps to the top. From here, you could get a really good view of the town and surrounding area
Was getting tired so decided to head back to the hotel and drop off my gift shop bag. After a quick break, decided to go to the Fortress of the Bears. Was told it was worth it, but in my 50 minutes there I thought it wasn't what it was hyped up to be especially compared to the raptor center or the science center. I did get to see several brown and black bears.
They fed the brown bears apples
Black bears got grapes
Taxi showed up and went back to the hotel to change and head to dinner. Found good reviews for Bayview so went over and sat at the bar to watch the LSU game. Great bartender Scott, got the hallibut fish and chips and it was excellent besides how shitty LSU played. Went back to the hotel and decided to hit the hay for an early fishing morning on Sunday.
This post was edited on 9/7/21 at 10:06 am
Posted on 9/6/21 at 11:43 pm to CuseTiger
Sunday
Wake up at 5am to meet at the fishing guide shop by 6. Notice in my email I had received a refund for about $200 for the trip I was about to take because it was changed from a solo trip to a group trip. I had full expectations on others beings on the boat so glad I saved some money. It was a short walk over to the shop but it was absolutely pouring down so hurried over.
Get in the shop and meet the captain. The other couple is also there already waiting and rush in to chat with him. Some family drama so ends up they're not coming and it's just me. Get suited up with waders, jacket and head down to the dock. Board the vessel and start making our way South out into the rain
So we stop in a spot with several of the big boys fishing further ways out and get a feel for the rod/bait/reel in process. He got pissed at me for the hooks getting close to his face when reeling in fish so started off on the wrong foot. After tensions cooled, we changed depths from 50' to 75' and started to get some bites. Caught 3 silver salmon pretty quickly then moved to another area to catch another 3 silvers. Limited out on salmon in like 3 hours. Got a picture below showing the size of one of the fish.
So we went looking for a king salmon. Ended up battling with a 24" one and then a 26" one, but both were below the 28" keeper size. At that point, I was quite content with the ones I caught and we started to make our way back towards the sound. On the way back, changes rods and went searching for rockfish. Dropped to 75', bobbed up and down, brought up to 50', then dropped to 75' again. Had 3 keepers in 4 bites (the fourth was a copper rockfish which are not keepers). At this point, I'm sore and done fishing so we head back to the docks. Once there, there's a sheet of paper to fill out where a distributor will process your fish for you and bring it to the airport the next morning. Signed up for that immediately and walked back to the shop. Changed, handed the captain a generous tip, and went back to the hotel. Was absolutely exhausted at this point (it was only 3pm) but knew I needed to eat. Walked to an asian place nearby and got some brisket pho. Then went and got a mocha malt at an old school pharmacy malt shop.
Went back to the hotel and crashed until this morning.
Monday
My big worries were a, finding a taxi after my mishaps on friday night and b, making sure I was at the airport by 5am for my fish. Woke up at 4am after a long night of sleep and called a taxi around 4:30am. Got very lucky one picked up and was outside/30 seconds away. Headed down and made my way to the Sitka airport. Got my fish (saw the box said 28 lbs
) and checked my luggage in pretty early for a 7am flight. Ended up not going through security until after 6am and glad I didn't as it was packed. Flight boarded ontime and we went outside into the rain.
Flight took off and got a really nice view of Sitka on my way out
Hit some pretty severe turbulence after takeoff but got into Seattle about 15 minutes early. Fish arrived A-okay and lugged it over to the ground transportation center. Drove home and opened the box to see what was way more fish than I expected.
Freezer is stocked and will last me a long time. Cooked a nice salmon fillet dinner with a friend after going hiking this afternoon.
Absolutely great weekend and would highly recommend a trip to Sitka even if it's for a quick weekend getaway. Looking forward to going back soon
Wake up at 5am to meet at the fishing guide shop by 6. Notice in my email I had received a refund for about $200 for the trip I was about to take because it was changed from a solo trip to a group trip. I had full expectations on others beings on the boat so glad I saved some money
. It was a short walk over to the shop but it was absolutely pouring down so hurried over. Get in the shop and meet the captain. The other couple is also there already waiting and rush in to chat with him. Some family drama so ends up they're not coming and it's just me. Get suited up with waders, jacket and head down to the dock. Board the vessel and start making our way South out into the rain
So we stop in a spot with several of the big boys fishing further ways out and get a feel for the rod/bait/reel in process. He got pissed at me for the hooks getting close to his face when reeling in fish so started off on the wrong foot. After tensions cooled, we changed depths from 50' to 75' and started to get some bites. Caught 3 silver salmon pretty quickly then moved to another area to catch another 3 silvers. Limited out on salmon in like 3 hours
. Got a picture below showing the size of one of the fish. So we went looking for a king salmon. Ended up battling with a 24" one and then a 26" one, but both were below the 28" keeper size. At that point, I was quite content with the ones I caught and we started to make our way back towards the sound. On the way back, changes rods and went searching for rockfish. Dropped to 75', bobbed up and down, brought up to 50', then dropped to 75' again. Had 3 keepers in 4 bites (the fourth was a copper rockfish which are not keepers). At this point, I'm sore and done fishing so we head back to the docks. Once there, there's a sheet of paper to fill out where a distributor will process your fish for you and bring it to the airport the next morning. Signed up for that immediately and walked back to the shop. Changed, handed the captain a generous tip, and went back to the hotel. Was absolutely exhausted at this point (it was only 3pm) but knew I needed to eat. Walked to an asian place nearby and got some brisket pho. Then went and got a mocha malt at an old school pharmacy malt shop.
Went back to the hotel and crashed until this morning.
Monday
My big worries were a, finding a taxi after my mishaps on friday night and b, making sure I was at the airport by 5am for my fish. Woke up at 4am after a long night of sleep and called a taxi around 4:30am. Got very lucky one picked up and was outside/30 seconds away. Headed down and made my way to the Sitka airport. Got my fish (saw the box said 28 lbs
) and checked my luggage in pretty early for a 7am flight. Ended up not going through security until after 6am and glad I didn't as it was packed. Flight boarded ontime and we went outside into the rain. Flight took off and got a really nice view of Sitka on my way out
Hit some pretty severe turbulence after takeoff but got into Seattle about 15 minutes early. Fish arrived A-okay and lugged it over to the ground transportation center. Drove home and opened the box to see what was way more fish than I expected.
Freezer is stocked and will last me a long time. Cooked a nice salmon fillet dinner with a friend after going hiking this afternoon.
Absolutely great weekend and would highly recommend a trip to Sitka even if it's for a quick weekend getaway. Looking forward to going back soon
This post was edited on 9/7/21 at 12:08 am
Posted on 9/7/21 at 7:43 am to madamsquirrel
quote:
Then you fly to Kodiak.
You can fly or take ferry to Kodiak, but I would hang out on the Kenai. You can reach everything from there.
Posted on 9/7/21 at 7:48 am to CuseTiger
quote:
Was told it was worth it, but in my 50 minutes there I thought it wasn't what it was hyped up to be especially compared to the raptor center or the science center. I did get to see several brown and black bears.
Yeah, it's not for me but the ride out to Silver Bay is nice. Sitka is roughly what Juneau was before Oil was flowing through the pipeline. The entire Island is worth exploring, some of the bays and fjords on the East side and South end are amazing. Trails up the two main mountains behind downtown are really cool to. If you go North, out towards Starrigavan, there's a lot of trails that direction too.
Raptor center trail goes along Indian Creek and is a nice little walk, but bears are pretty thick. A guy got mauled in Sitka last week.
This post was edited on 9/7/21 at 7:19 pm
Posted on 9/7/21 at 8:22 am to CuseTiger
Freaking awesome review and looks like an amazing trip. Cheers!
Posted on 9/7/21 at 8:52 am to Bluegrass_Cat
quote:
Freaking awesome review and looks like an amazing trip. Cheers!
Sitka is low key but a really fun place to visit if you like the outdoors. I love it there, its about 100 miles from JNU.
Baranof Island is just amazing. The East side has hot springs and thousands of waterfalls.
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