Today we were in Sitka. The area was originally home to the Tlingit people. Russia moved in and basically, stole it from the Tlingit. Sitka was the site of both a Russian fort and a Tlingit fort. Descendents of the Tlingit people still live in the area. We walked up Baronaf Castle Hill a short distance away from where our cruise ship tender dropped us off. The views of Sitka Sound were beautiful. The day was cool and clear, not typical weather for the rain forest. Castle Hill is where Russian Alaska was formally handed over to the United States in 1867 and where the 49-star United States flag was first flown after Alaska became a state in 1959. There are plaques commemorating both events at the top of the hill.
Our rental bikes were only a block away and after picking them up we headed toward the Sitka National Historic Park. It is where the Tlingit people built a fort to defend themselves from the Russians. There were numerous totems on the beautiful ocean side walk among tall spruce and hemlock trees.
The bike path left from the National Park. We followed a bike path up Saw Mill road to the end of the pavement, about 5 miles. As we began, the path went through a business/repair area and up a steep hill, we started to question our choice of riding that particular trail. When we reached Whale Park and Thimbleberry Creek, we could see that the landscape and scenery were suddenly as grand as any scenery could be! Mountains rose near vertical and the day was bright and cloud free! We turned at the end of the inlet arm where the pavement ended. The ride back was equally stunning and oddly easier on the way back, even though we started and returned to sea level. We returned the bikes and walked around the shop’s in downtown Sitka.
We took the 3:00 shuttle back to the ship and as we’d missed lunch we ordered room service and enjoyed it on the balcony in the sun.
We ate dinner at The Grill again. That’s the place with the hot rocks. It was equally cold and equally good. We ended the evening listening to not so good singers sing karaoke.
Comments