Exploring Sitka

Visitors to Sitka have been enjoying the area for 8,000 years now -- and that's quite a feat for a city that is accessible only by air or water.

The word Sitka is a contraction of "Shee-Atika," which is the expression the original Tlingit Indians used to describe themselves and their locations on the western coast of what is now called Baranof Island.

Mount Edgecumbe helped shape Sitka, literally.

The now-extinct volcano spewed as much as 20 feet of ash around the coastline about 8,000 years ago.

Sitka's culture has constantly been changing. The Russians forced their way into Sitka around 1804, and they occupied the city until the sale of Alaska in 1867.

Even now, Seward's Day is marked with plenty of community celebration in Sitka -- more than any other community in Alaska.

For 63 years, Sitka was Russia's major Pacific port and headquarters to the Russian-American Company, the most profitable fur trading company in the world during its peak.

In 1906 Sitka gave up the role of territorial government center, giving that power to Juneau.

Today, Sitka's population remains around 9,000, and the culture has strong influences from its past -- from the Tlingit population to the Russian population.

Sitka has plenty to offer visitors, from saltwater fishing to a cultural tour of the past. The top outdoor activity is fishing, and the saltwater catch rate for king salmon is the tops in the nation.

Other outdoor-related activities to do in Sitka include sea kayaking and hiking, and the many U.S. Forest Service cabins in the area offer visitors the chance to make an extended trip into the backwoods.

The weather is milder in Sitka than in Southcentral Alaska.

The average annual snowfall is 39 inches a year, and the average winter weather dips to between 23 and 35 degrees. During the summer, wet climate conditions exist.

Economically, the town relies heavily on fishing, transportation, government and tourism to succeed.

The only way to get to Sitka is by air or water -- there are no roads to the island community.

It is located about 95 air miles from Juneau, where most of the flights to Sitka originate.