Ketchikan Totem Poles & Misty Fjords

Ketchikan, the southernmost Alaska city and first port of call for Inside Passage cruise ships, holds the world's largest collection of standing totem poles and is the primary destination in Alaska for exploring Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian carving traditions. Several distinct sites spread across and around the city, each with its own historical character and visitor experience. Totem Bight State Historical Park, 9.5 miles north of downtown on North Tongass Highway, preserves 14 totem poles and a replica clan house in a forested setting above Tongass Narrows; entry is free and the 0.5-mile loop through tall Sitka spruce is serene. Saxman Native Village, 2.5 miles south of town, is a living carving center where Tlingit artists work in an open carving shed; the adjacent totem park contains 30 poles — the largest collection in Alaska — and a traditional dance performance is staged in the community house. The Totem Heritage Center in downtown Ketchikan houses 33 original 19th-century poles rescued from abandoned village sites and preserved in a museum climate, with detailed interpretive panels for each. Creek Street, a boardwalk district of historic buildings perched on pilings above Ketchikan Creek, adds a gold rush-era commercial layer to the city's heritage, and wild salmon can be seen in the creek below the boardwalk in summer. Misty Fjords National Monument, accessible by floatplane or boat from Ketchikan harbor, provides a dramatic wilderness extension with 3,000-foot granite walls rising directly from fjord water in one of Alaska's most photogenic landscapes.