Petersburg Area, Southeast Alaska
Few towns on the waterfront can still be considered little quaint communities. We have one here in Alaska – the Norwegian fishing community of Petersburg. Placed very near an ice-source in the older days, today it is one of the great fishing centers of Alaska for salmon, halibut, baitfish, Dungeness and king crabs. The wild-caught salmon are a great business today, but that is suffering from the flooded world market of farmed Atlantic salmon. But they are holding on, as there is nothing like fresh Alaskan salmon!
During the morning we were at Woewodski Island, south of Mitkof Island, where Petersburg is located. Here we had an interesting hike into the forest of Sitka Spruce, Western Hemlock and Yellow Cedar, to Harvey Lake, where we had the opportunity of seeing great numbers of lovely wild flowers, and even a hummingbird taking advantage of the pollen and nectar of a hardhack (spiraea) bush! In the afternoon we visited the town of Petersburg, as well as a bog or muskeg across the canal, on Kupreanof Island, enjoying the unique plants there that can live in slightly acidic water, such as the bog blueberries, cranberries, Labrador Tea, etc.
Available for those that so wanted were helicopter and floatplane flights.
Few towns on the waterfront can still be considered little quaint communities. We have one here in Alaska – the Norwegian fishing community of Petersburg. Placed very near an ice-source in the older days, today it is one of the great fishing centers of Alaska for salmon, halibut, baitfish, Dungeness and king crabs. The wild-caught salmon are a great business today, but that is suffering from the flooded world market of farmed Atlantic salmon. But they are holding on, as there is nothing like fresh Alaskan salmon!
During the morning we were at Woewodski Island, south of Mitkof Island, where Petersburg is located. Here we had an interesting hike into the forest of Sitka Spruce, Western Hemlock and Yellow Cedar, to Harvey Lake, where we had the opportunity of seeing great numbers of lovely wild flowers, and even a hummingbird taking advantage of the pollen and nectar of a hardhack (spiraea) bush! In the afternoon we visited the town of Petersburg, as well as a bog or muskeg across the canal, on Kupreanof Island, enjoying the unique plants there that can live in slightly acidic water, such as the bog blueberries, cranberries, Labrador Tea, etc.
Available for those that so wanted were helicopter and floatplane flights.
