Getting Oriented

As remote as it is, Southeast Alaska shares a few traits with heavily populated regions. It has skyscrapers (the towering peaks of the Coast Range), traffic jams (try to swim through a salmon creek midsummer), and sprawl (the rain forests cover hundreds of thousands of acres).

• Ketchikan. A town famous for its colorful totem poles, rainy skies, steep streets, and lush island setting.
• Misty Fiords National Monument. A wilderness area filled with gorgeous fjords and coastal scenery.
• Metlakatla. A quiet Inside Passage Native community.
• Price of Wales Island. The largest island in southeast Alaska.
• Wrangell. A fishing and timber community on North America's largest undammed river.
• Petersburg. A hard-to-acess town that will reward you with fishing and Nordic influence.
• Sitka. A vibrant arts community with excellent parks and kayaking.
• Juneau. Alaska's charming capital and home to the famed Mendenhall Glacier.
• Juneau's Nearby Villages. Native communities that offer insight into the area's indigenous cultures.
• Admiralty Island. The home of the Southeast's largest population of brown bears.
• Tracy Arm. A narrow fjord that leads to Sawyer Glacier.
• Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. The continent's largest (and most stunning) collection of tidewater glaciers.
• Gustavus. The gateway to Glacier Bay National Park.
• Haines. A small town known for fishing and an eagle preserve.
• Skagway. A famed Gold Rush town with gorgeous scenery and an incredible railway.