Amazing View From Centennial Totem Pole

October 8, 2021

An amazing nature view from the Centennial Totem Pole in the Sitka National Historical Park along the hiking trail surrounded by the coastal rainforest as it peers out beyond the shoreline of the Pacific Ocean with coastal mountains to its left. It is the newest totem pole, dedicated on May 15, 2011, to celebrate the park’s 100th anniversary of Sitka National Historical Park.

Near the top of the pole you’ll find an interlocked raven and eagle and a National Park Service buffalo draped with centennial Ravenstail robe. Lower down, look for a Julian calendar ... a Russian time-telling device that allowed people to mark the passage of time using a circle divided into 12 parts. It represents the importance of the Russian Orthodox Church in the lives of Alaska Native people. Another section replicates the style of another native group, the Haida people, in a tribute to all the park’s Haida poles. On the sides of the pole, you’ll find skunk cabbage and devil’s club, two important plants in Southeast Alaska. There’s even an abstract Mother Earth flanked by male and female salmon.

Sitka National Historical Park, located on the outer shore of Baranof Island in southeast Alaska, is the state’s oldest national park with only 113 acres ... but offers plenty to do ... with hiking trails, ranger-led interpretive walks, carving demonstrations, ethnographic displays, and more. The park’s main attractions are the roughly 20 totem poles and the beautiful coastal rainforest. The park also preserves historically and culturally significant sites and artifacts related to the 1804 Battle of Sitka between Tlingit and Russians forces, the Russian-American period in Alaska, and the Native people of Southeast Alaska. Visitors can travel to Sitka by scheduled and charter air services, ferry, and cruise ships.

Image created by USA Patriotism! from U.S. National Park Service photo.