The hike will take place from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 7. Seniors should meet at the Starrigavan trailhead to hike the Sitka Cross Trail. Rides are available for those who need them. Participants should be prepared to wear masks to prevent the spread of Covid-19 and practice distancing while on the hike.
Normally, the group picks the trail on the day of the hike, but occasionally a trail is picked before the event. SAIL makes trekking poles available for hikers to use (trekking poles are great on ice or uneven terrain, and they help seniors keep their balance), and hikers are encouraged to bring ice cleats such as YakTrax during the icy months of winter.
SAIL offers Senior Hiking Club events for those age 60 or older once or twice a month, and now plans to alternate them on Mondays with Adventure Club events. There is a $10 fee, but nobody will be turned away because of finances. (NOTE: Due to funding concerns, starting in February 2022 the fee for the hikes will increase from $5 to $10 and there will be a fee of $3 one way and $5 both ways to use the shuttle bus. Please use this link for the scholarship form, https://forms.gle/SYCKpaVjCoKXpzqz5.) The hikes are open to people of all abilities and fitness levels. To learn more about the Senior Hiking Club, check out our January 2013 post introducing the club.
To learn more about the Senior Hiking Club, senior and adaptive kayaking trips, senior cycling events, and and a variety of other outdoors skills and survival classes, contact SAIL ORCA (Outdoor Recreation and Community Access) program coordinator Matt Millado at 1-888-487-1029 or email him at mmillado@sailinc.org.
The hike will take place from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 30. Seniors should meet to hike the Forest and Muskeg Trail. Rides are available for those who need them. Participants should be prepared to wear masks to prevent the spread of Covid-19 and practice distancing while on the hike.
Normally, the group picks the trail on the day of the hike, but occasionally a trail is picked before the event. SAIL makes trekking poles available for hikers to use (trekking poles are great on ice or uneven terrain, and they help seniors keep their balance), and hikers are encouraged to bring ice cleats such as YakTrax during the icy months of winter.
SAIL offers Senior Hiking Club events for those age 60 or older once or twice a month, and now plans to alternate them on Mondays with Adventure Club events. There is a $10 fee, but nobody will be turned away because of finances. (NOTE: Due to funding concerns, starting in February 2022 the fee for the hikes will increase from $5 to $10 and there will be a fee of $3 one way and $5 both ways to use the shuttle bus. Please use this link for the scholarship form, https://forms.gle/SYCKpaVjCoKXpzqz5.) The hikes are open to people of all abilities and fitness levels. To learn more about the Senior Hiking Club, check out our January 2013 post introducing the club.
To learn more about the Senior Hiking Club, senior and adaptive kayaking trips, senior cycling events, and and a variety of other outdoors skills and survival classes, contact SAIL ORCA (Outdoor Recreation and Community Access) program coordinator Matt Millado at 1-888-487-1029 or email him at mmillado@sailinc.org.
“We are thrilled that Sitka has been renewed as a Bronze-level Walk Friendly Community, and proud to be the first town in Alaska to earn the designation in 2013,” Sitka Mayor Steven Eisenbeisz said. “A grassroots effort from a group of dedicated citizens to prepare and submit the application for this program has not only improved the lives of Sitkans, but has helped to posture our city for other federal funding opportunities.”
“Sitka is designated as a Bronze-level community due to its consistently high walking mode share and low crash rate, exceptional trail system, and community support for walking initiatives and events,” the WFC program wrote on Sitka’s community page on its website.
The WFC designation is awarded based on a detailed review of a community’s sustained efforts to elevate the needs of pedestrians across all areas of transportation programs. These communities also offer examples of steps that other cities and towns can take to improve walkability and safety.
Included among the June 21 designated communities are Arlington County, Virginia, and New York City, New York, with Platinum-level designations for their activities. WFC also issued four Gold-level (Ann Arbor, Mich.; Chicago; Corvallis, Ore.; Minneapolis), four Silver-level (Alexandria, Va.; Cary, N.C.; Lawrence, Kan.; Ypsilanti, Mich.), and 13 Bronze-level designations (Durango, Colo.; Fayetteville, Ark.; Fergus Falls, Minn.; Flagstaff, Ariz.; Gainesville, Fla.; Mount Lebanon, Pa.; Northampton, Mass.; Rochester, Minn.; Sitka, Alaska; Stevens Point, Wis.; Wilsonville, Ore.; York, Pa.). In the 12 years since the WFC program began, it has recognized 82 cities and towns across 32 States with WFC designations.
“We are impressed by the commitments these communities have made to plan and design their communities around people on foot,” said Dan Gelinne, WFC program manager. “We hope these communities can offer inspiration to others as they work to prioritize pedestrian safety and walkability.”
Becoming a Walk Friendly Community was a community wellness project of the 2008 and 2012 Sitka Health Summits (the 2008 project was before there was a national Walk Friendly Communities program). In 2008, Sitka residents wanted the community to be friendlier to people walking or riding bikes (Sitka earned its first Bicycle Friendly Community designation that year), and in 2012 they wanted to add the new WFC designation to the BFC award. Sitka is the only community in Alaska with both Walk Friendly Communities (Bronze in 2013, 2017 and 2022) and Bicycle Friendly Community (Bronze in 2008 and 2012, Silver in 2016 and 2020) designations.
“At the very first Sitka Health Summit in 2007, participants ended the day by sharing ideas on next steps. One idea that filled Harrigan Centennial Hall with applause was being a more walk- and bike-friendly town,” said SEARHC Health Educator Doug Osborne, who helps coordinate the Sitka Health Summit. “Walking was again prioritized by citizen planners at the 2012 Summit and in the last 15 years Sitka has made significant strides in this important area. Since it was first selected as a community goal, multiple crosswalks have been improved, projects to increase visibility have involved hundreds of locals, plus a no-cellphone-while-driving policy to reduce distracted driving, new sidewalks, trails, signage, etc. So much has change and right now hundreds of commuters are stepping into better health and prizes with the Walk, Bike, Win! downtown commuter challenge program this summer.
“Walking is a natural for Sitka,” Osborne added. “For the last 10,000 years people have been walking here. Some might think that cars have taken over, but the vast majority of human beings who will be in Sitka in 2022 will get around on foot. The visitors from the cruise ships are often walking, the Mount Edgecumbe High School student body, locals who don’t have a driver’s license because of age, vision, or other factors. Additionally, we have people walking because they can’t afford to buy, insure, and fuel a car. Others walk because they are motivated to protect the environment for future generations and still more just like it. I get that because life at 3 miles an hour (the average walking speed) is a wonderful thing.”
Walk Friendly Communities is a national recognition program developed to encourage towns and cities across the U.S. to establish or recommit to a high priority for supporting safer walking environments, according to the program’s website. The WFC program recognizes communities that are working to improve a wide range of conditions related to walking, including safety, mobility, access, and comfort.
“The majority of trips in the car are for less than three miles, and if we can encourage people to walk or bike instead we promote a culture of wellness,” said Charles Bingham, coordinator of Walk Sitka and the writer of Sitka’s three WFC applications. “Not only are people getting heart-healthy physical health benefits from walking, there are benefits for mental and emotional health when you take a walk in the woods. In addition, by walking and biking we reduce the amount of car exhaust we have to breathe, and there are economic benefits when we have walkable communities. There also are increased social connections when people, because neighbors can chat with each other instead of being barricaded in a steel box on wheels.”
The Walk Friendly Communities program has two application periods each year, with applications usually due on June 15 and Dec. 15 (this year there was a special renewal-only survey communities could complete in February, due to the pandemic, which is what Sitka used for its renewal). Each application is reviewed by at least three reviewers to provide a fair assessment of the community and technical feedback on how to improve the community’s walkability.
The hike will take place from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 23. Seniors should meet to hike K’aan Héeni (Thimbleberry Lake Trail). Rides are available for those who need them. Participants should be prepared to wear masks to prevent the spread of Covid-19 and practice distancing while on the hike.
Normally, the group picks the trail on the day of the hike, but occasionally a trail is picked before the event. SAIL makes trekking poles available for hikers to use (trekking poles are great on ice or uneven terrain, and they help seniors keep their balance), and hikers are encouraged to bring ice cleats such as YakTrax during the icy months of winter.
SAIL offers Senior Hiking Club events for those age 60 or older once or twice a month, and now plans to alternate them on Mondays with Adventure Club events. There is a $10 fee, but nobody will be turned away because of finances. (NOTE: Due to funding concerns, starting in February 2022 the fee for the hikes will increase from $5 to $10 and there will be a fee of $3 one way and $5 both ways to use the shuttle bus. Please use this link for the scholarship form, https://forms.gle/SYCKpaVjCoKXpzqz5.) The hikes are open to people of all abilities and fitness levels. To learn more about the Senior Hiking Club, check out our January 2013 post introducing the club.
To learn more about the Senior Hiking Club, senior and adaptive kayaking trips, senior cycling events, and and a variety of other outdoors skills and survival classes, contact SAIL ORCA (Outdoor Recreation and Community Access) program coordinator Matt Millado at 1-888-487-1029 or email him at mmillado@sailinc.org.
Don’t be alarmed if you hear an airhorn coming from within Sitka National Historical Park between 8 and 8:30 a.m. this summer.
To help minimize bear human interactions, park staff will be using an airhorn’s non-lethal sound blast in an attempt to have bears associate the airhorn noise with a human presence. If successful, the park trails can remain more open for visitor use and we can avoid the lengthy temporary trail closures of recent years from bears who accessed the park at night seeking salmon in Indian River – but stayed instead of their more natural pattern of leaving the area at dawn.
As the season progresses, the park again will post advisory signs on the trails, as warranted, alerting visitors to known bear presence.
This activity is consistent with Sitka National Historical Park’s Human and Bear Interaction Management Plan and will continue throughout the summer and fall.
For questions or concerns, please contact Natural and Cultural Resources Program Manager Jessica Perkins at 907-747-0140 or Jessica_Perkins@nps.gov.
Want to learn more about Sitka’s maritime heritage?
Join the Sitka Maritime Heritage Society for 90-minute maritime heritage walking tours at noon on most Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from June through August. The walks start at the Sitka Public Library, and include information from local guides on Sitka’s Tlingít history, Russian history, boat-building, commercial fishing, the sea otter trade, and more.
The walks cost $40 or adults and $30 for teens. You can register online at this link. Historic images will show how the community has changed over the years.
The hike will take place from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 16. Seniors should meet to hike Táax’aa Geeyí (Mosquito Cove Trail). Rides are available for those who need them. Participants should be prepared to wear masks to prevent the spread of Covid-19 and practice distancing while on the hike.
Normally, the group picks the trail on the day of the hike, but occasionally a trail is picked before the event. SAIL makes trekking poles available for hikers to use (trekking poles are great on ice or uneven terrain, and they help seniors keep their balance), and hikers are encouraged to bring ice cleats such as YakTrax during the icy months of winter.
SAIL offers Senior Hiking Club events for those age 60 or older once or twice a month, and now plans to alternate them on Mondays with Adventure Club events. There is a $10 fee, but nobody will be turned away because of finances. (NOTE: Due to funding concerns, starting in February 2022 the fee for the hikes will increase from $5 to $10 and there will be a fee of $3 one way and $5 both ways to use the shuttle bus. Please use this link for the scholarship form, https://forms.gle/SYCKpaVjCoKXpzqz5.) The hikes are open to people of all abilities and fitness levels. To learn more about the Senior Hiking Club, check out our January 2013 post introducing the club.
To learn more about the Senior Hiking Club, senior and adaptive kayaking trips, senior cycling events, and and a variety of other outdoors skills and survival classes, contact SAIL ORCA (Outdoor Recreation and Community Access) program coordinator Matt Millado at 1-888-487-1029 or email him at mmillado@sailinc.org.
Volunteers should meet at 9 a.m. at the Mosquito Cove Trail trailhead, with gloves, water, and snacks. The trailhead is located seven miles from downtown Sitka on Halibut Point Road, and is three-quarters of a mile beyond the ferry terminal, past Starrigavan Campground. The Mosquito Cove Trail is part of the Old Sitka State Historical Park. Be ready to work until noon.
According to the American Hiking Society website, “National Trails Day is a day of public events aimed at advocacy and trail service. Thousands of hikers, bikers, rowers, horseback riders, trail clubs, federal and local agencies, land trusts, and businesses come together in partnership to advocate for, maintain, and clean up public lands and trails.”
The hike will take place from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 2. Seniors should meet to hike the Starrigavan ATV Trails. Rides are available for those who need them. Participants should be prepared to wear masks to prevent the spread of Covid-19 and practice distancing while on the hike.
Normally, the group picks the trail on the day of the hike, but occasionally a trail is picked before the event. SAIL makes trekking poles available for hikers to use (trekking poles are great on ice or uneven terrain, and they help seniors keep their balance), and hikers are encouraged to bring ice cleats such as YakTrax during the icy months of winter.
SAIL offers Senior Hiking Club events for those age 60 or older once or twice a month, and now plans to alternate them on Mondays with Adventure Club events. There is a $10 fee, but nobody will be turned away because of finances. (NOTE: Due to funding concerns, starting in February 2022 the fee for the hikes will increase from $5 to $10 and there will be a fee of $3 one way and $5 both ways to use the shuttle bus. Please use this link for the scholarship form, https://forms.gle/SYCKpaVjCoKXpzqz5.) The hikes are open to people of all abilities and fitness levels. To learn more about the Senior Hiking Club, check out our January 2013 post introducing the club.
To learn more about the Senior Hiking Club, senior and adaptive kayaking trips, senior cycling events, and and a variety of other outdoors skills and survival classes, contact SAIL ORCA (Outdoor Recreation and Community Access) program coordinator Matt Millado at 1-888-487-1029 or email him at mmillado@sailinc.org.
The hike will take place from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 26. Seniors should meet at Sitka National Historical Park to hike the Totem Trails, then the group will meet at Yoga Union for Yoga With Kari. Rides are available for those who need them. Participants should be prepared to wear masks to prevent the spread of Covid-19 and practice distancing while on the hike.
Normally, the group picks the trail on the day of the hike, but occasionally a trail is picked before the event. SAIL makes trekking poles available for hikers to use (trekking poles are great on ice or uneven terrain, and they help seniors keep their balance), and hikers are encouraged to bring ice cleats such as YakTrax during the icy months of winter.
SAIL offers Senior Hiking Club events for those age 60 or older once or twice a month, and now plans to alternate them on Mondays with Adventure Club events. There is a $10 fee, but nobody will be turned away because of finances. (NOTE: Due to funding concerns, starting in February the fee for the hikes will increase from $5 to $10 and there will be a fee of $3 one way and $5 both ways to use the shuttle bus. Please use this link for the scholarship form, https://forms.gle/SYCKpaVjCoKXpzqz5.) The hikes are open to people of all abilities and fitness levels. To learn more about the Senior Hiking Club, check out our January 2013 post introducing the club.
To learn more about the Senior Hiking Club, senior and adaptive kayaking trips, senior cycling events, and and a variety of other outdoors skills and survival classes, contact SAIL ORCA (Outdoor Recreation and Community Access) program coordinator Matt Millado at 1-888-487-1029 or email him at mmillado@sailinc.org.
Walk Sitka 