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The Pearl docked in Ketchikan at 6am today. After an early breakfast, I headed out to the pier and boarded the Blue Line $1-per-ride public bus headed to Totem Bight State Historical Park. We were the first people to arrive - only a handful of intrepid folk "brave" enough to travel independently of the pre-arranged cruise tours. It was great - I practically had the place all to myself!
The park was started in 1938 as a way of salvaging and reconstructing totem poles which had been left behind in abandoned villages across the Alaskan coastline. Sadly, this was largely the result of the Native American population being decimated by the effects of disease, alcoholism and urbanisation brought on by the onset of settlers from Europe. Many of the traditional skills were becoming obsolete and craftsmen were few and far between. The programme to restore the totem poles was started by the US Forest Service using Civilian Conservation Corps funds (the good old CCC again!) to hire skilled older Natives to replicate older carvings and teach young artisans the trade.
The artisans built the Clan House and 15 totem poles using hand-made tools and paints modelled on Pre-European samples. The traditional colour palette would have been limited to the natural pigments found in the area, such as salmon eggs, hematite, clam shells, lichen, graphite and copper pebbles. The carvings on the totem poles were not meant for religious or spiritual worship but, rather, as a way of telling stories in a culture which had no written language. Instead, tales were represented by the symbols of Tlingit and Haida nature: raven (aka the Creator), eagle (symbolising peace and friendship) and orca (signifying strength), along with many of the other creatures of the forest and sea such as salmon, bears, wolves and beavers.
The weather was sunny yet crisp and the colours all around apeared saturated and bold. Surrounded by a lush, moss-covered rainforest and facing the azure, calm sea, the location of the park could not be in a better position. The totem poles are laid out in a large semicircle around the dark Clan House which is a replica of what a communal house would have looked like. I was amazed by the twisted designs and shapes of animalistic and anthropomorphic figures reaching ever higher into the clear blue sky.
I chatted, for a little while, with the ranger whilst waiting for my iPod to charge. We got talking about my bearanoia (as you do) and it turns out that he'd had a closer encounter than most! He showed me his hand, which had a few deep scars, and told me his story. He'd had salmon for dinner and felt too lazy to take the trash out into the bearproof bin outside so, instead, went upstairs to bed. He was woken up in the middle of the night by loud noises coming from downstairs and he went to investigate. When he switched on the light, he was stunned to discover that a bear was roaming around in his kitchen! Apparently, this bear must have been attracted to the smell of the salmon and tore a massive hole through the wooden wall to get to the trash in the kitchen. It also then proceeded to trash the place looking for food in the cupboards and just generally making more of a mess! When he switched the light on, he startled the bear who then took a swipe at him and injured his hand before both the ranger and the bear ran off in opposite directions - the ranger ran upstairs and the bear out the hole in the kitchen wall and into the surrounding forest. And that was the end of that!
Next door to Totem Bight is the privately run Potlatch Park which had a curio/gift shop with reasonably interesting and well-priced items. They also had a beautiful collection of totems, carvings and paintings with a slightly more contemporary edge and graphic style. They even had a few artefacts like furniture, masks and a canoe in the grounds. I took many photos of the artwork and enjoyed wandering around on my own.
I had only half an hour left so decided to go into the Southeast Alaska Discovery Center which is one of four Alaska Public Lands Information Centers. Luckily, a National Parks Pass gets you free entry so I didn't have to pay the $5 entry fee! This place showcases some of the Tongass National Forest plants and wildlife. It's a very modern museum with some interactive displays and plenty of arts and crafts amongst the more traditional, science-based information. They had some beautifully designed posters which, unfortunately, they'd recently run out of. Nevermind, I may be able to order something when I go back to London.
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