Surprising totem park at Kasaan Village

June 11^th – getting resupplied today with groceries, water and diesel. Thorne Bay was a delightful stop for it.  I had decided to skip the Kasaan totems to get us to Yes Bay tonight, but Jan talked with some folks who said the site was well worth a visit.  It was! 

The Haida totems and a beautiful longhouse are about a mile walk from the float, along a well maintained boardwalk and trail through the Kasaan village leading into a mature second-growth rainforest.  Entering the village the walkway is like an unfenced alley at first, turning into a gravel street.

Talked with a wood artisan and several generations of his family along the walkway; he was converting cedar bark into strips for baskets and showed us some excellent carvings.  Later a man was putting the finishing touches on a spec house for sale with a great view of Kasaan Bay. 

Many of the totems are placed in the cedar woods, a wonderful setting for them even though it is not traditional.  One is set in front of the longhouse just back of the driftwood-littered beach.  Kasaan is one of the highlights of the trip after all.  We'll let the photos speak for themselves.

Since this visit took longer than expected we barely made it across Clarence Strait to Knudsen Cove before dark.  Sloppy passage across in steep 2’+ wind waves that were abeam at one point so had to tack 30 degrees for a couple miles.  Jan was washing dishes at the time, a more athletic exercise than usual.

Knudsen Cove turns out to be a suburb of Ketchikan, jammed with sport fishing boats (fishing boats are to SE Alaska what SUVs are to Seattle: everyone has one and some folks two).  No markings on any of the docks either for public vs private spaces.  Asked a passing boater where to tie-up and he suggested "any spot we fit" since it was so late, then sort it out in the morning.  We tucked between two boats on a side-tie wharf finger at sunset and turned in early.  Behm Canal and Misty Fiords tomorrow.

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