Tag: Native

Totem poles near and in Ketchikan Alaska

My wife and I have lived in Alaska since 2000, we have lived in the SE part of the state in Ketchikan since 2008. Ketchikan has a large amount of totem poles. As a photographer I have enjoyed taking pictures of many of them. We recently compiled some of our pictures and placed them in both in a E-Book as well as in a hard copy. The book can be found on Amazon. If you like totem poles or are curious about them, please check it out. Thank you.

Two minute tour of Ketchikan Alaska

Someone recently asked me to make a short video about Ketchikan Alaska about a minute or two. This is what I came up with. Hope you like it and feel like visiting SE Alaska sometime.

Mountian Village Alaska

Picture 004

There are several small villages through-out remote Alaska most people never see nor visit if they make it to Alaska. Mountain Village is one of them. Last count of population was about 813. The village is located on the Yukon river near the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. The village is mostly Yupik Eskimo. The people are very friendly and out going. We lived there for a year. There is one road that connects to St. Marys, another village about 18 miles away. The local rely on fish a lot so most have fish camps where they dry the fish.

Picture 042

The winter sunrises are incredible there.

Picture 226

Fireweed is used for many purposes including jam.

Picture 028

And being on the Yukon winter breakup is also something noteworthy.

Picture 228

There are several Youtube videos showing this place and some of the people there. The only way to get there is to fly a bigger plane from Anchorage to Bethel then a small plane from there. Unless you live in the area then you can get there by boat during the summer or by snow machine (snowmobile) or 4 wheeler during the winter.

 

Some Totem poles

Ketchikan Alaska has one of the largest collections of totem poles in the USA. Totems tell stories. Here are a few pictures of some. I will post more later. Totem Bight is an Alaska state park here. Potlatch Park is another area that has Totems here, as well as the town of Asia man. Then there are various other places that have some on display. During the summer months there are a few locations where you can go and watch a master carver work on a pole.