Harbor Mountain Trail, Alaska, United States
5.0 (37 reviews) Spent Ranking #10 in Sitka Hiking Trails
Fun drive, tough hiking and amazing views
To get to the trailhead you have to drive about six miles up Harbor Mt Road, just off Halibut Point Road. The road is a one lane gravel road with lots of switchbacks and tight turns. Drive slow and easy and you’ll be fine. The hike is 2.5 miles to a shelter, and is up and down, than up and down and than up one more time. The views are amazing on a clear day. When we went up the clouds rolled in, it started to drizzle and then the sun came out. Great hike, a bit more challenging than expected
Address
Harbor Mountain Road, Sitka, AK 99835
Website
http://dnr.alaska.gov/parks/aktrails/ats/se/gavin.htm
Current local date and time now
Friday, May 10, 2024, 7:53
User Ratings
5.0 based on (37 reviews)
Excellent
89%
Good
8%
Satisfactory
3%
Poor
0%
Terrible
0%
Reviews
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5Bardahlsign 5:00 PM Jun 13, 2017
Gavan Hill viewpoint
This is a doable hike right out of Sitka, even if your cruise ship is only in port for the day. The trailhead is at the end of Baranof street right in town. Walk from the harbor, stop at the grocery store for snack food, and then enjoy some nature. The first mile is fairly flat and well-maintained gravel. The second mile is steep (moderate-plus difficulty). Both segments go through rainforest old-growthy understory with rotted logs, stumps, and nurse logs. The trees (Sitka spruce?) appear to be 20-50 years old. The viewpoint at about 1300 foot altitude has a spectacular view over the harbor with its many little islets, and some surrounding snow-capped peaks. The trail is likely always damp, but the large stones, tree roots, and slimy wooden steps mean there isn't much muck. For the same reason, if you have a tendency to twist an ankle with this sort of path, bring hiking poles for the downhill journey. Strong hikers might be able to complete the 4 miles round-trip in 2 hours. We were out for 3 hours, including 15-20 minutes at the viewpoint. The trail goes further to the Gavan (or (Gavin - seems to be spelled in charmingly various ways) Ridge and on to Harbor Mountain, but we turned around to have lunch in town.
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5loveTravel_987 5:00 PM Jul 19, 2018
Gavan Hill trail from downtown Sitka
We were on Alaska cruise and had 8 hours to spend in Sitka. The trailhead at Baranof street is a short walk from Cruise shuttle drop off. The 1st mile was very leisure, flat and mostly gravel, the rest of the trail to the viewpoint was much harder than we were prepared. It took us 3.5 - 4 hours to complete the trip. The view from platform was spectacular.
