Things to do nearIcy Strait Point

Icy Strait Point occupies a rare position in Alaska tourism as a destination owned and operated by the Huna Tlingit people of Hoonah, the largest Tlingit community in the state. The centerpiece of the site is a meticulously restored salmon cannery that dates to 1912, now home to a cultural museum where exhibits trace both the industrial history of the cannery era and the deep ancestral ties the Huna Tlingit have to this stretch of coastline. Visitors move through the cannery building and emerge onto a boardwalk facing Icy Strait itself, where the cold, nutrient-rich waters support one of the highest concentrations of humpback whales in the Pacific.

Brown bears are regularly spotted along the shoreline and in nearby river estuaries, and Sitka black-tailed deer move through the forest margins with casual frequency. For those drawn to something more kinetic, Icy Strait Point is home to ZipRider, one of the longest and fastest ziplines in the world, which descends nearly 1,300 feet from a ridge above the cannery to the beach below. Sea kayaking, whale watching excursions, and cultural demonstrations offered by Tlingit guides round out the range of activities available.

The surrounding temperate rainforest, part of the Tongass National Forest, provides a backdrop that feels genuinely untouched. Icy Strait Point earns its reputation not through manufactured spectacle but through the honest, unhurried experience of a place where Indigenous culture and extraordinary nature exist on their own terms.