Southeast Alaska Discovery Center

Ketchikan


Three large totems greet you in the lobby of this center run by the National Park Service (NPS), while a school of silver salmon suspended from the ceiling leads you toward a slice of re-created temperate rainforest. Upstairs, the exhibit hall features sections on Southeast Alaska’s ecosystems and Alaska Native traditions.

You can even view wildlife here: there’s a spotting scope trained on Deer Mountain for mountain goats, while underwater cameras in Ketchikan Creek let you watch thousands of salmon struggling upstream to spawn.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

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