Totem to Totem Half Marathon

Saturday, May 13, 2023 • Ketchikan, AK • Course Map

The long, mountainous and forested shoreline of the Tongass Narrows waterway is the setting for the annual springtime running of Ketchikan’s Totem to Totem Half Marathon, a 13.1-mile race that takes runners along a point-to-point course that starts at Rotary Beach Park, just southeast of the Saxman community.

From there, the race takes runners north along Tongass Avenue for the next 13.1 miles, all the way to the finish line in Totem Bight State Historical Park, just northeast of the city.

All along the way, runners can expect to catch ample glimpses of one of the local features for which the area is well-known — totem poles, which they’ll see most prominently around the starting area at Totem Bight State Park and around Saxman Village as they near the finish line.

The race takes runners along beautiful vistas with tree-covered mountains along the Tongass Highway, where runners can expect to see local wildlife as well as fishing villages and boats streaming along the water in the narrows all along the race route.

The event is open to both runners and walkers and usually features a smaller field of participants, as the race usually sees between 100 and 200 runners and walkers cross the finish line.

Race Weather & Climate

Located near the southernmost tip of Alaska in the state’s southeastern corner, overlooking the glaciers of the Clarence Strait, Ketchikan typically experiences cool and sometimes cold weather in May, which has brought record temperatures here as low as 23ºF (in 1971) and as high as 87ºF (in 1963).

On race day (May 13), the average low is 41ºF and the average high is 55ºF.