Debarking in Ketchikan
The first stop in our cruise was in Ketchikan, Alaska, a small town of 8,000 people at the southernmost tip of the Inside Passage coastal route for ships and boats. Historically, it was a fishing community but today it is largely devoted to tourism and government services.
We weren’t interested in the very tourist-y downtown area and immediately made our way to the “fish ladder”, the rapids used by salmon to jump their way upstream to spawn, pictured below.
Ketchikan fish ladder
We must have seen a dozen salmon leaping the rapids in the few minutes we spent watching the fish ladder. We then made our way from the fish ladder to the beginning of our guided nature walk in the Tongass National Forest, the largest intact temperate rainforest in the world. The walk was one of the highlights of our trip.
Our very well-informed trail guide introduced us to the flora and fauna of the rainforest in the course of a roughly two mile walk. Sitka Spruce. Western Hemlock. Various berries. Devil’s Club, a spiny bush. Much to our delight we encountered four black bears along the trail maintaining a safe distance. We were told that we may have seen more bears on our nature walk than those who took the bear walk.
It rains quite a bit in Ketchikan—to the extent that they measure rainfall in feet per year not inches. 12 or more feet of rain per year is typical. Apparently, we brought good weather with us. The temperature varied from the 50s to the 70s in the course of the morning and it was one of Ketchikan’s few rainfree days.
Our visit to Ketchikan was quite brief, just the morning. After our nature walk we caught a bus at the Totem Heritage Center (Ketchikan has the largest collection of standing totem poles) and returned to the ship which departed around noon for Juneau.
Hope you got a totem pole pic with the wife. Hey, you are there. Why not?
The salmon fishery is interesting. But its almost just a commercial lesson.
From my understanding, and lore, yes, you got lucky to see 4 bears. We only saw one.
I don’t know where this series of posts is going to go, but if Alaska captivated you, start investigating Denali. The wife and I are starting to discuss how to do it. Fly and drive? Or train across Canada and drive. She has a childhood friend who lives the lifestyle: summer, then what amounts to a microhouse with a winters worth of supplies. No one else in sight. No plane in or out. A bridge too far for me. But a few weeks or month in the summer?