We sailed 235 miles last night to reach Ketchikan this morning. Ketchikan is on an island. The city is 5.9 sq miles, with 1.5 sq miles of that water. The Ketchikan International Airport is located on a neighboring island, Gravina. This is the site of the famous Bridge to Nowhere, where a bridge was supposed to connect Katchican and Gravina. In 2005, after much national and international disputes, the Alaskan government choose not to build the bridge.
Ketchican is the fifth largest city in AK. Its economy is based on fishing and tourism, and it is known as "The Salmon Capital of the World." The city also has the world's largest collection of standing totem poles. The average rainfall is 152 inches and the average snowfall is 37 inches.
Our excursion today will take us to the Misty Fjords National Monument, an area called the "Yosemite of the North" due to its similar geology. Light colored granite, about 50 to 70 million years old, has been sculpted by glaciers that gouged deep u-shaped troughs throughout the monument. Punchbowl Cove was one such trough that we saw today; and it is really pretty. The walls of the valleys are near vertical and rise 2000-3000 feet above sea level and drop 1000 feet below it.
The scenery today was spectacular. And again, no rain, no clouds. We were told this just doesn't happen hardly ever.
The tour company that took us on this tour today was a family owned business. They were very accommodating and very informative in their presentation. Oh, a cool thing...the driver of the boat stood out on his deck and used a joy stick to guide the boat up to the dock and park it.
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| Our ride, the Island Princess |
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| Goods are brought onto the island by containers aboard ships |
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| The float plane business is good up here in Alaska |
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| Eagle's nest in the wild |
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| Like the glacial carvings |
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| Granite rock in fjords |
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| Punchbowl Cove |
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| This was the only access to this house that we could see. Taking groceries and kids up these stairs....no, thank you. |
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| All of this mountain was smoothed out by the retreating glacier, except for that little Hershey's Kiss on top because the glacier only was as tall as the bottom of the Kiss. Did that make sense? |
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| You've heard the expression "tie off the boat?" |
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| Floating dock |
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| The town is built around the water |
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| There are several salmon canneries in town |
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| Now we know what happens when they malfunction |
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| Not a scene we see in S GA |
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| Totem Pole Road |
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| Beached buoy |
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| Clouds began to roll in as we left the harbor |
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| Coming in for a landing |
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| Float plane parking lot |
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| Leaving Katchican |
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| More granite cliffs |
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| Valley carved by glacier |
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| Mountain streams in the fjords |
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| See the sun |
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| Seals |
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| Even Minnie and Mickey travel to Alaska |
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| The closest thing to fast food |
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