Finally, no rain! But not much sun either. I guess that’s why it is the wettest community in North America with rainfall of 162 inches per year. We drove north to the end of the road which turned out to be only 4 miles from our campground which is about 12 miles north of town. We hiked the Lunch Creek Loop Trail. The area is a temperate rainforest and this trail was mostly cedar trees but it also had access to the beach. It was low tide so we checked out some tide pools and saw starfish, anemone, crabs and small fish. The trail also passed a waterfall. Our next hike was the Ward Lake Trail. A perimeter trail around Ward Lake was a forest of cedar, spruce and hemlock. Close by was the Perseverance Trail which we did only part of the 4.6 mile trail. On our hike back to the car, we met a local resident and had a pleasant conversation in which she gave us some must do’s in Alaska.
Day 83, June 23, 2019, Sunday. Ketchikan, AK
A rainy day so our hiking is postponed. We start at the Totem Bight State Historical Park, a collection of 14 totem poles and a clan house by the Haida and Tlingit clans. Then we headed south all the way to the end of the road which is about 12 miles south of downtown. Along the way we stopped at a couple waterfalls. Back to downtown for some more shopping. We went to the Discovery Center about 3:50 to find that it closes at 4:00. Only one more thing to do in town - a visit to the Bawden Street Brewing Company. After a couple samples, I settle for the Imperial Stout with a 10% alcohol content. Good beer and a long conversation with the barmaid as we were the only customers there. Back at the coach for dinner and to watch out our front windshield the sunset and the bald eagles play.
Day 82, June 22, 2019, Saturday. Ketchikan, AK
After a short night, we awoke to a small parking lot and a small Walmart. As we came across the border with very little produce, we found out this Walmart has no produce at all. So we headed to the Clover Pass RV Resort (fhu 50 amp) and check in. Our site has a beautiful water view out our front windshield. There are also numerous bald eagles flying consistently over our heads. We headed to downtown about 10 minutes away and started on Creek Street. Creek Street is a series of wooden buildings built on stilts over the creek during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was the town’s red light district until 1954 when the brothels were outlawed. We walked on Married Men’s Trail which is a trail through the woods that was used by the married men to and from the brothels without being seen going through town. The trail goes by a cascading river that has a salmon ladder. The buildings on Creek Street now house craft and souvenir shops. We walked around the entire downtown and discovered that Ketchikan is a stop for all the cruise ships with 2 huge ships in port. It makes for a tourist trap with prices to match. We did sample some goodies including many types of salmon. We also sampled some kelp salsa and bought some. We ate dinner at Florida Bill’s Ketchikan Crab and Grill. The grilled halibut as delicious as was Rosemary’s grilled salmon.
Another relatively quiet night on the street at 2nd Avenue and McBride (Hwy 16). A little grocery shopping and a visit to the BC Liquor Store to pick up a couple more bottles of Okanagan Riesling before we leave Canada. Lunch at Dolly’s Seafood Restaurant was Halibut fish and chips which I upgraded to poutine. The Halibut was delicious but the poutine used grated cheeses instead of cheese curds, a sacrilege! A few more murals and it was off to the ferry port. We were told to report at 4 pm for a 7 pm departure. We checked in a little after 3 pm. I had reserved and paid for 57 feet of space. The port attendant measured us at 56 feet so we were good to go with no extra penalty. I was able to convince the attendant to allow me to turn off our LP gas just before we boarded the ship as opposed to while we were waiting in line to limit the time our refrigerator would be off. We boarded about 6 pm and went to the ship’s purser for our stateroom assignment. After our departure, we walked around the ship’s deck a whole bunch to get our steps. We had packed a light dinner which we ate in the ship’s dining room. We went to our room to read. A short time later we heard an announcement, orca’s off the starboard bow. We hurried topside to see the orca’s, a thrilling sight indeed. The orca’s stayed in sight for about 20 minutes. Photos of whales is difficult given a moving ship, the orca’s only being visible for a couple seconds each time they surface in a different spot and the need to zoom the camera. We watched the sunset in the front lounge and retired to our room. The 7 hour cruise seemed long as the ship speed was only 14 knots. We arrived in Ketchikan at 1 am but it took some time to get off the ship. We drove approximately 4 minutes to the Walmart finally arriving about 2 am. The Walmart allows overnight parking for one night which is a necessity since the port does not allow overnight parking and the campground does not allow entry at 2 am.
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