Ketchikan - Part 2

Don't you love the bald head? (No... Tom did NOT lose his hair this trip!)

We took a Duck tour with our friends Gerry and Sherry, who we have met several times along the way during the summer. While a bit on the hoaky side, it did give us great waterside views of town including the resident harbor seals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ketchikan is built on a steep hill, with not much workable land between the water and steep granite walls. A section of town, called Newtowne, is built on land stilts, crawling up the steep cliffs, with stairways and boardwalks connecting the houses. In fact, the stairways and boardwalks are officially named city streets, and are maintained by the city just as any other street is maintained (including snow removal). 

 

The cruise ships seem to take over the town on some days, with as many as 5 in port at once.  They physically dwarf the city and the harbor is very busy with float planes, charter fishing boats, and other water based tours coming and going.

 

Early morning in town:

Ketchikan gets smelly this time of year because salmon are moving up stream to spawn, then they die.  There are piles of dead and rotting fish all around the stream banks.  High tide washes some out, but many get caught up on the rocks.  The locals say they get used to it.

We explored several beaches. In low tide, sea kelp, driftwood, barnacles (that grow on EVERYTHING) and muscles are revealed.

 

 

Billions of Barnacles:

 Harvesting clams on the beach is not safe as they can have high levels of paralytic shellfish poison which can be fatal.   

Trees grow out of and around the rocks. The grains of each are so similar, it is sometimes difficult to tell the difference .. is it tree or rock??

The large driftwood is old. We were told that to maintain safe navigational channels, large driftwood is now removed before it can freely float up onto shore.

 

Small driftwood makes for great campfires. We collected whenever we could.

There are fun shapes in the wood. Wish we could drag some home (that would be Kris talking).

Stinky has found a new way to amuse himself. Dead set of earplugs attached to an overhead cabinet knob, has become a favorite toy. He can amuse himself for a very long time with this.

 

 Next Post:  Rest of Ketchikan - Forests and Totems