We docked today at Ketchikan. I’d been there before in 2000. But this time the ship docked outside of town at Ward Cove, and our excursion took us to Lake Harriet Hunt, in the other direction, so I didn’t see the town this time. I remember not being impressed by it though, so no loss.
We changed timezone from pacific to Alaskan time overnight, so everyone was confused about when to set their alarm clock. I woke up at 7:30 Alaska time and got a light breakfast. Our excursion was at 10:30, but it takes half an hour to get to town, so it wouldn’t be worth the travelling time (and risk of missing our excursion) if we went to town. So La Prof and I killed the 1.5 hours just hanging out at the cruise terminal, which was a building converted from a wood pulp mill, but looked like a Dicks sporting goods store now.
The excursion itself was quite fun. We were bussed to a warehouse (looked also to have been converted from logging industry), got assigned a Jeep, and with 4 other jeeps followed a guide to drive on logging lanes into Tongass National Forest. La Professure drove, obviously, and she had a fun time. Logging roads are not well-kept, all of them looked like they could have been used in a Jeep SUV commercial. We went through so many pot holes and mud puddles. It helped that this is one day out of the 5 days that doesn’t rain in Ketchikan on average. So we lucked out - though the dirt did make it hard to see the Jeep in front of us, which normally on a wet day wouldn’t get kicked up.
Eventually, the Jeep part was over and we stopped at Harriet Hunt lake. All of us (about 14) got on a replica Tlingkit canoe to row across the lake to the other side of the dock, where a worker had set up camp with snacks. That was our lunch - jam, salmon spread, clam chowder (home-made and simmering on a pot), and drinks.
From there we went on a short “hike” - it only took 15 minutes, with break where the guide explain the local flora, and reminded me of the paved walkway at Muir Woods park. We then paddled back to the other side of the lake, drove the Jeep back to the warehouse, and got bussed to the ship. So we went from ship->bus->Jeep->canoe->jeep->bus-> ship.
Lake Harriet Hunt
It was a fun excursion - I think La Prof enjoyed it more than I did because she was driving (I was on picture taking duties). Certainly more interesting than downtown Ketchikan.
By the time we got back to the ship, it was almost 2:30. We recovered in our room, then went to tea time at 3:30. I brought my Kindle to read and La Prof brought her work. The onboard string quartet was performing - it was the first time I heard them, and they remind me quite a bit of the string quartets we’d get at the amateur group. We stayed till the ship pushed off. It was sunny by then, so made for a beautiful sail-away, with green hills on either side of the inside passage, and snow-capped mountains far off. I stayed on the top deck to look at scenery and wildlife but La Prof couldn’t handle the wind there (you really just have to know where the deadzones for wind is, you could walk 3 paces and change from “hurricane-level wind” to “can’t tell I’m outdoors)”. I did see some odd-looking splashes on the water at one point, which the naturalist said is a sign of Dall’s porpoise. But I didn’t manage to see the porpoise itself.
But the scenery was lovely and I stayed up till 1/2 hours before dinner - we had dinner at the steakhouse. We met up with LPCR’s family and went together. Just as the dinner was done, the sun was setting. We could see the sun disappearing behind some hills, and the hue turned green for half a minute.
Because we had such a long day, we didn’t do anything else after the meal. Just enough energy to get ready for tomorrow at Icy Strait Point.
Ketchican sail-out
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