Ketchikan – Ulen Adventures

25 June 2018 Ferry to Juneau

25 June 2018 – Ferry from Ketchikan to Juneau.

Today we headed out on another Ferry, this time the MV Kennicott. It will take us from Ketchikan to Juneau. This leg is 20 hours long (did I tell you ferries go at about 16-18 knots – that’s close to 20 mph?). Some other people on board pitched tents on deck, I guess this is very common. We did not bring a tent. They don’t don’t let you sleep in your cars. (They do let you visit your cars every so often to walk your dogs). So, we booked a room. Nice and quiet. And small.

83188036-A2B2-4F2A-9B54-C639DBECF4E8 — Here is our room on board the MV Kennicott. Not quite a deluxe cruise room, heh? But way more comfortable than sleeping on the deck.

62E18B86-0641-4A4E-9C26-A7A5DA1AF025 — This is the Ferry MV Pennicott, while we were waiting to board at Ketchikan

73AC8DE2-2AA5-4DC6-B0A9-DE7AFFAAB7A8 — Not quite as many cars on this ferry, the workers didn’t have to do any jigsaw puzzling of the vehicles.

The Ferry ride was mostly along the Inside Passage, and we were alerted to several whale sightings. Here are some pictures I took of one of the whales:

Whale spouting

Fin on the whale

Back of the whale

You can tell that whales don’t like to pose for pictures! So here is a magnificent statue of a whale at Juneau so you can see what whales are supposed to look like:

24 June 2018. Ketchikan AK

24 June 2018, Ketchikan

As often happens in rainforests, we woke up to quite a rain.

So we spent the day in downtown Ketchikan, fighting the crowds from the cruise ships (there were four cruise ships visiting on Saturday, three on Sunday) and bought our souvenirs. We also took a picture of the “mooning eagle” – but from the decent side, Pat!

The better side of the mooning eagle – downtown Ketchikan

And here is something new to us, a dock just for airplanes.

23 June 2018, Ketchikan AK

23 June 2018. Ketchikan AK.

Our friend, Kelly, (who lives in Ketchikan) found us bright and early in the Walmart parking lot. He told us about many cool places to see while we were here, and so we set off.

Our first night in a Walmart. Ketchikan AK

Stopped at Totem Bight State Historical Park. A Bight is a small cove where some giant thing has taken a “bite” out of the coast to create a sheltered area to build a settlement. Totem Bight is a re-creation of a native village, although it combines Totem Poles from three different peoples,Tlingit, Haida and Tongass. There were 14 Totem poles and a Clan house here to enjoy.

Then we continued on to find a real camping spot for the rest of the weekend. At the end of the road was Settler’s Cove State Recreation Area. It was very cool.

View of the ocean passage from our campsite – #8 at Settler’s Cove State Park

Very rainforest-y. Everything was green and mossy. There are waterfalls, and side paths to the ocean. Several trails and staircases were made with 2×8 boards to keep you from walking in the mud. Chuck called it an Enchanted Forest. I thought it looked like a Hobbit habitat.

Hiking through the rainforest – Settler’s Cove

Hobbit trails along the Lunch Falls Loop Trail at Settler’s Cove

Banana Slugs! These guys and birds were the only wildlife we saw in this rainforest!!

We snuck out at close to low tide to get to the south side of Ketchikan. There is a fish hatchery at Herring Cove that is known to attract bear as they come to catch the returning Salmon. We did not see any bear here, but we saw quite a few eagles. Kelly said they were like pigeons around here, I think we saw at least a dozen at Herring Cove.

22 June 2018 Ferry to Ketchikan

Our XP tucked into the hold of the Malaspina Ferry to Ketchikan

22 June 2018. Prince Rupert.

It was drizzling rain in Prince Rupert this morning, spent some time wandering the town. Then headed to the Ferry. You need to arrive at the Ferry at least three hours ahead of departure, it is a slow process getting through the measuring and jig-saw puzzle assembly-ing of all the various shapes and sizes of rigs. But they got us on board and we found a place on the solarium level to hang out. Seven hours later we were arriving in Ketchikan Alaska. Here are some shots of the ferry ride.