Ketchikan, Alaska

Ketchikan is often known as Alaska's "First City" because it is the first major community that people reach as they journey north to Alaska.  This charming waterfront town showcases its maritime history, picturesque scenery, interesting architecture, and bawdy western frontier spirit.  We leave our ship and wander into town.

Cruise ships lined up

Local boats

Heading into town

Bald eagle greeting

Layout of the town

Tribute to fishing history

Celebrating maritime roots

Ketchikan, located 679 miles (1100 km) northwest of Seattle, was founded in 1883 with the opening of a salmon saltery.  By 1900, the town was incorporated with a population of 800.  The cruise ships in port today bring an additional 10,000 people to town for the day (reportedly 15,000 to 18,000 people per day on Thursdays and Fridays).

Remaining fishing industry

Line for local fish (cooked)

We wander into town, past the famous Creek Street Red Light Distract (near the piers, we'll be back on the other side of our loop walk through town).

Creek Street

More tribute to and history of salmon fishing here

A few blocks inland, we come to Totem Heritage Center which houses 33 totem poles (16 on permanent display) dating from the mid-1700s to the late-1800s, when the fur trade created a sense of wealth that the native Tlingit, Tsimshian, and Haida tribes had never before experienced, leading them to invest in potlatch celebrations and the creation of totem poles (made easier with the arrival of iron tools).  Memorial poles, story poles, family poles, and clan poles each offer individual designs and explanations.

Totem poles on display

Crossing the Ketchikan Creek from the Totem Museum, we reach the Deer Mountain Fish Hatchery whose current annual production is 100,000 chinook salmon (released into Ketchikan Creek), 100,000 coho salon (released in Anita Bay), 50,000 rainbow trout (released in the Ketchikan area lakes), and 1,500additional rainbow trout released into city parks.  That's a lot of fish for such a small facility!

Crossing the creek

Fish hatchery

We continue along Ketchikan Creek from the hatchery, following the trail and story of salmon migration up the creek in the last-summer, early fall.  The creek is a vital spawning ground for salmon, particularly pink and king salmon, who return to the creek annually.  Along a fast-moving part of the creek, we find a salmon ladder to assist salmon in their upstream migration.

Salmon ladder

Fast-moving waters that the salmon swim up

Salmon statue overlooking it all

We continue along the water to link up with Creek Street (oddly enough, a little further along the creek).

Leaving Seattle on a Cruise to Alaska

We often (especially on weekends) find the Seattle airport full of cruise passengers heading for one of the Alaska cruises that depart from the port of Seattle.  We finally decide to join them and sign on for a one week cruise to Alaska on the Discovery Princess, a ship that carries 3,660 passengers and 1,346 crew on a 1,083 foot (330 meter) long vessel (19 decks, 1,830 staterooms).  We discover how many people are joining us as we stand in line with several thousand others for about an hour to go through the boarding process.

Line to get on

Once on board, the ship is large enough that we rarely feel crowded, except perhaps in the buffet at lunch with (once again) several thousand of our [new] closest friends all looking for food at the same time.

Central lobby

Before departure, we get great views of the Seattle skyline.

Seattle

Fishing ships in the port

Private craft in the harbor next door

We are one of three ships leaving today for Alaska and we periodically run across the other two as we wander through Alaska.  That's about 10,000 people heading toward Alaska from Seattle today (and comparable amounts heading up from Vancouver).

Other ships heading out to Alaska

We book a cabin on Deck 17 at the front of the ship (two decks above the bridge and looking straight ahead).  That offers us incredible views and great exercise up and down the stairs to the common areas and restaurants on Decks 6 and 7.  We depart Seattle and head up Puget Sound, with the Olympic Mountains (where we just hiked in our last few blogs) visible on the port side (left).

Viewing the Olympics

View forward from our cabin

We can't resist a few Alaska-appreciation moments with the local wildlife.

And, some recreation on the top deck.

Relaxing

We're looking forward to a new adventure and have a theme of glaciers to explore over the days of the cruise.

Along the Hood Canal (Dosewallips State Park and Hama Hama Oyster Company)

We follow the Hood Canal home from the Olympic National Park and National Forest.  The Hood Canal is a long, narrow fjord in Washington State that is one of the five main basins of Puget Sound.  With an average width of 1.5 miles (2.4 km) and a length of 220 miles (343 km), it separates the Kitsap Peninsula from the Olympic Peninsula.  The Hood Canal (and the rest of Puget Sound) was created about 13,000 years ago by the Puget Lobe of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet.  The canal has a large population of salmon and pods of killer whales.  We follow its shoreline for most of the north to south length, stopping twice along the way.

Our first stop is at Dosewallips State Park, a year-round camping park with five miles (8 km) of shoreline on the Hood Canal and the Dosewallips River.  Freshwater activities are found on the banks of the river and saltwater activities on the Hood Canal.  The park encourages visitors to bring fishing poles and shovels to collect freshwater or saltwater fish, clams, oysters, and crabs.

Discussion of the park ecosystem

Hood canal shoreline

Shellfish

Seasons

Looking back at the Olympic Mountains

Our next stop, a short ways down the road along the canal is the Hama Hama Oyster Company, a sixth-generation family-run shellfish farm.  Their beds are located at the mouth of one of the shortest, coldest, and least developed rivers in Washington State, giving a clean, crisp flavor to beach-grown Hama Hama Oysters and tumble-farmed Blue Pools.  They also source oysters from other locations in Washington State, including Sea Cows and Hove Coves from South Puget Sound.  We stop at the store to source some oysters for our dinner.

Oyster shells at Hama Hama

Oysters in Puget Sound

Dining area for eat in

We continue home with our newly acquired oysters and cook them on the grill for a fabulous dinner.

Oysters ready for grilling

On the grill

Served

Another great day of more exploration and a fabulous dinner with ingredients from our travels.