Alaska cruise, Post 6: Ketchikan

Our third and final port of call was Ketchikan, on Monday, May 7th. We docked there from 10am to 6pm.

Ketchikan has about 14 000 residents and is the fifth most populous city in Alaska. It was actually our southernmost port of call - we started heading south after Glacier Bay, and visited Ketchikan on our way back to Vancouver. Due to the steep mountains close to the shore, many of Ketchikan's buildings are built on stilts over the water, and some streets are just a series of steps leading up the mountain!

Unfortunately our day in Ketchikan was characterised by horrible weather. It was freezing cold, windy, and raining. People who had booked float plane and kayaking tours had their activities cancelled due to the weather. We had just planned to wander around the city anyway, but we only lasted 2 or 3 hours doing that (and some of that was spent in the public library)!

One of the first sights we saw was Ketchikan's Creek Street, a former red light district. The area was at its most popular in the 1920s, when Ketchikan's canned salmon industry and halibut fishing fleet boomed, resulting in hundreds of single men being in town each summer. Creek Street is now a picturesque tourist district with souvenir shops, gem shops, and tours of some former "bawdy houses" (complete with costumed female tour guides). Click here if you are interested in reading more about the colourful history of Creek Street.

After looking through some of the shops along Creek Street, we headed up the mountain a little way on a free funicular that led up to the Cape Fox Lodge. We didn't actually know where the funicular went when we got on it, but just thought we'd check it out! The Lodge had a nice view of rainy Ketchikan, as well as some native crafts and clothing on display in the foyer.

From the Lodge, we walked down a path until we reached Married Man's Trail, the forested path that men (particularly married ones!) could use to reach Creek Street unobserved... or to escape quickly in the event of a police raid! We walked along beside the raging river for a short while before heading back to Creek Street and the warmth and dryness of the local public library.

After spending a while at the library, we retired to the ship since being outdoors was just too cold and miserable.

Then, after one more sea day, we arrived back in Vancouver on Wednesday morning, May 9th. We enjoyed our Alaska cruise and highly recommend it as a way to see some amazing scenery in a relaxing and affordable manner!