Ketchikan
As noted before, the weather in Alaska is extremely variable. What is consistent is rainy weather in Ketchikan. The average rainfall is 152 inches or 12.5 feet. This makes it officially a rainforest. In comparison the Amazon get an average of 9 feet. Even while rainig the view of the coast as you come into port is interesting.
The Deer Mountain Trail is listed as 3.5 miles and 2500’ elevation to the summit. This is part of a larger trail so you will see other distances listed depending on how far you go and if you start in town or from the trial head. If you don’t want to hike all the way to the top, the first scenic overlook is at the 1 mile marker and about 1000’-1500’ of elevation. When we hiked, we took a cab from the cruise ship to the trail head, definitely suggested. It also rained the entire way so bring something waterproof, not water ‘resistant’ as our coats were. A couple of those emergency plastic ponchos were life savers, as cold wet and rainy was not a good way to start the trip. It was very overcast when we started so it was no surprise that at the mile market it was fogged in, so we turned around at that point. It was still pretty neat to hike in the rainforest. If you want to avoid crowds this is a great hike. On the way up, we did not see another person. On the way down we past about 8 other hikers, nifty.
As for any other scenic highlights in Ketchikan,,,, ummm. Add this to “Tim’s Travel Rules”. If there are no pictures on Google Image or if everyone takes the same picture from the same location, it might be because there is nothing else worth taking a picture.
Rarely are clouds this interesting, really :)
The last picture requires some explanation. The color is true and was incredible. It only happened on two evenings and both times only lasted about 10 minutes. Between 8:00 and 8:10pm on both nights. Think of a blue sunset under the clouds, absolutely wild.
1. About an hour south of Ketchikan before docking
2-3. Deer Mountain Trail
4. Ketchikan Dock
5. The Aft Bar
6-7. Leaving Ketchikan, Coulds
8. Blue Dusk
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