Here is our ship docked at Ward Cove Port. Ward Cove, where we docked is part of the history of Ketchikan…part of the lumber industry that began in the 1800s with actual felling of trees directly into the water. Post-World War II, the Ward Cove Pulp Mill was going full steam providing pulp that was used globally for products like rayon, cellophane, and cosmetics. (We were told that it was even in our Wheaties Cereal at one time…fact or not…I do not know!) In the 90s they were forced to close due to changing political policies, reduced timber activity availability, and environmental regulations within the Tongass National Forest. That is when tourism took over and Ketchikan shifted its focus toward cruise-ship tourism.
Ketchikan is located on an island 679 miles north of Seattle, WA. It is Alaska's most southeastern city and its first port of call for northbound Alaska cruises. It is known as the Salmon Capital of the World. It also has the claim to fame of being the rainiest city in the contiguous and larger U.S. averaging 150” per year! We "almost" had a dry day, but it misted on us for a very short time near the first of our time on land. It does not snow very often there. They have a rain forest climate…record high is 89° and record low is -1°. They are surrounded by the 17 million acre Tongass National Forest.
Ketchikan has only about 32 miles of drivable road (we may have driven on most of that road. I'm not sure!) The speed limit is 40 mph. No roads in or out…have to come and go by boat or plane. Have to take a 5 minute ferry ride to another island to get to an airport.
Our excursion on this stop included an all you can eat crab feast. Mmmmmmmmm! Yum! And, I managed to go through quite a bit of crab myself! There was a challenge to have the highest crab shell stack. You will see Wade's, Melany's and mine in the photos that follow. It was Dungeness crab. Soooooo good and messy! I didn't take many pictures as I didn't want to get my camera dirty…plus we were more interested in eating than photography!
Melany and I were dressed in our plaid shirts for the next part of the excursion…The Lumberjack Show. There was a glitch at the lodge where we are the crab…it was about a 40 minute or so drive back to the dock and the bus that dropped us off failed to return to get us. So the lodge grabbed some vans and got us back in time for the lumberjack show.
This show was about the late 1800s till the mid 1900s when they were still felling trees and various lumberjack camps would challenge each other to contests to see which camp was best. We got to see various things that lumberjacks did in each of the challenges. The teams we saw represented the U.S. and Canada. U.S. won! Here are some photos from that part of our excursion. It was quite entertaining along with shedding insight into the lumber industry or old.
To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!
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