This morning we woke early, and we were just coming into port. We stood out on our balcony and watched as the ship came along the dock to be tied down. We were up early because we booked the rainforest sactuary nature walk and totem park. We had them deliver breakfast to the room because it we were up before the kitchen was serving at the buffet.
The tour picked us up on the dock right out side of the ship. Getting to the rainforest was about a 20 minute drive. Once we got to site the group of us were broken up into three groups of 10ish. Our guide, Shannon was quite good she did the safety talk first noting that if we find her talking to a bear that might come up to us to just join in, as bears though curious do not like us really so she told us to be loud, but at the same time if we do see a bear in the distance do not yell 'BEAR' as it will scare it away and we will not be able to watch them.
The rainforest here is the largest temporate rainforest in the world, it is beautiful. The guided tour takes us along a fixed path through the rainforest. Along the way Shannon spoke about the floral and fauna, talking about how there is nothing poisonous in the forest and we can and are encouraged to touch and experience the forest. She also asked us to tell her that if we find a yellow slug to let her know, these are banana slugs.
The forest is quite lush, with all types of fauna from the smallest ferns to the great red wood trees. She talked about how the forest takes care of its self by isolating trees that become disesased or how they try to heal trees that have become sick. Through the forest section walk we did not see any wild life except for the banana slug. These things are huge, the one Shannon found was about 3 inches long, she spoke about them a bit then she did something unexpected, she licked the slug, aparently they do taste like banana. One side effect of licking the banana slug is that it can make your tongue numb.
The walk through the forest end with a walk through an estuary, where salt water meets fresh water. This is where there is a march with the mix of both waters and where grasses who feed on both flourish, on the other side of the marsh is a creek where they have a salmon hatchery. We did see a few salmon in the waters but the grand show was put on with a black bear walking across the estuary, it was almost like the tour operators let the bear out on cue. We also saw a lot of bald eagles, more juveniles with brown heads rather than those with white.
We were then brought up to an old saw mill. The mill though no longer milling wood is now the shop for local artist to create totem poles, one of the last in North America. The artist was there to show us what he is currently working on and to answer any questions. The work he does is really impressive. Everything he does is hand carved, then painted and sometimes, depending on the job will also inlay some copper. Copper in with these tribes is a sign of wealth.
The tour ended like all tours end, with a stop at the gift shop. We had about 15 minutes to walk around and take in the totem park, which includes a number of totem poles representing different tribes, and events. They also have a blacksmith here. These guys make knives and really any sharp cutting instuments out of recovered metals, with the handles made from found antlers or precious woods.
One thing to note is that it rained pretty much the entire time we were there but the experience was well worth it and we were dressed for it, except for the rain coat that I brought was not the new one and it did not keep the rain off my back or shoulders.
When the tour group returned us to the cruise ship we did not get back on the boat, we instead started to walk into town with one quick stop and an outdoor supply place to pick up a new rain coat for me. We were luck and did find a good coat for about $80.00USD. No point being miserable.
We then did a walking tour of the town. Ketchikan is quite beautiful. Though most of the economy is driven by tourism these days as there were four ships in the harbour which doubled the population of this little town. The town does manage it well, they have people stopping traffic for the tourist and visa versa stopping the tourists for the traffic. We took in the sites, the high light being the ketchikan creek where the salmon migrate up the stream to spawn. Along the creek there are a number of historic buildings (built over the creek on pillars) here that were put up during the klondike days, these included places to eat but most famously Miss Dollys house, which was a brothel. Today these buildings are shops and restaurants that cater to the tourist crowds.
Up the stream we found a salmon ladder, this is where the salmon struggle to get up stream to where the were originally born so they can drop their eggs and spawn, then die. At the ladder we saw a lot of salmon not sure how many but definitely in the hundreds, trying to go up stream. We did see a number of them jumping, but we did not see a single one get up the creek.
Beyond the salmon ladder we continued walking around the town, finshing with a walk out to the pier to get a good view of the town. Fun fact, at one point where today a lot of fishing vessels are docked the town used to have their ball field, where they could only play at low tide. We then headed back to the ship, we didn't really get anything to eat yet and the ship does leave in a few hours.
Aboards ship we got a bit to eat for "lunch" we did not get a full meal as we do have a dinner planned in one of the restaurants tonight.