Ketchikan, Alaska

Ketchikan, Alaska
Flying over Misty Fjords in a Beaver float plane
Known as "The Wall" in Misty Fjords - 2000 vertical foot granite mountain
Misty Fjords National Monument lake
July 1, 2008

What a wonderful day in Ketchikan! It was more than 70 degrees, bright blue sky and sunshine! In one of the rainiest communities in Alaska it was a beautiful day!

Arrival was right on time and we ashore by about 11:30 a.m. There were already three other cruise ships docked when we arrived. About 10,000 people descending on Ketchikan’s population of less than 25,000. Wow, what a mob!

I decided that it was time we took one of the trip opportunities, so I booked us on Taquan Air for flightseeing in the Misty Fjords National Monument. We had a 1 ½ hour trip. On the flight we flew over the mountains and saw a pair of mountain goats. We flew over the “WALL” and saw a 2000’ water-fall. The pilot landed us on a small mountain lake and we got out on the pontoons for a few minutes.

On the return flight we saw eagles and seals. One of the best things about the trip was that it was in a Beaver aircraft, with a Pratt & Whitney rotary engine, the most stable and dependable of Alaska Bush planes. Landing on water is so different from landing on an airstrip.

Melva did some shopping while I returned to the ship and spent the rest of our time in time in the beautiful weather of Ketchikan.

We had to be aboard by 7:00 p.m., and the ship departed right on time at 7:30 p.m. About one hour south of Ketchikan, in full flight the pilot of the ship was taken off to a small boat that was paralleling us. He was a south-east Alaska pilot, and since we were headed for Canadian waters, he had to be replaced by a Canadian pilot who will come aboard tomorrow.

Tomorrow we are to travel completely through the day, no stops, arriving in Vancouver early Wednesday morning, where we will take a bus transfer to Sea-Tac airport to retrieve our car and drive home.