Wednesday August 28, 2019
the ship arrived in Ketchikan early this morning. It was a bright sunny day and 51 degrees. We were fortunate to have a beautiful dry day because the naturalist on the ship had said that rainfall in Ketchikan “was not measured in inches, but in feet.” The city gets an average of 13 FEET of rain each year. There are only 60 days of sunshine per year. We were VERY lucky!!!
We watched from the balcony as the Celebrity Millennium slowly cruised past several other ships and docked in front of the Holland America’s Amsterdam. It simply amazing how the crew can “park” these behemoths like valets in a parking lot!
Ketchikan looked like another small Alaskan village, sandwiched between the sea and the mountains, developed for tourists and supported by cruise ships. Ketchikan has the world’s largest collection of totem poles in the world. Our plan for the day was to visit Totem Bight State Park and the adjacent Potlatch Park which are located 30 minutes outside Ketchikan. We learned we could take a public bus to the parks, so we set out to find the bus stop. On the way, we stopped at Creek Street which was full of tourists.
The Creek Street Historic District was the “Red Light District” during Gold Rush days and it is still a major tourist destination. Today the buildings are occupied by shops, restaurants, and cafes.
Ketchikan Creek is a salmon spawning area and looking down into the water, we say hundreds of salmon swimming up stream.
All of a sudden, the salmon dispersed and jumped out of the water in a flurry of excitement! Behind them was a harbor seal hunting for his breakfast!! There were two harbor seals in the creek looking for food.
Jeff and I boarded the 10:25 public bus to ride ten miles out of town. The bus filled up with cruise ship passengers and local moms with young children, teenagers, and grizzly old men. A local woman, who began a conversation with me, said she was happy to have cruise ships in port because it gave her employment in a local fish processing plant and she could earn $8,000 this summer. The factory closes in the winter and she has to find other employment. The bus pulled up to a Walmart store and the woman wished me well and got off.
Jeff and I left the bus at Totem Bight State Historical Park. The park was established on the former site of a traditional Native campground and contains a collection of 15 totem poles and a replica of a traditional chieftain’s house. Skilled carvers were hired to repair or duplicate the totem poles. The park was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970.
The wood-frame house had a low oval entrance which led into a single room decorated with carved “house posts.” There was a central fire pit to heat the house.
Adjacent to the state park is Potlatch Totem Park, a privately owned facility built on ancient Tlingit fishing grounds. The park features a large clan house flanked by four smaller clan houses, designed to show how local tribes lived through the 1800s.
We had paid $5 each to enter Bight State Park but there was no admission fee for Potlatch Park. When I asked a worker, she said that Potlatch runs a gift shop which pays all expenses to maintain Potlatch. Potlatch Park had exhibits of antique guns, old cars, and also a totem restoration building.
We returned back to Ketchikan early enough to explore the Creek Street area and see salmon jumping up the rapids on Ketchikan creek.
We hurried back to the Celebrity Millennium late in the afternoon. The shops in Ketchikan were closing as cruise passengers returned to their ships and the huge ships were leaving the port. Four ships had been in Ketchikan today bringing about 10,000 tourists to the Alaskan village, perhaps doubling the population of Ketchikan. Amazing……
