5/8/23: Ketchikan, Alaska: The World's Totem Pole Capital

The previous day our ship cruised through the Inland Passage but we weren't able to see anything of interest because of the rain. Coming ashore at Ketchikan in southeastern Alaska, we didn't realize how lucky we were to see blue skies and the sun shining as it rains an average of 150 inches and snows 40 inches a year! We were told if we didn't like the rain, just wait five minutes and it would clear although I was doubtful with that much rain!

I can't imagine tourists coming to Ketichan to snorkel but apparently, it's hugely popular when water temps are in the 50s and full water suits are worn! Tourism, i.e. cruise ships, is the biggest money-maker in town followed by fishing. A staggering 1.4 million tourists are expected this year in Ketichan which has just 7,870 residents.

Thundering Eagle or Mooning Eagle depending on your perspective!

One of 34 step streets in Ketchikan, i.e. where residents must climb a huge number of steps to access the street above.

When we'd signed up for a shore excursion to the Alaska Rainforest Sanctuary we didn't realize that we'd have a driver with comedic talent, too. With a cheery "Hurry up, you little penguins, get your butts on the bus," we were on our way to discovering Ketichan! As we approached a side road, he joked it wasn't a thru street but a 'dead' end because it ended at a cemetery!

Ketichan is known as The Rock because there is so much shale. No wells can be dug because the topsoil is just one foot deep. Residents must collect rainwater in cisterns and, as the driver noted, they get used to the rain because they depend on it.

As we drove by the only high school in town, the driver pointed out the gravel baseball 'field' instead of the usual grass because it's so soggy all of the time. No games are canceled from the weather as it would mean ALL games would have to be canceled. Our driver mentioned that the student-athletes must travel by plane or ferry for away games. As families can't attend, opposing teams' fans root for Ketichan students. Wouldn't it be nice if there were that same sense of cooperation and camaraderie in other sports?

Some of the many refineries on the west side of Ketchikan:

The Island of Pinnock was one of more than 1,000 in the area! The driver said there's a 20-foot difference between high and low tide in Ketichan so pilings like the one below mark the way for boats.

Regular unleaded gas in Ketchikan wasn't much more expensive in early May than what we had been paying in suburban Denver.

This was the first of what would be many times during our three weeks in Alaska when we realized we had arrived too early in the season for one thing or another. Here it was to learn that Ketchikan was the salmon capital of the world but they weren't running in early May. I'm not a salmon lover but Alaskans are proud to let everyone know they have five varieties of wild-caught salmon: king, sockeye, chums, silver, and pink.

At least we weren't too early for skunk cabbage that was just beginning to grow along roadsides as they are the first plant to pop up in the spring! Fish are wrapped in their leaves to preserve them. Bears love the very fibrous plants as they're a great laxative after winter hibernation!

We've been in far too many rainforests to remember but, by definition, one must have at least 75 inches of rain per year. Methinks that Alaska Rainforest Sanctuary in Tongass National Forest more than qualifies as it has 140 inches!

It was news to me that the Sitka spruce is the fourth-largest tree in the world and was used to build planes in WW 2. It's also very prized in wood carving circles as sculptures made from the wood can command thousands of dollars. 

Fairy steps according to our guide!

Western Hemlocks comprise 75% of all trees in southeast Alaska.

The forest used to be part of a logging area.

Some of the Sitka spruces in the rainforest were 200 feet high.

The pitch acts as a natural defensive weapon for trees.

Enlarge the photo to see the scratches made by female brown bears who use the trees for protection as they seek to escape natural predators, especially male bears who want their cubs to die so females can then go into heat. There are no moose in southeastern Alaska but plenty of black-tailed Sitka deer and brown and black bears. Glad they were far away as we mosied along the trail!

This 'nursing log' was totally new to me; it had red cedar, Sitka spruce, and hemlocks all growing on the same tree!

If you're ever caught in the Alaskan wild, look for deer hearts to munch on as they taste much like spinach and are used locally in salads.

This cedar tree, one of the largest in the rainforest, was called the Tree of Life as it had so many uses: easy to carve, cedar trunks, clothing, transportation - think cedar canoes - and also used as a gathering space for religious ceremonies.

We knew we had to be in a very unpolluted area as lichen only grows in that sort of environment.

Leaving the rainforest we came to a fish hatchery where commercial fishermen must donate 3% of their earnings to hatcheries like this one.

The lumber mill dated from 1956 and closed 21 years ago.

Just outside the mill was a Raptor Center, the largest in Alaska, although it seemed very small to me. The center accepted animals who had sustained an injury and couldn't be released into the wild. The exterior comprised just three animals: Jake, a 17-year-old red-tailed hawk with "mental issues" because a boy took him as a 2-year-old from a nest and put him in his closet for 6 months.

Sitka was a 23-year-old bald eagle who had a hole in his toe from a car accident and therefore couldn't pick up his food.

Owlison had a broken bone in the right wrist and, if in the wild, the great horned owl would sit on a perch 80% of the day.

The ten of us on the shore excursion were pretty excited seeing a female black bear - we only learned it was female because its ears were further apart and it peed like a dog!

Most of the old mill had been converted into a carving center where we chatted with Kevin, an indigenous man who was following cultural norms by carving a 15-foot red cedar into a totem pole. 

Kevin said he began work on the unseasoned pole four months and it was about two weeks from completion. The pole was telling the story of a raven. He drew his plan in advance and then painted it one inch to a square. Unlike his uncle, he does apply a lacquer before finishing so the colors would 'pop' for a while.

Two blacksmiths make the tools for the carvers who are equally men and women. The norm is to do just one carving a year.

Janina: The first amusing bathroom sign of the trip!

No surprise that the clan house had an impressive array of totem poles as Ketichan's 80 poles were the most in the world. The poles are peculiar to the Pacific Northwest region, particularly coastal British Columbia and southeastern Alaska where they have been carved for centuries by the Haida, Tlingit, and Tsimshian people. Most poles in town were replicas because others had rotted over time. 

As we returned to town, our driver said the Mickey D's Denali burger, a glorified Big Mac, sells for $16 in town! He added that everything comes in by barge or air so the cost of living in Ketchikan is 30% to 40% higher than in the lower 48. As Ketichan is the first stop on the barge from the 'south' they get green bananas. By the time the barge reaches its last stop, they're yellow!

Since we had several hours before the ship left, we wandered around for a while. The 'First City' on the sign meant it was the initial city tourists visited from The South.

The sign by the Chief Kyan Totem Pole indicated totem poles are carved to honor deceased ancestors, and record history, social events, and oral traditions but never worshipped as religious objects. Our driver had said they were also carved as a memorial or even as a shaming pole, i.e. for a neighbor who failed to pay a debt. Once the debt was repaid, the pole was cut down. This was a good reminder to return the Tupperware dish, he joked.

What a shame I adopted my English mother's disdain for umbrellas as I would otherwise have bought this beautiful one in a heartbeat.

In the lobby of the Southeast Alaska Discovery Center, we took a few minutes to admire some of the most colorful totem poles in town.

Thomas Basin Boat Harbour:

Like most Alaskan towns, Ketchikan was once a wild town with a vibrant red-light district where "salmon and man went upstream to spawn"! Cripple Creek now contained a string of shops on pilings over Ketichan Creek which ran through the middle of town. The last bordello still standing was Dolly's House Museum, the green one below.

Another massive 60-foot tall totem pole was named Chief Johnson Kooteeyaa and was carved by Tlingit master carver Israel Shotbridge. At the base was Fog Woman, the creator of all salmon. Ketichan's profusion of totem poles is a sight we'll long associate with our first stop in The Last Frontier.

It was a novelty spotting crossing guards as we hadn't seen any since umpteen years ago in some eastern European country. No doubt they were necessary as there was nary a stoplight in the town.

Bidding adieu to Ketchikan and en route to Juneau, our next port of call, and also the state capital.

Posted on June 13th, 2023 from our home in suburban Denver on the night after our hometown Denver Nuggets won the National Basketball Championship and everyone in town is suddenly a diehard Nuggets fan!