Ketchikan

Don't walk under one of these....

There's tons of these "airports" for seaplanes in Alaska

6/3/11

Ketchikan

This is a short little blog.  I’m still in Ketchikan, having stayed here for 2 weeks.  I’m going to leave here tomorrow and circumnavigate Revillagigedea Island (try pronouncing that).  I was going to continue north but a couple of things stopped me…1) The Misty Fiords National Monument Wilderness is considered one of the most beautiful areas in SE Alaska, with lots of wildlife, etc.  I am planning on doing a clockwise tour, up Behm Canal, then right at Behm Narrows, then down Behm Canal, and back up to Ketchikan and 2), I’m still awaiting a second set of kayak racks that I should have received today, but didn’t.  This time I’ll only spend a day or two when I get back, probably to change the oil and to install the kayak racks.

New solar panels

Lost in the woods

During the last 2 weeks, I’ve been working on the boat, receiving some stuff from various companies and installing solar panels, which was a good 3-day project.  But I’m telling you that I’m tired of Ketchikan mainly because it is so noisy, commercial and pleasure boats whipping in and out, and a constant flow of seaplanes taking off and landing close by – worse than Lake Union in Seattle.  I'm looking forward to some peace and quiet.

I did rent a car and drove all over Ketchikan and outside, which didn’t take very long, as the road only goes 15 or so miles on either side.  I did take a nice hike on one of the trails; one particular one was suppose to be a “loop”, but kept winding on and on, and in the thick forest, I completely lost my sense of direction and decided to turn back.  I have to say, the trails seem in much better shape than the ones that I saw in Canada.

Hiking along a river to the beach

The weather has been an interesting mix of cold rain versus warm and sunny.  The last couple of days has been beautiful – t-shirt weather.  Last week, it was cold and raining without much wind.

Lastly, there has been a huge flow of US yachts coming in.  They stay for a day or so and continue on.  98% of them have all been big motorboats, mostly trawler style.  Most of those look brand new (hot off the showroom, no doubt).

That’s it for now.  Hopefully I’ll have some nice pics and stories for you in a couple of weeks.

Looking out from the beach