June 13, 2009 - Flightseeing in Ketchikan

Saturday morning finds us sailing to Ketchikan.

We were truckin' it overnight...

After a hearty breakfast, we dock and disembark.

Ketchikan is famous for a few things (or thinks it is)...

their native heritage (with their totem poles)

salmon...
(This is a "salmon ladder" - since they physically blocked the stream, salmon swim up this chute to buypass the impediment.

Creek Street (with its brothel - notice how low the water is!)...

and rain!
(They had over 200 inches on 1949 and average over 12 feet/year.)

Looking back at the creek.

I'll take their word for it...

General scenery...

Time to board our floatplane for a tour of the area.

old loging road...

That's a strange formation - a massive cleft in the mountain.

This one is cool! Amazing, sheer cliff...

then a nice, rounded ridge...

Then a more amazing, sheerer cliff on the other side.

Most of the lakes up here are frozen.

more cliffs - we saw lots of this - beautiful!