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Published: November 27th 2005
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Cruise to Sitka
This was the sunrise I woke up to on the overnight ferry. Hi there!
Apologies for the delayed blog. SE Alaska is a tourist area, and it ain't hard to find a $10/hr internet connection, and they're rarely under $5/hr.
We started our trip on the Alaska Marine Highway. Most of the places in SE Alaska don't have road access and rely on a series of ferries to connect to the Lower 48. The cruise to Ketchikan was good. Arrived in Ketchikan to rain. Ketchikan has the highest rainfall of any place in North America with over 13 feet of rain annually.
While in Ketchikan, we stayed at the New York Hotel where we had two single beds in a small room. Accommodation is quite expensive here in SE Alaska, and just a room like that was over US$100 per night. It had a very steep staircase to get up to the rooms and this elderly couple who arrived at the same time as us had a terrible time getting up to their room.
We checked out Creek Street which is a boardwalk street where you can see heaps of salmon just swimming beneath the surface of Ketchikan Creek. We hiked around town a bit and went up the
Canada to Alaska
The last bit of land before we hit AK on the way to Ketchikan. Street of Stairs. Due to the grade of the hills, Ketchikan is only a few blocks wide and this one street was so steep that it needed stairs to ascend the hill. Great view from up top.
Ketchikan is very geared to the cruiseships. Most of the time we were there, there was at least 4 cruiseships there, each with up to 5,000 passengers and crew. Most of downtown is jewellery stores which the "Q-Tips" (cruiseship passengers) invade. We took a day cruise out to Misty Fjords National Monument which is a wilderness area accessible only by boat or seaplane. While on the cruise, we saw heaps of bald eagles, harbor seals, a grizzly bear and a humpback whale breaching clear out of the water. It was one of the best days for wildlife viewing that the crew of the ship had ever seen.
While on the cruise, you notice the huge tidal variations here. When we left, the walkway we came down on to the docks had a very steep grade. Closer to high tide, it was almost level with the docks. They have a 29m vertical tidal variation in Ketchikan, and it goes even higher further
Ketchikan #1
It rains so much in Ketchikan that they call it Liquid Sunshine....11 ft of rain annually. up the Panhandle.
From Ketchikan, we took an overnight cruise to Sitka. We had a 4 berth stateroom to ourselves which was actually bigger than the room we had back in Ketchikan. It was a beautiful cruise as we went past Wrangell and Petersburg. I would've liked to stop there, but the ferry schedule was against us. We then passed through a place called the Wrangell Narrows which is a very narrow, shallow stretch of water. Cruiseships can't go through, and the ferry needs +2ft above low tide to get through.
When we arrived in Sitka the next morning, we had a rest day. I was feeling travelsick not from the boat, but from the bus ride coming into town! On Saturday, we took a hike through the Sitka National Historical Park. It was a really nice hike showing the location of where the native Tlingits fought off a Russian raid for some time. When they ran out of ammo, they slipped away at night without incurring any casualties. The rest of the time in Sitka was spent mainly resting. The final day we were there was exactly like a cold Canberra winter's day.
We then caught
Misty Fjords National Monument
You can see why they call it Misty. the high speed ferry M/V Fairweather to Juneau. In Juneau, it rained. And rained. And rained. We spent the time mainly listening to the upstairs neighbours arguing, as there was little soundproofing between rooms. Also listened to the kids run to one end of the unit, and back to the other end. Yay! We got out one day to see the Mendenhall Glacier. Before seeing that, however, we saw Tracy Arm, 50 miles south of Juneau - a full day's sail. It was amazing. It has two tidewater glaciers at the end. There was icebergs all the way up and we spent an hour watching the South Sawyer Glacier calving.
It was then on up to Skagway where we rode the White Pass & Yukon Route railroad. It's a very nice train ride. Although we had another dose of uncontrolled children who were making a real noise. The train was full of retirees though, so they obviously scored a few looks as they kept quiet. The White Pass route was used to get the goldrushers up a steep hill which they used to have to hike up a trail that was no wider than 1 or 2 feet in
Sitka NHP
This is the site of the native Tlingit fort that stood over 100 years ago. Strong enough to stand up to cannon fire. most places. It was very interesting hearing all the history from the late 19th century.
And then, back on the M/V Fairweather again down to Juneau to catch the plane up here to Fairbanks. We're just about to drive to Denali. When we flew up, the cloud cover was up to 18,000 ft. We saw Mt. McKinley poking above that!! A big mountain.
Anyway, better scoot.
Until next time,
Matt.
PS. Thursday night Bible Study - just used the Starbucks card...works a treat! Thanks again guys!
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Lizzy H
non-member comment
Hope you packed your thermal undies!