A Walk with Bald Eagles, Salmon, Totems, and Stairs! - Part 1, Mon., July 30, 2018

Temperature today: 86 degrees
Wildlife: Bald eagles, jellyfish, deer

Ketchikan: We didn't know what to expect from the fourth largest city in Alaska. When we started our walk on the waterfront, the first things to catch our eyes were the sculptures. I particularly loved the bald eagle "totem."

Bald eagle and the NCL Bliss

Art under the eagle's wings

Today, we're doing a 10k (6.2 mile) walk all around Ketchikan in the form of two 5k loops: one loop is described as "hilly," and the other is described as "harbor." We decided to do "hilly" first while we were fresh and it was a little cooler. The waterfront is a great place to start with its history, the old downtown, and art.

Old buildings along the waterfront.

A welcome gate proclaiming Ketchikan as
"The Salmon Capital of the World."

Many seaplanes ply these waters. They're one
of the only types of transportation to get here.

The sculpture below is called "The Rock," by David Ruben. It was installed in 2010 and depicts all the different types of people who settled here years ago. 

"The Rock," me, and the Bliss.

The sign below wants us to know that Ketchikan gets a lot of rain. (You'd never know it by our weather today!) It says the record for rainfall was busted in 1949 when they got 252 inches of rain. It also says, "Salmon love the rain."

Liquid Sunshine Gauge

"Orca Corn" store

The Salmon Market

We headed away from the waterfront past a historic church and walked through tiny Whale Park. One bench had a dolphin and one bench had a whale on it. Chief Kyan Totem Pole was also in the triangular-shaped park. There will be a number of historical markers regarding totem poles included in my blog because all totem poles have a story, although some stories have been forgotten.

Chief Kyan Totem Pole in Whale Park

Click photo to enlarge for easier reading.

Next, our walk took us toward Creek Street, where much of the early settlement of Ketchikan was. As we approached Creek Street, we came upon a very famous totem pole, Chief Johnson Totem Pole, which has been restored a couple of times over the years.

Chief Johnson Totem Pole

Close up of the lower part of
Chief Johnson Totem Pole

Click photo to enlarge for easier reading.

Bob (front left) looking for salmon

Ketchikan Creek

Before we left the ship, we had been told to look for salmon because they were starting to return. So we looked but didn't see any. [NOTE: Later, we learned a local told other Volksmarchers that the tide was out and when the tide came in, so would the salmon.]

This is the only salmon we saw headed upstream!

Creek Street is where all the action was (AKA the Red Light District) in the early 1900s. You can see what I'm talking about in the sign below for the Star House: "Bootlegged booze, loose women, hot music and rowdy customers."

The only legal brothel was Annie's Place, pictured below:

Annie's Place

Creek Street is pictured below. The Creek is like a street, in that the businesses face it; however, all foot traffic is on boardwalks.

There were frequent raids on the brothels back in the day and men would get huge fines if caught. The escape route was "Married Man's Trail," part of which we followed to get to Park Ave. It was on this part of our walk where we saw the greatest number bald eagles.

This eagle was right at eye level hunting the
waters of Ketchikan Creek.

I don't know whether to call this look the
"eagle eye" or the "evil eye"!

Below is a juvenile bald eagle. They do not get the distinctive white head and white tail feathers until they are four to five years old. This particular bald eagle was much bigger than an older bald eagle sitting next to it. So this is probably a female. They are bigger than the males.

Juvenile bald eagle, probably a female.

Fly fisherman in Ketchikan Creek.

We followed Park Ave. and then the creek up to the Totem Heritage Center. We paid admission and immersed ourselves in the history and lore of Native American totem poles. Inside the center, quite a few very old totems are preserved in low humidity cases to keep them from further deterioration. Many historical markers give you a better understanding of what the totems mean.

A very old Raven totem which originally
topped a 50' shaft.

Totems lying down behind glass for preservation.

Here is a brief synopsis of the history of totem poles. You can read more in the photo below if you'd like. 

"Totem poles were never worshipped as religious objects as the early missionaries believed. They were carved to honor the dead, proclaim wealth and status, and support the oral tradition..."

Some of the reasons totem poles were carved historically:

• Shame or ridicule poles
• Mortuary poles
• Memorial poles
• House posts or pillars
• Heraldic or crest poles 

Historical photo of Old Kassan Village
with totem poles in front of houses.

How a totem pole was raised.

Totem Heritage Center

Susan and John Ives taking a break
outside the Totem Heritage Center

After spending about an hour in the center, we continued on to finish our first 5k loop. Below are more impressions of Ketchikan from our first loop. We hadn't really done anything too hilly on this loop...yet.

Beautiful flowers in yards.

Totems in front of businesses.

More exotic-looking flowers.

Totem in front of a house.

History of a Japanese American family
"twice removed."

More history.

People were getting a big kick out of this sign.
You can buy a T-shirt with the Dolly's House quote.

Creek Street again...this time we get to walk past
all the shops. Oh, boy! (snarky sarcasm)

Raven Stealing the Sun totem pole
in front of a museum.

Okay, remember I said we hadn't done any hills? Well, the time had come. We turned uphill on Bawden Street to Pine St., then Forest Ave., and up to Miller Ridge Rd. to Summit Terrace. Holy smokes! We got our workout. We had passed some other Volksmarchers at Forest Ave. who spent a long time discussing whether they would continue up the hill or turn around because they were exhausted. We passed them by but didn't see them following us, so we assumed they turned around at that point. It's a good thing because I don't think they would have liked Miller Ridge Rd. It was hot and the road was so steep Bob and I trudged up slowly while trying to find shade (not very much shade!). I walked backward quite a bit of the way up the steepest part. 

Then it was time to come down. Bob told me to take a photo of the hill we came down. You can't really tell how steep it is.

We just came down Summit Terrace.

Pine St. (which we came up earlier) and
now we're heading down.

To finish the hilly 5k, we went down
this staircase.

View of The Bliss from the top of the stairs...
it dwarfs the old waterfront Ketchikan buildings.

Yep, we just came down that.

With that, we finished our first 5k loop. This blog is already long so I will make Ketchikan's second 5k loop Part 2. 

To be continued...