Basically it just kept raining for what is now around 30 hours, pretty hard, without a break. It's actually quite startling. Apparently Ketchikan got 190 inches of rain last year, well it looks as though they're out to beat the record by the end of May.
We toured the visitor centre (fun and informative about a town history which is all fur-trapping, fishing, logging and latterly tourism) and the totem pole heritage centre. The latter was quite beautiful, the totem poles are apparently never worshipped but used to mark important events or to record the genealogy of a family.
Eventually the weather got too much and we returned to our guest house. A quick plug: the Innside Passage guest house is run by two really nice people - Gary and Anita Raaum - who go to a lot of trouble to welcome guests and who run a lovely place.
In the evening we had a quick meal and then watched 'Star Wars - Episode 1' at the local flea pit. Pretty good fun, followed by the ritual walk home in drenching rain.
A word about this town. It's basically built on stilts. It's 4 miles long, and about 50 yards wide, and sits at the bottom of a cliff. The bits that go back further have been largely carved out of solid rock. The original main street was built from wood balanced on piles, which have now been largely (although by no means entirely) replaced with concrete. One nice thing about all this is that the whole place is very well drained. After a day and a half of solid (and I mean a non-stop downpour) things are really not too puddly.
I suspect it would be quite lovely in the sun, it has a very relaxed
and friendly feel. Too bad that it doesn't seem likely that we'll find
out....
May 24th
...but we did find out. During Monday morning it stopped raining
for several hours and we saw Ketchikan and the surrounding countryside
bathed in sunshine. The mists disappeared and snow capped mountains
emerged across the water.
We immediately leapt into touristic action, and walked to Saxman village
full of totem poles, Totem Bight also full of totem poles, and the beach
at the end of the road. That's right, go north for about 20 miles
and there is the end of the road. The only way out of Ketchikan is
by air or sea. I think this probably gives people cabin fever, that
and the fact that only 15,000 people live in this area so forget 6 degrees
of separation when reading about people in the paper; you probably know
every family. The views from the beach at the end of the road were
beautiful. Just like Northern Exposure!
This is the sign that tells you that the road is about to end, and
that what follow is a dirt track. That all seems pretty obvious now, unfortunately
we found out the hard way at about 40 m.p.h....
>
Jan enjoying a little Spring shower in downtown Ketchikan.
Ketchikan is built on stilts
Totem poles in Ketchikan, one with recent additions
This is the sign that tells you that the road is about to end, and that what follow is a dirt track. That all seems pretty obvious now, unfortunately we found out the hard way at about 40 m.p.h....