Our first glimpse of Alaska was Ketchikan. With plans to meet the fam at 9:45am, we realized we had a whole 3 hours we could use to explore on land before meeting them! (At this point in the cruise, we were still on Minnesota time, often waking up at 5:45!). So off we went for a morning jog. Or at least what was planned to be a quick little morning jog...little did we know we would be climbing a mountain. Literally.
Ketchikan looked magical first thing in the morning with the fog just rolling away, the water like glass, and the quiet streets.
Pretty soon we had jogged through the whole town, so we started exploring beyond the city streets. We came across a totem pole park, and a beautiful stream. I noticed signs pointing to a hiking spot, so I started charging up the hill to see what the trail head looked like. On our way up, I spotted the biggest slug I have ever seen! I tried to pick him up, but he was too slimy. Gross!
We found the trail head and saw that it was only 3 miles to the summit; 1 mile to the first lookout. Piece of cake, right? Um, yeah right! This could have been the hardest hike I have ever done. It was straight up- crazy switchbacks- and took us over an hour to go 1 mile!! We came to a spot where we could see out over the water and it was just gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous . I wanted to see more.
I know, its not the best photo of us ...
the view
Well, while we were at the first lookout, someone told us that we weren't actually at the first lookout, it was just 1/4 mile further. So of course I told Ryan that we had to keep going. After another hour we realized that we in fact had seen the first look out, and that we didn't have time to make it to the 2nd lookout. I knew we were close but our bodies were too exhausted to keep going (no food or water for 3 hours of exercise) and Ryan's mom had already called us wondering where we were. We had no choice but to head down the mountain. Since it had taken so long to climb up, we had to run down the mountain, and again, with no water or food, our poor exhausted bodies couldn't go too fast! haha. We were quite the site. Once we got to the trail head we still had a mile or so to go to get back on the ship. I was so so sore, it was pathetic. We hurried and ate lunch, just in time to meet the family at the dock to go on our first excursion: zip-lining in the forest!
Zip-lining was so much fun!! We did a few ropes course activities at first, like rock climbing, etc. And then we went on a series of 7-8 different zip lines. It was awesome!!
I didn't take my camera with me on the zip lines, so there are only a few photos from this excursion.
After zip-lining we took a quick stroll through town before getting back on the ship. My favorite place was Creek Street--- these cute little shops all lined up along the creek. So quaint!
Alaskans love their popcorn-- we saw tons of these little places in the Alaskan towns. Yummy.
Once we got back on the boat and started looking over the town, I realized where/what we had hiked. Deer Mountain. Had I known what I was climbing, I may not have been so adamant about climbing the whole thing!
Ketchikan
Here she is: Deer Mountain
1 comment:
Thats so funny, dont pick up slugs anymore. My mom and dad were just in Ketchikan or however you spell it. My Dad was judging the jr. Miss pageant there and they stayed in the hotel where you have to take a tram to get up to the actual hotel. That place looks beautiful.
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