Ketchikan, Alaska

Ketchikan is an isolated city with no roads or bridges to the mainland. It sits at the southern end of Alaska’s Southeastern Panhandle, and is the first port of call northbound into Alaska. From this it derives its nicknames, “The First City” or the “Gateway City”. Perched on the rocky shoreline of Revillagigedo Island, shortened to Revilla, locals often refer to it as “the rock”.

The mountains drop directly into the deep water of Tongass Narrows. With little flat land the city’s pioneers drove piling and capped and decked them to create a wooden city on stilts. The islands only road hugs the shoreline and dead ends into the rainforest 18 miles north and 12 miles south of town.

Ketchikan is home to 12,000 people, Alaska’s fourth largest city. Salmon attracted the first white settlers in the 1880’s and cabins sprang up at the mouth of Ketchikan Creek around the first industry, a fish saltery. This area is now the town’s historic Creek Street district. You can still walk the boardwalk streets and gaze down on the salmon as they flood up the creek to spawn. Dolly’s House, the infamous house of ill repute, still opens its doors every morning. Only tourists now visit!

Twenty foot tide changes lap at the foundations of building perched at the water’s edge. This salt water, home to rich varieties of marine life, gave Ketchikan its start. The heavy precipitation that created the rainforest later supported the timber industry. Today, visitors stopping to experience the magnificent scenery and lifestyle of Southeast Alaska are a major boon to the economy.

With limited roads, more travel occurs by floatplane or boat, than land. Youngsters grow up driving a skiff over to the island to go to school. High school basket ball teams travel by float plane or ferry to other remote communities to compete. The mail is still delivered by float plane to outlying island communities and national Sunday papers arrive on Monday.

Here is a different way of life. Come and experience it.

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