July 20, 2023

Ketchikan is a small place in Southeast Alaska; although it only has a population of 8200 it’s one of the largest (6th) cities in the state. Peak season is super busy, as this town is a typical place for cruise ships. It does gets extremely busy but once you’re out of the ordinary places, it’s still doable. Get out first thing in the morning and you’ll see you’re one of the first ones. Main thing to see in Ketchikan is Creek Street

The antique boardwalk on wooden pilings over Ketchikan Creek is home to restaurants, unique curio shops, the ‘Dolly’s House Museum’ & private dwellings, as well as some of the best salmon viewing areas in Ketchikan. Married Man’s Trail and the Salmon Ladder are also not to be missed when exploring Creek Street!

Dolly’s on Creek Street

Creek Street is known as Ketchikan’s old red-light district. In the mid 1920’s there were over 20 bawdy houses on Creek Street alone! In fact, Creek Street was once home to Ketchikan’s #1 industry – prostitution. The prostitutes or ‘working women’ were frequented by men looking for a little company and some liquor. During prohibition, Creek Street was the place to go for a drink as bootleggers would smuggle in Canadian whiskey to supply the houses of prostitution and backroom saloons. Creek Street Ketchikan is built over the water and the bootleggers would simply wait until high tide and would row their rowboats right up the stream to deliver their goods in the cloak of darkness. Most of the houses on Creek Street had hidden ‘trap doors’ underneath the house just to receive delivery!

Totem parks in Ketchikan

Ketchikan is truly the totem capital of the world, and if you want to see the most standing totems in one location, a visit to Saxman Village’s Totem Park is a must. There are several state parks but Saxman is probably the easiest to get to, as it is only a 3 mile ride or hike to the park.
Today was a beautiful day and I decided to go for a run towards Saxman, or actually passed the totem park, as I did a 21.1km or 13.1 mile run, which was half marathon distance # 2132…