"Home Sweet Home" a Ketchikan Travel Page by mcpangie

For nearly four years in the 1990's I made my home in the First City, formally known as Ketchikan, Alaska, informally known as K-Town. Ketchikan is the largest community in southern Southeast Alaska, and at the time it was considered the 4th largest town in Alaska. Ketchikan is the first city that you will arrive at when you are starting an Alaskan Cruise and entering the Alaskan Panhandle. Ketchikan sprawls for miles along the coast of Revillagigedo Island, or Revilla as the locals call it. But normally Ketchikan is only a few blocks up the mountains on Revilla. Just in case you are wondering, Revilla Island is nearly as big as the entire state of Rhode Island (.7 million acres). On the backside of the island is the Misty Fiords National Monument, which at 2.3 million acres is three times as large as that tiny little State of Rhode Island. I have seen Misty Fiords one Mother’s Day when I went around Revilla on a ferry.

Deer Mountain is the prominent mountain that looms over downtown Ketchikan. This picture is taken during one of our many boating trips. You can see a rain shower in Bear Valley (the light blob), which is a very common site in Southeast Alaska. Also on Revilla Island is the Tongass National Forest, and the Tongass is considered a rainforest. One year I lived in Ketchikan it rained over 200 inches.

Ketchikan has a number of nick-names like...

K-Town - Kind of goofy.

Salmon Capital of the World - Lots of fishing, but not so much as Bristol Bay.

First City - meaning furthest south so the first city people reach when coming north along the Inside Passsage.

The Rock - Living on an island can get taxing.

In June 1996 I flew down to Grand Junction, Colorado and bought my Grandma Norma’s Ford Taurus and drive it back up to Ketchikan (obviously taking the ferry for part of the way). Here is one lovely sunset reflecting in a puddle at a parking spot along the Tongass Highway.