5/25 - Ketchikan - Misty Fjords

Our day in Ketchikan started super early as we only had a limited amount of time as the boat was in the harbor only from 6am until 2pm and we wanted to get in as much as possible. The first thing on the agenda for the day was a seaplane tour to the Misty Fjords National Monument. Lucka was not sure if she would be comfortable on this tiny plane so we decided that it was safer if she just joined us once we were done with the tour.
There was about 20 of us going so I thought the plane would have to be relatively big to fit all of us, but to my surprise they split us up into four groups and the four of us had our plane DHC-2 DeHavilland Beaver all to ourselves.
Misty Fjords National Monument is a 2.3-million acre piece of pristine wilderness that can really be only viewed by a floatplane; it is the only way to truly take in its majesty - soaring cliffs, saw-tooth ridges blanketed in trademark mists, sky-blue lakes, endless waterfalls, icy saltwater fjords and miles of glacier-carved gorges. The views were spectacular!!! Midway through our trip the pilot landed on this huge lake and told us to get out if we wanted to and take in the view... at first I was lil confused... cause we were in the middle of the lake... how the hell am I going to get out? Only then I realized that we were to stand on the floats... duuh! It was truly once in a lifetime experience! Mom & Chris were even lucky enough to sit next to the pilot (one on the way there, the other on the way back) and enjoy the full view from the cockpit.
We headed back to our boat for a breakfast and Lucka pick up and went back to town for a lil exploration. Unfortunately, it rained on us... but we didn't expect anything else as the average annual rainfall exceeds 160 inches at Ketchikan. We managed to walk through all that this 4th largest town (7.5K population) in Alaska has to offer in under 2 hours and all frozen return back to our boat for a hot toddy and of course more food!!!