Ketchikan - wildlife & museum

August 13, 2025

My big goal for today was taking a guided wildlife walk in Herring Cove. A private company owns one side of the cove, & their boardwalks give the best views. However, before the tour, I watched the cove from a bridge & watched a bear catch a big fish & take it into the woods; it's a good guess that she had a cub or two over there that she was sharing it with.

The tour began with a walk through the rainforest. The roots of the tree on the left initially grew around a fallen log, which rotted away leaving the tree growing on "stilts". The tree on the right was marked by a bear with its claw marks drawing out sap & then rubbing its back on the sap to leave its fur there with its scent: territory marked.

Then we got my closest bear encounter yet from a raised boardwalk. Mama approached followed closely by 2 adorable cubs.

After passing under our feet, mama surveyed the creek & then plunged right in.

She soon scored a big ole salmon, with 1 cub taking notes & the other daydreaming.

After bringing it back to our side of the creek, she took it off into the long grass for them all to eat.

The folks who run the wildlife tours have a whole little campus of other activities. One corner of a historic sawmill is now used as a carving shed. This young man is carving his first pole, the twin to the one in the back done by a master carver.

There's a blacksmith, who only uses recycled carbon steel to make knives & such.

And, a number of totem poles are on display. Though older poles were one solid pole that went into the ground, modern poles are modified in 2 ways to make them last longer. Since the inside of a solid pole rots first, they are now cut in half & hollowed out. Also, a support pole is put into the ground & the carved pole is attached to this support. The support pole will rot first but can be replaced.

Totem poles can be a memorial to a person, they can tell of someone's shame (not the person who carved it), they might mark territory, or they tell a story like this one does.

This afternoon, I wandered around the Tongass Historical Museum, yet another beautiful Alaskan museum. The Tongass National Forest, the largest in the US, comprises most of Southeast Alaska, which is that part of the state located between British Columbia & The Yukon & the Gulf of Alaska/Pacific Ocean.

Here in Ketchikan, eighth grade science teaches a variety of topics that are all useful for living & surviving here, like identifying edible plants. At the end of the school year, every student spends 2 days in a small group on a remote island using the skills they have learned to survive - pretty cool.