The Carnival Spirit Alaska cruise ship only docked in the port of Ketchikan for a short 5 hours, so we opted to stay in town and explore on our own rather than go for an official excursion. Here’s what to check out if you want to lead your own day in Ketchikan!

Hike Rainbird Trail

The first thing we did during our short stay in Ketchikan was hike the Rainbird Trail. Rainbird Trail is located northwest of town and is a 1.3 mile trail through the Tongass National Forest. It’s a linear trail, not a loop, and can be hiked from one end to the other with entrance and exit at opposite ends or made into a round-trip journey by u-turning and hiking back to where you started. It takes about 1 hour to hike from the far north end to the far south end at a very leisurely pace, and there is also a way to exit the trail at the midway point.

How do you get to Rainbird Trail from the cruise terminal?

We planned to hike the Rainbird Trail from north to south. The northern end of Rainbird Trail is near the Ketchikan High School and University of Alaska Southeast Campus, which are easy to get to via local bus (or taxi, but the local way is more fun). Catch the Green Line local bus ($2.00 fare per person) from the Fire Department in downtown Ketchikan, let the bus driver know you want to go to the north end of Rainbird Trail, and get off the bus at the Ketchikan High School. Make sure you specify which end of the Rainbird Trail you want to be dropped off at. The trailhead is a short 5-minute walk away from the bus stop! Alternatively, there is a Green Line bus stop right outside the trailhead to the south entrance of Rainbird Trail if you want to start hiking from that end. The Green Line bus arrives at the Fire Department bus stop hourly, at 5 minutes past the hour. Another public transportation option is the free shuttle bus that departs from the cruise terminal  — take this shuttle bus to Safeway and walk north to the trailhead.

Rainbird – Immensely Green

Rainbird Trail was magically green. Moss covered every surface- somehow growing over every rock, live tree, and fallen tree. Little rushing waterfalls sang in the background, and a shallow layer of running water tinkled between the pebbles underfoot on the trail. The trail is well-marked and, save for a few small parts of the trail, is pretty sure-footed. The moist air and damp trail do make some stones slippery so I’m glad we were wearing hiking boots. If you don’t have time to do the whole trail, I recommend the north half of the trail as it’s more scenic with abundant little waterfalls. After completing the north half, you can exit at the midway point if tight on time.

 

Wander City Park

After emerging from the southern trailhead of Rainbird Trail, we walked 20 minutes east to get to City Park. Deer Mountain Hatchery and the Totem Heritage Center are right next to City Park as well so you can budget an hour or so to spend in this area. We saw a few baby salmon in the creeks running through City Park, but not much else. I think we were in Ketchikan too early in the season to see salmon in the creeks, although we did see some salmon making their way through ocean waters during our day in Icy Strait Point.

 

Sample Ketchikan Salmon

We finished our short time in Ketchikan exploring downtown, which is a 15 minute walk south from City Park. Everyone visits Creek Street in Ketchikan. The river running along Creek Street is a wonderful spot to view salmon jumping as they make their way upriver, but we were there just too early in the year to see any. Creek Street is historically a red light district and the history of individual historic little buildings is available to read as you meander. Creek Street is now full of little boutiques and souvenir shops.

 

Ketchikan is dubbed the Salmon Capital of the World, so we had to take advantage. We visited three salmon stores: Simply Salmon, Salmon Etc., and Salmon Market. Simply Salmon is located in the Creek Street area, whereas Salmon Etc. and Salmon Market are right across the street from each other in downtown Ketchikan. All the salmon stores offer free samples. We found the cheapest prices at Salmon Market and took some cans of salmon home!