22 Inches and How to Get There

The days have gotten cooler in the last few weeks since the cruise ships have left. Proof that the cruising industry knows just what they are doing. Short sleeved shirts and light jackets have been replaced by sweatshirts and raincoats. Coming from Phoenix makes this difficult to imagine. This month alone we will be getting as much rain a phoenix does in about 3 years. When telling people that we were moving to Alaska the most common comment was, 'Oh you are going to be so cold'. Too which I would reply, 'It doesn't snow much but mostly rains in Ketchikan'. 'So like Seattle,' they would say. The answer is Seattle gets roughly 37 inches of rain per year compared to Ketchikan's 156 inches, so no not like Seattle.

October begins the rainy month for Ketchikan. If you go to http://weather.msn.com/local.aspx?wealocations=wc:USAK0125 and scroll down to the averages for temperature and rainfall you will see that Ketchikan gets 22 inches of rain this month.

So how do you get to 22 inches of rain in one month (that is more than half of what Seattle gets a year)? Well it requires roughly 3/4 inch per day. But it doesn't rain all the time so some of that rain comes in the form of large storms from the Gulf of Alaska.

This is the current image for Dec 23rd. ( I will try to update it regularly)

These arrive in South-East Alaska in the form of gail force winds and several inches of rain in one day. Unlike some places, Phoenix for example, if you don't like the weather you just wait a few minutes and it will change. In Ketchikan if you want to wait for the rain to stop before going out you'll have to wait until April. People just go about doing what they want to do despite the rain.

The other thing that surprised me about Ketchikan is the moss on the roofs. I remember the line from Elton Johns song 'I sat on the roof and kicked off the moss', now I know what he meant. I had never seen moss on roof before here. I will try to post some of those pictures when I get the chance.

One more link for you folks. If you want to see what the weather is like in Ketchikan click on http://www.earthcam.com/usa/alaska/ketchikan/ . The site refreshes every twenty seconds.

Getting Out in Ketchikan

On Labor Day September 3rd, after sleeping for a few hours we got our first chance to get out and see the island. We went to a sale at Tongass, the local outfitter and bought some rain gear for Maren and Collin. We then headed south along the highway that goes through Saxman and Herring Cove. Twelve miles south of Ketchikan we hit the end of the road. Here is where Ketchikan gets it's power. Water drains through what looked like a 48 inch pipe from a lake up the mountain and runs a hydroelectric generator and this is where we get our power.

On the way back we spotted this waterfall, just a sample of the amount of rain that Ketchikan gets. Since our arrival last week he have not seen a day where we didn't get at least some rain.

From there we drove north of town and went hiking up Brown Mountain trail.

(The picture shows us coming down)

We walked to the end of he board walk, which is not the top. From there the trail became muddy and we weren't prepared with the proper foot wear. I would like to return since the view, so I was told, is amazing.

I did shoot this picture from the board walk. It is hard to believe that we are on an island

Many Questions

Aug. 28, 2007
We sit in a small motel room in Burns Lake British Columbia on our way to Prince Rupert to catch a ferry. Our ulitmate destination, Ketchikan Alaska. Over the last several months the most common question that I have been asked is 'why are you moving to Alaska'? This is a question I can't easily answer. But I will try.

I have wanted to move to Alaska for many years, but since getting married and having children, this made it impractical. But in recent years I have become increasingly disillusioned with my job and my career, I was reaching burnout. As my interest in writing continues to develop I am seeking a quiet, slower pace in which to write. These coupled with the traffic and over population of Pheonix helped solidify my decision. Maren and I have been wanting to move from the Phoenix area for some time but couldn't decide on a place. So when I found the job in Ketchikan I convinced my family to give it a try.

So now we are on our way to a new adventure. For those of you who want to move to Alaska, it is no easy task. The move is more than normal and alot of planning has gone into it.






After spending Sunday evening and Monday until nearly three in the afternoon heat loading our 16 foot Budget truck with our belongings. We left Phoenix on Monday the 20th and headed for my sister's house in Monrovia. After spending the night we caught I-5 headed for Seattle. After a stop Tuesday in Yrueka, CA we reached Seattle on Wednesday. Thursday we moved the contents of our truck into a 20 foot shipping container that was to be loaded on a barge and leave for Southwest Alaska on Friday.
On Friday we struck out for Canada and entered the country sometime in the afternoon. We drove through a beautiful canyon called Hell's gate on Hwy 1 until we reached Hwy 97 in Cache Creek and spent the night in Williams Lake. The drive from Williams Lake to Burns Lake is some of the most beautiful land I have ever seen.


We have been busy for the last six days moving and driving so I haven't taken many pictures. I will try to change that in the future.

Tomorrow on to Prince Rupert and then to Ketchikan.