Rainforest Wildlife Sanctuary out of Ketchikan???

Good Morning,

I've searched the board and read other posts re this Rainforest Wildlife Sanctuary excursion out of Ketchikan. Has anyone done this recently? If so, did the zipline excursion interfere at all? How did you enjoy it? Would you recommend it? Also, what were the reindeer photo op, totem pole carving and lumber company like? I wonder if they really add anything to the tour?

If this one doesn't suit me, I'll probably do a Historical Ketchikan by Foot excursion that starts first thing. This is my second Alaska cruise, so I've done the Totem Heritage Center, Misty Fjords flightseeing, but our time was cut short in Ketchikan, so I didn't get to walk around Creek Street at all.

Any tips, advise, suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Helen

We just got back from Alaskan cruise last night. Several of us did the Rainforest Sanctuary. You are bussed to the sanctuary and then do a short walk, but the guides stop alot to point out various things. We did see a mother bear and her two cubs. The cubs were up a tree so the few of us that had binoculars could see them a little better. We saw the lumber mill but it hasn't worked for about 6 years I think they said. Everything was left where it was when they quit using it. You go inside the mill and watch a three minute video of how it all used to work. The reindeer are in a pinned area and you can pet them and take pictures of them there. The totem carver is in a little "shed" before the gift shop and he is woking on a totem that will be raised next month. He didn't do any work while we were there, I'm sure it was so he could answer questions. But the totem is there and he has worked on it alot. We were their first tour of the day. I think we left the ship at 7:30. About halfway throught the tour the zipline started running. It wasn't horribly distracting, but about every five minutes you'd hear someone zip by.

In hind sight we did most all of our excursions throught the ship and the price of the excursions sometimes didn't seem worth it. It was pretty interesting and my DD (12) didn't complain, it just seemed like everything was a little pricey.

OOOh! I am disappointed in the news that this was not an awesome excursion! I had booked it as I want to see some bears. I did not know the zip line went through the area. I may reconsider now.

One question---can someone able to walk but with limited mobility do this excursion? Think 80 years old but still able to walk from one store to the next at the mall.

Any other excursions that are good at Ketchikan? I have done the Saxman village tour.

Until mid-September you have a good chance of seeing bears at the Rainforest.

However, from what some of the guides have said the bears seem to be staying

a little farther back in the forest than they did last year. Last season during August thru mid-September we had bears within 20 feet of the trail. I suspect

the zip line activity is keeping them back. Very poor planning on the part of the owners.......Your best chance to see them starts once you get to the clearing

by the creek. We called in Herring Cove Creek or Eagle Creek. From that point

in the trail until you get to the board walk keep your eyes open. Also, once you

get on the boardwalk and you can see the trappers cabin keep your eyes on that area too. That's another good viewing place. And then every once in a while you could see them in the stream right in front of the hatchery. We even

saw them a few times in the dumpster at the hatchery and in the dumpster behind the Rainforest gift shop. I got the pic's if anyone is interested.....

Thanks for the good info!

We went towards the end of July.

We did not see any bears, but did see bear tracks and lots of bear trails through the brush. We also saw several bald eagles. The guides are very nice. The walk is neither difficult nor fast. You stop many times. It is more of a relaxed amble. My husband was able to do it easily and he has limited mobility.

It was nice to see the totem and the carver. That part of the tour was probably no longer than five minutes. The carver did not work on the totem while we were there, but did explain the significance of the various animals represented. The reindeer are in a corral, and you can feed them leaves through the fencing. This is also about 5-10 minutes. The only part of that I liked was getting to touch their antlers, which are warm due to blood flow. There is very little actual contact with them, however. The trip through the log mill is short and culminates in a short video. They do have a nice gift shop.

The ziplines do make that "zip" noise as you walk. Boy, I wish I had the nerve to do that--it looks like fun.

If you have modest expectations it is a nice walk.

Thank you all for your responses.

For now I've reserved a boat trip into Misty Fjords. I have been there by plane before and want to see it again, but from a different perspective. Any thoughts anyone has about that would also be appreciated.

Have a good night!