Destination Ketchikan: An Alaskan UTV Excursion

With new scenery around every corner, even a 10-mile loop feels like a daylong trek.

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Having grown up in the Pacific Northwest, I never put a trip to Alaska high on my priority list. I’ve caught salmon and seen bears in the wild—and Oregon has plenty of mountains. They’re not as big as the peaks in Alaska, sure, but they’re big nonetheless. Despite my indifference, however, when my dad and brother started kicking around the idea of a father-and-sons outing to Alaska a little over a year ago, I was all in.

An avid fisherman and our in-house travel agent, my brother lined up two of our three days to be spent on a fishing charter out of Knudson Cove Marina near Ketchikan, Alaska. While I do enjoy fishing, my approach to travel and visiting new areas is more “when in Rome…” So rather than double up on a single activity, I wanted to explore my options. With all that untouched wilderness out there, an off-roading adventure seemed like just the ticket.

Fortunately for me, I lucked out and discovered Ketchikan AdventureVue, a guided UTV excursion company just outside of Ketchikan. Owner Bethany Lickfield had space on a tour and was happy for me to jump on and join them.

It’s important to mention that much of the economy of port cities like Ketchikan, Juno, and Sitka revolves around tourism. Hundreds of thousands of visitors flock to these cities from April through October by plane as well as cruise ship, and many have only a few hours while in port to jump on a fishing charter, or in this case, ride a shuttle bus 10 or so miles up a very remote mountain road to their excursion.

After an epic day of salmon fishing to kick off our trip, my brother and dad went out for round two, while I made my way up the mountain to the AdventureVue base camp. Since I wasn’t on the cruise-line schedule, I arrived early to meet Beth, chat with her guides, and just get a taste for how the whole operation worked. In a former life, I spent several summers as a white water raft guide, so I’m accustomed to the whole “tourist” thing and I was curious to see how that played out in the UTV world...

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