Our cruise ship reached Ketchikan well before noon, but our
disembarkation was delayed half an hour for unknown reasons, so it wasn't
until nearly 12:30p that we found ourselves 
off the ship and wandering
the streets of the town. The trailhead is located more than a mile from the docks,
but occasional 
signs put up by the Forest Service help guide one to
the location.
There were three other cruise ships in port that had arrived well
before us, so it was not surprising to find the trail busy with folks
descending as we made our way up. The trail 
starts off in dense
forest, part of the Tongas National Forest that encompasses most
of Southeast Alaska. Old trees covered in moss, decaying logs,
and dense temperate rainforest vegetation are found for the first several
miles of trail as it climbs steeply up the slopes above Ketchikan. Views
are non-existent at first, then 
a fleeting view of the Tongas Narrows
East Channel to the southeast. More 
steep climbing (with a few moments
of 
sunshine) eventually leads to a thinning of the forest and more
views of 
Ketchikan, though this was about where we started to
encountered 
the cloud layer, leaving views to be on and off for
the rest of the ascent.
We reached 
a trail junction with half a mile left to the summit of Deer
Mtns (digression - this oddly named summit is really a collection of
four summits - Deer, Doe, Buck and Fawn - but the USGS labeled the highest as
Deer Mountains, with an "s".). I decided we should leave this first peak
for later. Our time was limited and we weren't making strong progress, but I
was still hoping we might get to the highest of the four, Northbird Peak.
We had seen the last person shortly before the junction and she would be
the last we'd see for several hours. The trail becomes less-used past the
junction as it travels northeast and away from the coast.
Another junction
is soon reached with a spur trail going to the Deer Mtn shelter in 1/4mi. We
could see the shelter with its green metal roof partially hidden in the
trees, but we didn't take the time to pay it a visit. The trail continues
to the northeast, dropping down several hundred feet on
the southeast side of
the ridge before climbing back up a mile later. Unlike the trail in Juneau
which had minimal vegetation at this elevation, Ketchikan gets more rain
and the higher elevations are 
much lusher,
though nearly devoid of trees.
The trail continued to be wet on its entire length, slippery in a few places,
at one of which Jackie got a boot completely soaked in a deep puddle. She became
disheartened by this, asking how much further and how far to go back. I
somewhat cavalierly commented that her predicament was highly surviveable and
no big deal, but she didn't really want to hear that. We stopped so that she
could pour out the water in her boot, but nothing really came out, most of
it soaked into the boot lining and her socks. A quarter mile later, the trail
returned to the ridgeline and she announced her intention to wait for us there.
We were still more than a mile and a half from Northbird and had only a short
time remaining. Roy Jones was a half mile closer and I thought maybe we could
reach that one. After 15min at a stepped up pace, We went over the summit of
Peak 3,100ft
unawares (only later did we realize we could count this one),
with 
Blue Lake
just in view through the cloud layers. I knew Roy Jones was
beyond it by an equal distance and we had only 15min until Tom's turnaround
time. We decided to abort the effort and pick up Deer Mtns on our way back.
We 
found Jackie
napping on the leeward side of an outcrop at a saddle where
we'd left her. She was in a better mood and seemed happy that we'd only been
gone half an hour. 
A ptarmigan (I think) startled me as I found it
on the trail in front of me. Mom had 
a single chick with her that did its best
to hide in vegetation to the side. Mom led us down the trail away from her
chick before circling back to retrieve it after we'd passed by.
We returned to the spur trail junction near the shelter
where we'd spied a use trail going up the east side of Deer Mtns. Jackie
elected to continue 
on the main trail
and meet us at the first junction with
the maintained Deer Mtn Trail. The 
use trail was 
steep
but well-used and had us at 
the summit
in about 10min. We found three others there, peering into
the fog of clouds that enveloped the summit. After taking a few pictures, we
headed back down the regular trail, finding Jackie where expected. It
would take us another hour and a half to make our way back down the trail,
a few more parties encountered along the way. It was 6:15p by the time we got
back to 
town
and the ship, about an hour earlier than we needed. Could we have made it
to Roy Jones or even Northbird? Probably and maybe, but that would have caused
us some stress on the return - missing the boat is a big deal, but missing a
peak or two was really no big deal, just a good reason to come back another time...