Skagway (July 22 - July 24)

Tuesday, July 22nd - Haines Skagway Fast Ferry, Skagway, Trains and History

We parked the Camper at the Alaska Marine Highway Ferry Terminal and parked the jeep at the Haines Skagway Fast Ferry(HSFF) (about 6 miles away). This morning Haines had its first ferry in dock since we had been there. Haines only gets one ferry at a time as they only have one deep water area. The HSFF was loaded as it headed in from Skagway with people from Skagway and the ships there. The HSFF holds about 150 people and we were the only 2 people on the boat back. The ride was gorgeous and we saw some beatuful sites.

When we hit Skagway we hit a different world. This is tourist central. There were 5 cruise ships in port and people everywhere, actually 11,000 to be exact. We were so taken aback we were like disoriented crazies. We grabbed our bags and hiked up to the Historic Skagway Inn. The inn was originally a brothel and we stayed in Hatties Room. :). It was really cool and the gold rush history is amazing. This was the point where all the people that took ships up from the west coast landed. The town is only about 10 blocks long and 4 blocks wide. At one point there had 10,000 people there. The history is fascinating and I could write about it for several pages. Needles to say the Stampede was short lived (2 years) and Mr. Moore (the towns founder) determined the only way the town could make it was on tourism as it is wedged between two very large mountains and the sea. So Skagway has been a tourist town since 1898. The restaurant at the inn is the only fresh food restaurant in town as they grow all their veggies in the garden and the food was amazing. All other food is brought in on ships as there is only one road and the closest city is Whitehorse, YT, 4 hours away.

Wednesday July 23rd – Trains, Buses, Bears and Waterfalls

Today we took the White Pass and Yukon Train.  It is the train that was built to carry miners to Bennet Lake, YT where they would winter, build a boat and the take the Yukon River 550 miles to Dawson City and the gold fields.  The sad thing was that by the time they got there the claims were all gone and they either turned around and headed home or worked for big mining operations.  By the time they got there the railroad had been built so going back was a lot easier.  We boarded the train and it was pretty awesome.  It is on a narrow gauge track and went right next to the Chilkat Trail that the miners took. 

The map on our left is the route we took (the red line. The green and yellow train is our engine :)

We stopped at the Bennet Lake train stop.  This used to be a thriving city and the only thing left now was the Presbeteyan church.  The vistas were amazing.  Mike and I headed up to the trailhead where the miners walked – it was really steep and rugged. FYI - Mike is acting like a stampeder in his Simms fishing coat - hahahahaha.

This trail on the left is the Chilkoot Trail the Stampeders took and the view on the right is what they saw when they got to the end of the Trail. From there they built their boats.

Lake Bennet was home to more than 30,000 people during the gold rush. They would climb the Chilkoot Trail in the summer and winter there and build boats to take the final 550 miles to Dawson City in the Yukon. The day the ice went out more than 7000 boats left Bennett Lake. The town then suffered a disasteous fire that wiped everything out except for St. Matthew’s Presbyterian Church.

We continued our train ride in the high Alpine and through more mountains. We came across a bridge that had collapsed and they built a new one around it.

The train gets so close to the rock sometimes - it is crazy. They built this whole railroad in 18 months and it is a Civil Engineering Landmark.

We ended our train ride at CarCross (Caribou Crossing) where we had 45 minutes to hang out and check out the town.  The train was celebrating their 125 anniversary of driving the golden spike in CarCross on Saturday so they were selling hats and we each got one.  It is called CarCross because the Caribou crossed here from their winter lands to the summer lands.  They built a special road alignment and bridge to not disturb their migration path.  In the end they just walk on the road.  We didn’t see any.  We did go to the Sourdough Bakery and had wonderful homemade Cinnamon Rolls.

My camera died so I had to grab a picture of some Tlinglet Shops from the web :(

We then met Rose our trusty bus driver and headed back to Skagway. On our way we stopped at the only Desert in the Yukon, called the Carcross Desert. Is is one square mile of a several sand dunes formed during the last glacial period. That is the sand in the upper picture. We then stopped at Emerald Lake, it is the most photographed lake in the Yukon.  This is probably because all the tours take you there – hahaha.  The water is super shallow and there is clay and another material that make the water emerald.  On the way back we saw our first monster grizzly.  He was shedding really bad, but he was huge.  We also saw a heard of mountain goats and saw some waterfalls that are never running.  They are running now because it is so warm and the glaciers are melting.  By hot, I mean 59-65 degrees. 

We got back and walked around town and had a nice dinner at another local establishment.  It was a fabulous day!

Thursday, July 24th – Ferries, Fishing and Ferries

Today was a travel day.  We boarded the HSFF with a lot of other cruise people heading for Haines.  We got off the boat, grabbed the jeep and headed for the camper.  Mike geared up to go fishing and we drove up to the Chilkat area to try our fishing again.  Now remember there were only like 8 fish through the weir.  Today there were 1500 salmon that went through the weir since midnight (it was about 12:30 pm).  So the fish were running for sure.  You could see them swimming and jumping.  We stopped at the weir and saw a Momma Bear and her three cubs.  We didn’t see the cubs, but the people around us did – she was a cutey.   Mike continued to fish and I biked back to the camper.  Mike came back and we boarded the Alaska Marine Highway to Juneau.  We were on the MV Hubbard.  The views were fabulous and the internet was super fast!

We got into Juneau around 11;30 and went to the Grandma’s Featherbed Hotel for the night. This is the first sunset we have seen since June 14th - it was pretty amazing.