Completing the Alaska Highway (Tuesday, August 25, 2009) An early start, about 7 AM, paid off for us as we saw a grizzly bear along the highway just a few miles south of Destruction Bay, and watched him for about 10 minutes. Road conditions improved considerably as we drove south to Haines Junction. From Haines Junction, we continued on the Alaska Highway to Whitehorse, completing our coverage of the Alaska Highway, from start to finish.

Whitehorse, capital of the Yukon Territory, was one of our favorite cities, and we stopped there for gasoline, groceries, and a great A&W hamburger. Shortly east of Whitehorse, we turned south towards Skagway, leaving frost heaves behind. As we crossed from the Yukon Territory into British Columbia, we spotted another grizzly ambling across the highway. Unfortunately, a tour bus was coming from the opposite direction, slowed using the exhaust brake, and scared the bear, but Kay was able to snap a quick photo. We continued on one of our most scenic drives yet, where we saw snow-covered mountains, emerald colored lakes, a small desert (actually not a desert, but sand dunes), and an almost treeless moonscape, crossing from Canada into the U.S. without fanfare. Just after the border, we began an 11-mile, 11% descent into Skagway, stopping at U.S. Customs about halfway down. I used 2nd gear, and lightly braked, while making the descent. We rolled into the Garden City RV Park in Skagway about 3 PM, Alaska DST, with a light rain which got heavier as the afternoon wore on. After several days of no sewer hook-ups, we dumped the black tank, and Kay rushed off to do laundry. We settled in for the rainy evening, watching the only television station available via antenna.

Day 2 in Skagway (Wednesday, August 26, 2009) Our caravan attended a “Days of ’98” show, featuring music, recitation of Robert Service poetry, a short play, and cancan dancing. This show was based on the historical account of conman Soapy Smith’s reign over Skagway, and his nemesis, Frank Reid, the good guy, and their ensuing gunfight which resulted in both men dying. Afterward, we walked the streets of Skagway with passengers of 4 cruise ships; Skagway was as we remembered it from our visit in early September 2004.

Day 3 in Skagway (Thursday, August 27, 2009) This is a special day; my 60th birthday. After coffee, and Kay getting a haircut, we drove the short distance to downtown for breakfast. Though recommended by a couple of locals, the food was so acrid tasting that I ate only a couple of bites. We drove the entire town of Skagway, small that it is, returning to the RV Park for Kay to do laundry before our White Pass & Yukon Route Railroad trip, something we didn’t do, but have since regretted, on our 2004 trip. Our caravan wagon master, Les Potteiger, arranged for our caravan to occupy an entire car. Regrettably, it rained throughout the 3+ hour trip, with dense fog along the route. Nevertheless, there were many scenic views and points of interest. The route went through two tunnels, and in several places we could see the other end of the train from our seat. The narrow gauge also hung on the side of the mountain in a few places, with nothing but air below our window. Interestingly enough, when we reached the pass, the train stopped, the engines unhooked from the 15 cars, and switched ends of the train, we flipped the seats and changed sides so that the back of the train was now the front, and our seats in front of the car were now in back. After deboarding at the end of the trip, we ate dinner at the Skagway Fish House, our best halibut to date, and not terribly expensive. The rest of the evening was spent receiving and making telephone calls of birthday greetings, and updating the journal. Tomorrow, we have an early morning departure, via catamaran, to Juneau.

Day 4 in Skagway, Travel to Juneau (Thursday, August 27, 2009) It rained all night, and all day, reminding us of Pierre Grey Lakes Provincial Park and Anchorage, but thank goodness, we have no leaks this time; we’ve since learned to make sure the gaskets are turned correctly when we put the slides out, and this always requires our doing it by hand. Up early, we readied ourselves for the rainy trip to Juneau, boarding the catamaran at 7:30 AM. We stopped in Haines to pick up some passengers, and traveled through very rough seas to Juneau. It was so rough that we sometimes were bounced out of our seats on the big waves, despite the catamaran riding on top of them. Enroute, we passed by an historic lighthouse, and as we neared our destination, saw 4 humpback whales. After disembarking, we traveled by bus the remaining 30 miles to Juneau where we found a sidewalk stand selling fish and chips, i.e. halibut and fries, and halibut tacos. The halibut was lightly breaded, and the best yet. Juneau was a lively city, filled with shops for cruise boat tourists, but on the downside, we saw a number of drunks on several of the streets and in the park areas, reminding us of Fairbanks; most were Alaskan Native Americans. Our bus ride back to the catamaran took us by the state capitol, the governor’s mansion (Sarah’s gone), and Mendenhall Glacier. Mendenhall Glacier is a mile and a half wide at its face, and several hundred feet high, though magnitude totally escapes us up here in Alaska. On our return boat trip, the captain tried to find more whales but was unsuccessful. Since the wind was at our backs, the cruise back to Skagway was somewhat more sedate, though we did get lots of water coming over the boat. Because of overcast skies and rainy weather, we didn’t get the full benefit of the fjord cruise, but we saw spectacular waterfalls, and even saw a brown bear fishing at a creek coming into the channel (sorry, no photos). Tomorrow, we travel north again—for the last time—crossing back into British Columbia and Yukon Territory.

Kay’s Take This drive to Skagway was one of the best yet. So many different landscapes to see – a lake that was so emerald colored you would have thought it was filled with light and dark emeralds; a desert in this Tongass NF that was so small (about ½ mile wide and a mile deep right off the road (looks like a desert but it’s a dried lake bed from long ago), and then this area called Tormented Valley that looks like something from another planet – rocks with lichen and small pools all around. And , of course, glaciers and more glaciers. The drive down into Skagway was a shock – 11 miles down a winding canyon with 11 % grades. Was I glad I was on the inside – tomorrow on the way out I will be on the outside/ledge. Yuk! I guess I’ll be experiencing another desensitizing exercise to cure my acrophobia. Now the caravan seems to be moving at breakneck speed to the end. The days are starting to ‘blend’ together. We will be traveling in the Yukon and BC the next 8 days so unless we get lucky to get free wifi we will be out of touch for at least a week. We will also have our phones turned off while traveling in Canada. I loved the Catamaran ride today – we were rocking so much it felt like ‘ride’em cowboy’ and we all screamed and waved our arms like a ‘wave’ ourselves.

Our Recommendations for Skagway, AK The downtown area along Broadway is definitely worth walking and shopping for T-shirts, other souvenirs, and jewelry. The National Park Service has facilities downtown, including a Visitor Center, and an old homestead, and those are definitely worth seeing. Also, the old railroad park is interesting with a colorful locomotive snow blower. Don’t miss the walk towards the cruise ships, and there were salmon swimming in the small stream along the pathway. We also liked the Days of ’98 show. Juneau, the capital of Alaska, has lots to see and do, but is only accessible by water or air. (Maybe that’s an idea for all of our capital cities!) This was our second time there, and we recommend a visit. If you plan to travel to Skagway via automobile, one significant note is that there is but one gasoline station in all of Skagway, and it is a long way to the next one in Yukon Territory, or by ferry to Haines.

Campground Garden City RV Park is the standard Alaska RV park—gravel and no trees. We had all the basic utilities such as electric, water, and sewer, but cable TV was not, and had not, been working. We did have good wi-fi. Skagway is small enough that RVers parked here can easily walk to the downtown area where all the attractions are located. There are other RV parks in the town, but Garden City RV Park has easy in and out, and would be our choice again.

Driving Statistics
Beginning Mileage: 15,305.3
Beginning Time: 7:00 AM Pacific DST
Ending Mileage: 15,575.7
Ending Time: 3:00 PM Alaska DST
TOTAL MILEAGE FOR THE DAY: 270.4
CUMULATIVE MILEAGE: 6,184.2