Skagway, Alaska

Leslie, Mon & Tues, June 7&8, 2010
Montana Services RV Park (Carcross, YT)

We’ve remained in Carcross and taken daily drives down the 69 miles to Skagway. People we spoke with reported that the RV parks in Skagway weren’t very nice and we decided that it would be easier to skip taking our rigs through US and Canadian customs for a two day trip.

The drive was beautiful with a few rough patches.  We stopped often for pictures but I wasn’t satisfied that any pictures could capture the rocky beauty of the mountains contrasting with the clear water of all the lakes.  From the time we left Carcross until we reached the town of Skagway, with the exception of the border crossings, we didn’t see another structure.  Remote fails to describe this route.

We did stop for the obligatory, “Welcome to Alaska” photo opportunity:



We arrived in Skagway early because we were all expecting mail in general delivery at the US Post Office.  Packages take so long to get from the US to Canada that we had decided weeks ago to have our mail forwarded to the first town we would visit in Alaska; Skagway it was.  Because we’ve been largely “on the move” on this trip, it is more challenging to receive mail.  Robert and I “scored” in that our mail was waiting for us at the Post Office although we learned one more Post Office regulation. Apparently the Post Office is supposed to return to sender any Express Mail package not picked up within 10 days of receipt.  Mail received via Priority Mail or 1st class mail is held for 30 days.  GRRRRR.  Learning all the Post Office rules makes chasing mail around the country quite a challenge.  

Skagway is a small town with a reported population of slightly over 800 people.  The number of people in town swells when cruise ships are in port.  We were fortunate to be there when the town was rather quiet.



The Visitor’s Center is housed in the Arctic Brotherhood Hall.  Notice the driftwood covering the building.



Skagway began as a result of the Klondike gold rush.  Thousands and thousands of good seekers headed for the Klondike gold fields landed at Skagway.  Skagway because the major supply point for the prospectors.  In the few brief years of 1897-1903 it was known as a wild town.

Today tourism keeps Skagway alive.  Tourists ride the White Pass and Yukon Railroad.  Here’s a train snow blower that was actually used until the mid-1960s.



The National Park Service owns a large number of buildings in downtown Skagway.  We enjoyed the Park service movie on the gold rush.  The Park service has even recreated a saloon from 1989.

This is not a museum display; it’s a separate building!



Like the character on the end of the bar?



At the end of town we found the Gold Rush Cemetery.  I thought it was unusual in that the graves are within a heavily forested area.  All the graves we saw were from the period 1898-1904.



The real reason we had gone to the cemetery was to climb beyond it to this pretty waterfall.

This is Reid’s Falls:



The hike up to the falls was pretty easy, but I wished I had brought my hiking poles for the climb down.

The culinary highlight of our trips to Skagway was lunch today – fresh halibut.  We’ve been anxiously waiting until we got close enough to the sea to find fresh Alaskan fish.  We’re looking forward to eating fresh fish for most of the rest of the summer.  :-)

Tomorrow we’ll return to the Alaskan Highway and head to Haines Junction, Yukon Territory.  We expect to cross back into Alaska on Thursday or Friday.

RVers Network continues:  this evening I met Linda of the blog Because We Can.  I had received a message on our blog from another new reader.  The reader reported that she had heard of our blog from “Linda”.  I wondered who was the mystery Linda.  After a bit of sleuthing, I found “Because We Can”, read the current day’s posting, looked out the window, and said to Robert, I think one of our blog readers is parked a few spaces away.”  Shortly later I met Linda in the parking area.  We had a nice visit as we discussed our current plans and mutual RV blogging friends:  Grant & Kathy, Jo & Fred, etc.  Thanks!  Safe Travels.  We’ll stay in touch.