23 June - Whitehorse to Skagway
Yay, we can finally say that we made it to Alaska. We departed Whitehorse around 8:00 for the 110 mile drive to Skagway where we stayed at the Garden City RV park. It was a beautiful drive over/through a mountain range with lots of scenic views.
Near the border crossing
We made a few stops along the way to admire the views and take a few photos. First stop was near a town of Carcross (still in Canada) where we came across what appeared to be a high desert.....lots of sand and sand dunes with the mountain range as a backdrop.....definitely a clash of landscapes but pretty cool to see. They said it is really a dried up lake bed.
Clashing Landscapes
Next stop was the Caribou Crossing "point of interest" as descried by the milepost. It was an interesting stop as they had a nice wildlife display, a few other animals on display including Alaskan Husky's and some of their pups. In fact when we pulled up, you could hear those dogs howling to get out....sounded cool. They also had a little coffee and do-nut shop that we tried.....took us two donuts each to confirm we liked them :-)
We crossed the U.S. border, answered a few questions from a stern faced agent and we were on our way. As we got closer to Skagway there were numerous busses leaving town carrying cruise ship passengers out on different excursions. This town (because of the cruise ship population - three ships) was crawling with people.
Rainbow Lake
After walking through every tee shirt shop in town and identifying where (which pier) our catamaran was leaving from (next day) we headed out to a walking trail and enjoyed a walk around the rim of the bay while Ed and Kay had a little nap. They joined us later in town for a stop into the Red Onion Saloon and Brothel for a drink or two and then dinner at the Skagway Fish House.....everyone but Kay ordered some form of Halibut but it didn't compare to what we had in Whitehorse.
Skagway
24 June - Skagway and Inside Passage
Fjord Express catamaran was the plan for the day (for Kathy and I) while Ed nursed a cold, that Kay shared with him, they did a little hiking to smugglers cove and rested a bit.
Our catamaran tour left the dock at 8:00 A.M. and returned at 8:30 P.M. and we were so worn out by the time we returned to camp.....but we had a really nice day despite the weather. We cruised to Juneau but on the way there and back we were looking for (and seeing) lots of wildlife while the guide and first mate taught us much about what we were seeing.
Harbor - Haines, Alaska
Scenery - although the weather was overcast at first and rained later we saw some spectacular sights. The mountains (Tongus National Forest on one side and Chilkat Mountain range on the other) were only about 4200 feet high but achiviening that from sea level with a straight up climb looked impressive and beautiful. Not sure the photos will do it justice. We were in the Lynn Canal which is 2500 feet deep.
Lighthouse Station - Lynn Canal
Animals - we saw many eagles, whales, sea lions, otter, and seals. The wildlife was plentiful....just wish the weather would have been more cooperative.
Sea Lion
Humpback Whale
Once we left the dock we had one stop in Haines to pick up additional passengers and then we were on our way. We pulled into Juneau (well near Juneau where we took a bus) around lunch time with plans to be there until 3:00. We walked every shop in town and I think we doubled our souvenir tee shirt collection. We were going to take the tram up the mountain but it was so foggy that we felt that we would not be able to see much so we skipped it. We did lunch at the Hanger and Bar while we watched the harbor cruise ships and float plane activity.
Whale photobombed the Alaska Ferry Photo
Our bus driver, Kaitlyn, was very good and funny. She drove us to Mendenhall Glacier where we spent about another hour but it was so nasty weather by then that we viewed it from the visitor's center and watched the movie they had on it. Kaitlyn was good about narrating all we saw on the bus ride. She is originally from Utah and after a couple of years of seasonal work here she has become a full time resident of Juneau. She is single and said the ratio of men to women in Juneau is tilted to more men so she has been told that her "odds are good" to which she replies that the "goods are also odd". Funny girl :-)
We returned back to camp to learn that Ed had washed his truck and camper and also washed our camper for us....nice surprise because they were getting pretty grubby looking. Since we had driven our truck to the pier I washed it before departing Skagway.
25 June - Skagway to Destruction Bay
Full Moon at Departure
Time to head out and get back on the Alaska Highway headed for TOK. As we were getting ready to pull out of the campground around 8:30 a camper (Airstream) in the lot caught my eye as Kathy and I had been talking about liking that kind of camper. When I looked over a lady was squatted down peeing just outside the door of the camper in broad daylight.....not sure why because there was likely a bathroom inside and there was definitely a bathroom in the campground a short walk away....we had a good laugh on the way out of that campground. (she didn't notice us laughing or taking a picture)
A little privacy please!
The ride back over the mountain pass into Skagway that was so beautiful on the way in was shrouded in fog on the way out...visibility was terrible and no photos on the way out of that area....good thing we grabbed a few on the way into town.
International Incident (well almost)
When we left Skagway and headed back to the Alaska Highway (near Whitehorse) we had to cross the Canadian Border again....Kay was driving their rig at the time and we were following. Ahead of us she handed the agent their passports and he began looking and questioning them as another agent approached our vehicle. They were through ahead of us and pulled over to the side (we thought to wait for us) but Ed was out of the vehicle walking back towards the border guard. Turns out that Kay thought the agent said "have a good day" and she proceeded to pull ahead while Ed was questioning whether he told them to go. When they pulled over and realized that the agent still had their passports it became obvious he had NOT told them to proceed and Ed was walking back to explain what happened and retrieve the passports. By then we were near where the agent that helped them had Ed and asked us if we thought he should let him go or arrest him....we had a good laugh and the agent told Ed that for future reference - the international sign that you are cleared to proceed is "when you get your passports back"! Ed and Kay had a long discussion about the meaning of "Go" versus "Whoa". A good laugh and thankfully a friendly agent!
A pretty long day of driving and a roadside stop for lunch in the campers and we pulled into a campground called Cottonwood that is about 15 miles south of Destruction Bay in the Yukon and just off the Alaska Highway. As we approached the area we noticed a huge cloud of what appeared to be either smoke or fog over a large lake and entire area....as it turns out (according to the campground lady) the glacier is receding and the river that once fed the lake has dried up and the wind is blowing up silk like particles....really a weird looking environment.
Driving into Lake Kluane
Dust Cloud over lake
We got settled into a beautiful campsite on the Kluane Lake....largest lake in the Yukon and grilled up some chicken for dinner. Beautiful setting, great meal and great company.
Tomorrow we are on the way to Tok, Alaska
Life is good!
26 June - Destruction Bay to Tok, Alaska
Departing Destruction Bay and headed to Tok. We almost immediately run into nightmare roads....gravel roads with wash boarding slows our pace to around 10 MPH for many miles. In addition we came to many construction zones that required us to wait for 15-30 minutes for a pilot vehicle to escort us thru the work zones.....a long day of driving. All of the construction/bad roads were in the Yukon and as soon as we crossed back into Alaska the road conditions improved.
Alaska Highway - under repair
We pulled over at a roadside stop for lunch that had a beautiful lake and a lot of dragonflies hanging around.
Lunch time company
Lake setting lunch spot
As we approached the U.S. Customs Kay was driving their rig and she insisted that we stop and let Ed take the wheel.... a little nervous about the border crossings now :-) I am proud to report that we cleared customs without incident this time and made our way to the Tok RV Village and set up for the evening.
Moving on to Fairbanks tomorrow.
