Back to Skagway - #52-19

August 17, 2005 (Wed)
Hitch-Up RV Park, Haines, AK (2)

After breakfast we went into town, maybe a half mile away, to the Sheldon Museum & Culture Center where we learned a little bit about the history of the area. From there we toured Alaska Indian Arts gallery and workshop where we were supposed to see totem carving and silver jewelry making in progress. We didn't. Interesting place though. For lunch we went to The Fireweed Restaurant which seemed to be more a locals hangout than a tourist place. From the outside the building looked almost derelict and we couldn't tell if it was even open. The inside was fixed up though. Jazz was the background music and a drum set and music stands in the corner indicated that there is often live music (evening?) The food was very good.

After lunch we drove out to the end of the road south to a view point in Chilkat State Park. There we could look out over Chilkat Inlet and see see two huge glaciers. One high on a mountain, the Rainbow Glacier, sparkled pink and blue in the sunlight. Water was flowing off it at such a rate that it is hard to believe that it could last more than a couple of weeks, much less centuries as it has.

We have decided to spend another night here. The two state parks that we had been considering moving to are at the ends of roads 10 miles away in different directions - one out where we looked at the glaciers today and the other out near where we watched the bear fish last night. The weather forecast is 100% showers and the prospect of hanging out in the wet forest is less appealing than here in this nice campground.
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August 18, 2005 (Thu)
Pioneer RV Park, Whitehorse, YT #132 w/e/tv $22.00d B

Haines, AK to Whitehorse, YT (254/8509 miles) Q020819

Up at 6:00 to the sound of rain on the roof and it rained off and on as we went through our morning personal and break camp routines. While Bob was at the tire place getting a new tire mounted we went over to get the lowest priced gas in town, $2.94/gal. We got $99 worth - aaarg! We took off up the Haines Highway at about 9:00 (61°), cleared Canadian customs at about 10:00, and almost immediately plunged into heavy fog. (It's surprising how much like White Pass out of Skagway, Chilkat Pass out of Haines is in the fog.)

We had planned to camp in a roadside pull off overlooking Dezadeash Lake (it's done all the time up here) but thought it wouldn't be all that much fun in the rain so decided to push on to Whitehorse. It would put us a day ahead of schedule but we can find a way to make it up.

Back on the Alaska Highway southbound, we lunched in Yukon Government Pine Lake Recreational Area. Actually it turned out that it was a little tight for Ed and Kathy to feel comfortable parking their long rig so they went on and found a roadside rest area. We picked them up there later. We got into Pioneer RV Park, the Whitehorse campground where we stayed on the way north, at about 4:15 Yukon time. We are up on the hill in a more "state park" setting this time.
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August 19, 2005 (Fri)
Pioneer RV Park, Whitehorse, YT (2)

The first order of business was grocery shopping. The Walmart was not a supercenter so food items were rather limited. We got what we could and finished up at a regular supermarket. The fish ladder was next. This is a structure that is build next to the hydro dam to allow salmon to get upstream to spawn. The facility is also used to count the fish. They actually count every fish! There is a gate that opens only when someone is there to do the counting. Interesting.

After lunch at a not-too-good Chinese buffet we went to the Yukon Transportation Museum. There were displays on most of the various forms of transportation - airplane, train, riverboat, and dog sled. Joy wasn't feeling well and went out to nap in the car. Mark stayed and watched very good video about the Yukon Quest dog sled race.

When we stopped by the campground sometime during all that running around Chip and Kim's motor home was parked at the campground office but when we got back later, they were not around. In the late afternoon they pulled into a camp space near us. Apparently they had been asking for us when we saw them first and had been told we weren't here so they went searching in all the other campgrounds in Whitehorse. When they came back later they were told that we were here after all. Campgrounds are supposed to keep better track of their clients than that!
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August 20, 2005 (Sat)
Pullen Creek RV Park, Skagway, AK #24 w/e $25 A+

Whitehorse, YT to Skagway, AK (104/8613 miles) Q020923

Up at 6:30 (52°) off at 8:03. It rained a lot during the night and the weather didn't look much better this morning. The Seattle, WA forecast (via campground provided cable TV) was for a beautiful day in the 80s. We hoped to get a little of that up here but by 9:00 the temperature was down to 49.5°. But there was some blue sky.

White Pass into Skagway is beautiful as we mentioned when we were here in July but today it lived up to it's name - white. The fog was socked in thick. Even so there was a tour bus in one turn-out and the passengers were all out taking pictures. I can hear the slide show narrative now. "You can't see it but this is a picture of....."

No problems with US customs and the fog did lift some so the mountains around Skagway are again spectacular. After lunch we walked around Skagway a bit then came back for naps and reading. Dinner was at the Skagway Fish Co. The mermaid Burgers were delicious!
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August 21, 2005 (Sun)
Pullen Creek RV Park, Skagway, AK (2)

The first order of business today was to get our mail. Yes, on a Sunday -the post office was open to accommodate the larger tourist population from the cruise ships. There were no surprises in the mail i.e. no unexpected, therefore unpaid, bills.

St. Savior's Episcopal Church in Skagway is a very small church meeting in the Roman Catholic church building. Apparently everyone, or most everyone, was in attendance. Even so the six of us more than doubled the size of the congregation. After lunch Joy and Pat went off to a laundromat while Mark updated the computer financial records from the mail and Bob had a conversation with Cingular (wireless provider) about their bill.

We shared a spaghetti dinner with Bob an Pat and ended the evening with a game of dominos. We had wanted to go down to the docks to watch one of the big cruise ships leave like we did when we were here before - they usually leave about 8:00 and give plenty of warning with their loud air horns - but tonight they left silently early in the evening. We missed it all!

The word "skagway" or its root word means windy city. We know now why it was so named. The wind was fierce and relentless. It seemed almost like a stormy winter day although the air was relatively mild.
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August 22, 2005 (Mon)
Rancheria Hotel-Motel and RV Park, Rancheria, BC #18 elec $18c C

Skagway, AK to Rancheria, BC (247/8828 miles) Q021171

Our 46th wedding anniversary. It rained all night, although the wind died down some, and was raining this morning when we got up - 6:30 (56.8°). We marveled at the fact that there were already 3 new cruise ships tied up at the docks but went on and prepared to leave anyway.

Off at 7:50 to get gas and finally on the road at 8:10. The rain had let up some and the fog was not bad enough to hide the views of White Pass - well almost. As we neared the summit of the pass we came up on a double tanker truck struggling along at 10 MPH. It gave us plenty of time to enjoy the scenery until he pulled away from us on the down hill side. It was a beautiful drive through the mountains - dull and dreary where we were but the sun highlighted the far off mountains. We couldn't help but think of some paintings we've seen.

On the Tagish Cut off road a silver colored fox ran across the road in front of us and hung around on the bank long enough for Bob and Pat, following us, to see him. Tagish Cut Off joins the Alaska Highway at Jake's Corner. Although there's really no town (or village) by that name there is a sign announcing its existence. We took a picture of it to show nephew Jake.

We crossed the Continental Divide at about 2:00 and pulled into the campground at about 2:10.