Road to Dease Lake BC. Aug 16 & 17, 2012

After 3 great days in Skagway it was time to continue on to our next stop. The next 6 pix are some of the view coming out of Skagway. The train is the one we took a ride on. It comes to the top of White Pass & then returns to Skagway. There’s an area that has a lot if rocks & people have stopped to stack them. 

   

   

Along the Alaska Hwy between Teslin & Watson Lake is the Continental Divide and a few miles past that is Rancheria Falls Rec. area. This is a nice pull off with a large parking area & a nice 10 min boardwalk trail to the picturesque falls. We spent the nite there & there were some other people that spent the nite there too.

     

   

The next morning we were off again. Had a short delay @ another road repair. I think this may have been one of the washouts that occurred in June when there was some rain in this area.  Along the way we stopped @ Jade City. It’s where they mine & ship Jade around the world. 

   

Some more of the scenery we had the pleasure to enjoy as we traveled to Dease Lake. 

   

Next stop Waters Edge Campground Dease Lake.

Skagway 8-14 & 15-2012

Skagway grew out of the Klondike Gold Rush. In July 1897 the first boatloads of stampeders bound for the Klondike landed. It’s the oldest incorporated city in Alaska (1900). And Is now visited by over 300 cruise ships each year. Coming to see the Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Park & the restored buildings that now house restaurants, souvenir stores & hotels. Skagway is now a very big tourist stop. Each day we saw 4 cruise ships come & go. We were told that by mid Sept. most of the stores close up. They are run by the cruise lines. The local owned stores have signs in there windows so you know if your shopping @ a local store or not. The Local stores stay open all year.

Below is where we stayed in town. The next pix is of the only gas station & then a look down one of the streets. The yellow tour car is one of several that will take you for a tour of the area.    

   

As I said earlier Skagway & the town of Dyea is where the people came through to head to the Klondike for gold. The Canadian Mounties required them to bring a year’s supply of food. @ Dyea they hiked up the 33 mile Chilkoot Trail. It took 20 to 40 trips up & down the trail shuttling there required ton of goods. This requirement was Canada’s way to prevent starvation in the interior. Out of Skagway they traveled over White Pass. Where eventually the train line was built. And then the town of Dyea died. You can hike the Chilkoot Trail still today (permit is Required)

Below is a pix of the display in one of the museums of the supply’s they were required to have.        

   

   

Above some of the cruise ships in town & below you can see one @ the end of the main street. The cabin is one that the man that founded Skagway lived in. Then those smiling faces taking a ride on the train that took travelers up White pass. But these travelers were just along for a ride through some beautiful scenery. The red caboose is along the train route & is there for hikers to stay.  

   

       

These last two pix were taken where the ships come in. The seal is there to catch some Pinks (Humpy Salmon) coming up the fish ladder

 

Skagway was a completion of our travels in connecting the history from Dawson City. In coming to Alaska by land through BC & the Yukon we traveled the history backwards. The Gold rush travelers came by water from Seattle to get to the gold fields. There travels were harsher back in the 1800’s. Our travel was a pleasure & the frost heaves seem like a miner inconvenience in comparison the struggles of the Stampeders.

Next stop Dease Lake, BC.   

Tok to Skagway 8-12 & 13-2012

In Tok we stayed the nite behind the Chevron/Standard Gas Station. There were about 8 other RV’s that stayed the nite there too. We had a coupon for 10c. off a gal of gas so toped off our gas & propane there. The coupon was in one of the magazines you get @ visitor centers.

We also got a short visit with Mark & Renita. They were in Tok @ an RV park too. It was great to see them again. As you can see by the sign we have a drive to head to Skagway. It’s almost 300 miles to Haines Junction & then from there we have to decide if we want to go to Haines or just head to Skagway. that’s another 210 miles to go. There is a ferry that runs between Haines & Skagway but we’re not planning to take it. 

   

Just some of the scenery as we traveled south from Tok, AK. When in Alaska around the Kenai area we saw a lot of trucks etc. that had small household freezers. Probably full of Sockeye  

   

We traveled out of the US into the Yukon & then back into the US again in our travels heading to Skagway. 

     

Here we came upon some guys on dirt bikes and one lost control & went down on a frost heave  washboard section of road. They gave us a thumbs up so he wasn’t hurt. WE saw a lot of motor cycle riders in AK. It can sure be a dusty ride for them.  The pix of the white puff was very yellow when we first came into the Yukon, They are Dandelions   The other pix is a Beaver house. We saw a couple of beaver houses in our travels. but never got a pix of a Beaver.

   

Then again more construction. It seems to be unending in the north.

   

And another Grizzly eating along the Hwy.  We stopped just past Destruction Bay @ a viewpoint overlooking Kluane Lake’s Horseshoe Bay near Soldier’s Summit. Kluane Lake is the largest lake in the Yukon Territory, covering about 154 square miles It was a beautiful spot & there wasn’t a lot of traffic so wasn’t too noisy. until about 8:30 am Yukon time when a 5th wheel with a red kayak on the roof went flying by. Thanks Mark & Renita for the wake up call   Remember the Yukon is an hour ahead of Alaska. & we were going to be in & out of the two several times along the trip.  We enjoyed meeting Mark & Renita on our trip & look forward to crossing paths again.  

     

The Sunset out the front window.  One of the next small towns we pass is Carcross on the way to Skagway. and the ruins of the Venus Mine on Windy Arm of Tagish Lake.

   

There were a couple of Runaway places for trucks as the road down to Skagway descends from about 3000 ft. down to sea level.

   

     

Next stop Skagway, AK.