Click here for a Video of our Drive Over the White Pass
Our day in Skagway started early. This was our 12th cruise overall and can you believe, this was the first time we had ever ordered room service! By doing so I figure I got a little more sleep and we were able to walk off the ship right after it arrived at 7 am. The Sun was docked at the Broadway Dock which means we were pretty much parked at the end of the main street in town.
The four of us walked the short distance to Avis and picked up our rental...a Toyota Corolla.
I still had Murray's Guide downloaded on my iPad (from our last trip) and was the designated narrator for the day. The guide is an excellent mile by mile description of the drive up to the Yukon. Our only glitch was that we set our odometer reading back to "0" a little late so the mileage on the car didn't exactly match the numbers in the guide. It got even more confusing once we reached the Canadian border and were dealing in kilometers instead of miles.
Approximately 7 miles out of Skagway, we pulled over to get a photo of Pitchfork Falls which flows out of Goat Lake. The pipeline running parallel to the falls supplies electricity to Skagway.
A little further and we passed by a waterfall and then crossed the William Moore Bridge. This bridge spans a very active earthquake fault and is only anchored on one side so that it can move freely with the earth.
And just as we were excited about seeing a bear...he was excited about seeing tourists! He turned around and walked back to our car...and then proceeded to put his front paws on the hood and look at us through the windshield!! We were left with some muddy paw prints, but luckily no scratches on the rental car.
I guess we weren't all that interesting because he hopped down and slowly walked up the hill.
By traveling in May, we were still able to see ice on the lakes.
At Fraser we crossed over the border between the U.S. and Canada. The red building on the right is the last water tower remaining on the WP&YR line from the days when steam locomotives were used. Fraser is also the point where people on guided tours switch from motor coaches to trains or vice-versa. The low clouds still were blocking the view of the mountains.
Murray's Guide had the following entry for the next section of highway:
The next 5 miles or so offers good black bear and occasional brown bear (grizzly) viewing opportunities from late May through June in particular, though sightings through much of the summer are getting more common. Many of the black bears in this area are brown, fooling many people into thinking that they've seen a grizzly.
And...here is what we saw! We did think at first that this was a grizzly, but have since had it identified as a cinnamon colored black bear. He was a big one though!
Once we reached the summit of the White Pass, the clouds begin to lift and we were seeing blue sky!
Kent & Laurel are big Iditarod fans so we made it a point to stop at the Tagish Lake Kennel (around mile 46) run by Michelle Phillips (who finished 13th in this past race.) We opted to not do the sled dog ride (they pull a 4-wheeler) but instead just spent some time playing with the puppies. (They had the most beautiful blue eyes!!)
A campfire was going and there was a replica of a musher's cabin.
We watched as a team of sled dogs came in pulling a 4 wheeler. They were barking like crazy and so excited!! And what a view from the kennel!!
After we crossed from British Columbia into the Yukon, Bob spotted some mountain goats on the side of the mountain. I have no idea how he is able to see stuff like that. Here is the mountain...
...and here is a photo with a very long zoom. There were actually quite a few goats in different spots, but it took a good pair of binoculars to see them.
At the Bove Island viewpoint we could look down on Tagish Lake. During the Gold Rush, many boats were wrecked here when they came out of calm Nares Lake into high winds on Windy Arm.
At Mile 73, we pulled over the view Emerald Lake. This lake is the most photographed lake in the Yukon and it is easy to see why!
This was our second time to drive this route, but the last time Emerald Lake was our turning around point. In my research I had read about the Robinson Roadhouse which sounded interesting and it was only about 15 miles further. Here is a little info on the site:
A roadhouse is a camp settlement situated on a busy transportation route used by miners during the Yukon Gold Rush.. There were many roadhouses, at the time, located on most of the major wagon road and trail transportation routes exploring the Yukon. The Robinson Roadhouse was built to service the White Pass & Yukon Route Railway. The railway only reached the summit at the time and the Robinson Roadhouse was responsible for transporting the supplies from the rails end to the shores of Bennett Lake.
The roadhouse included a log cabin lodge, a saloon and three tents. The roadhouse started to grow quickly and in 1906 there was talk of turning the roadhouse into a townsite. They even went as far as to have the surrounding 320 hectares surveyed for the townsite.
During the peak of activity at the Robinson Roadhouse when corruption and chaos where its highest the the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) sent a Mountie to be stationed at the roadhouse. After all was said and done the expansion to a townsite never materialized and the roadhouse was left as a base camp for miners.
I'm guessing not many others make it this far since we were the only ones at the roadhouse. We walked around exploring the abandoned buildings and then ate a picnic lunch on one of the tables by the parking area.
After leaving Robinson's Roadhouse we began the trip back towards Skagway. We stopped to get a photo of the Carcross Dessert, but didn't get out of the car since we had explored here a bit last time. Also...we needed to watch our time...we had evening plans back in Skagway.
But...there is always time for ice cream! We pulled into the town of Carcross and stopped at the Matthew Watson General Store for ice cream served in homemade waffle cones...a perfect dessert after our picnic lunch. (The ice cream is $5/scoop, but by paying with our credit card, two scoops was only $7.43 because of the favorable exchange rate!)
We walked around a bit while we were eating our ice cream. Carcross is a unique and interesting place!
And even with a time constraint, we couldn't resist stopping for numerous photos...
When we saw a few cars pulled over on the side of the road, it was a sure sign of...a BEAR. This would be #3 for the day!
Another stop. Here the railroad runs between the shoreline and highway. The sign along the tracks says "Ptarmigan Point".
A train was stopped in Fraser as we passed by.
Stopping to present our passports as we returned to the U.S.
Just before crossing the bridge into Skagway, we took the turn onto Dyea Road. A short distance down this road is an overlook that gives a great view of the city...and all of the cruise ships in port. (Also...note the location of the airport runway at the lower edge of this photo...this is where we would be heading next!!)
The guys dropped Laurel and I off and then met us back at the ship after getting gas and returning the car.
But...our day was not done. Coming up next...seeing the glaciers from the air!
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