Skagway

Saturday, May 4, 2024

Out of four visits to Alaska, this was our third time to be in Skagway. The Zaandam was scheduled to be in port from 6:30 am until 9:00 pm...a nice long day to venture out a bit. The ship was docked, but tenders were still required to get to shore. Why? A couple of years ago, a landslide right next to the cruise ship dock made the area unsafe for pedestrians and that still holds true today. The very short tender ride just took us to the end of the dock, past the landslide area.

The landslide area is off limits to pedestrians.

One of the most popular tours in Skagway is boarding the White Pass Railway up to the Yukon following the route that the prospectors did during the gold rush. These tours cost anywhere from $200/person to $400/person depending on the distance traveled and other options that are included. Rather than book a train tour, each time we have visited Skagway we have chosen to rent a car instead. We like the flexibility of having a car and being able to stop along the way for photos. And the price of renting a car is definitely less than a tour, especially when split between four people. But that doesn't mean a rental car is cheap. Ten years ago when we first visited Skagway a one-day rental was $139 which I thought was high. This time by booking far in advance I was able to get a rate of $329/day!! Closer to the cruise this price went up even higher! 😲

The White Pass train pulls up right next to the dock to pick up passengers who booked a ship tour. Those that book independently must walk to town to board the train. Crew members from ships that have docked in Skagway over the years have painted signs on the rocks on the side of the mountain.

Once on land, Michelle and I waited near the tender dock while Bob and Jon walked into town to get our Avis rental car. A fishing boat was docked near us and a group of ladies (no guys!) were busy cleaning the morning catch of halibut. As we were watching, a guy walked up next to us with a large tote with several halibut. We visited with him for quite some time and he told us that he always tried to purchase the halibut when the fishing boats came in. He said he paid $8/pound which was a bargain compared to prices in the restaurants and stores. We told the guy that we were headed up the Yukon Highway and he said he had just been that way a few days ago and there were bears all along the road "just posing for photos!" I really wanted Jon & Michelle to see a bear so my hopes were high! Our new friend worked at a knife shop in Skagway and encouraged us to stop in.

$8/pound halibut.

Female crew cleaning the catch as buyers load up their purchases in coolers to take home.

After Bob and Jon returned with the car, we headed out of town. I had downloaded a digital copy of Murray's Guide to the South Klondike Highway on my iPad and we followed along reading the mile-by-mile descriptions as we drove, often stopping at pullouts to get photos of the beautiful views.

Hard to see through the trees, but the train passed by on the tracks on the side of the highway.

At mile 11 a surprise to us was a new bridge since our last visit. The highway now bypasses the William Moore Bridge that we had crossed on our previous trips. Here is what Murray's Guide says about the bridge:

The old bridge, built in 1976, is an asymmetrical cable-stayed suspension bridge that crosses a very active earthquake fault. It is only firmly anchored on the downhill side so that it can move freely with the earth! The gorge that the bridge crosses is only 110 feet wide, but 180 feet deep (the bridge deck is about 250 feet long). On May 17, 2017, work began on a new crossing, starting with extensive blasting - it opened in September 2019, and the old bridge became a historic site managed by the National Park Service.

The old bridge was no longer in use.

Looking in the opposite direction of the bridge. 

At Mile 22.7 we crossed over the border to Canada and stopped briefly at the customs building to show our passports. Just before the border we passed this building which was the last water tower left from the days when steam locomotives were used. This spot is where many of the folks on the railway tour switch over from the train to a bus (or vice versa) for the return trip back to Skagway.

Here are just a few of the photos we took as we headed north...

Mile 49.9. We left British Columbia and entered the Yukon.

Tiny little white dots on the mountainside, barely visible to the naked eye, turned out to be mountain goats when viewed with my zoom camera. 

Frozen lake.

Mile 59. Bove Island.

We pulled off of the highway when we reached the town of Carcross. I had hoped we could get an ice cream cone from Matthew Watson's General Store, but we were just a little too early in the season. The store was closed. 😞 Instead we walked around the town and through some of the little shops before finding a coffee shop with the most delicious and unique pastries! We enjoyed our treats sitting outside in the sunshine at one of the little tables on the deck surrounding the coffeeshop.

Mile 65.6. Caribou Crossing Coffee Shop in Carcross. 

As usual, Bob got photos of the many totem poles in Carcross.

Around 1 pm we reached Emerald Lake...the furthest point on our drive. The beautiful green lake was still partially ice covered.

Mile 73.1. Emerald Lake.

As we started back towards Skagway, we pulled into the "Carcross Desert", aka the world's smallest desert. As Bob and Jon were roaming around the dunes, a gal walking her dog stopped to talk to us and said she had just encountered a bear! She pointed out her sighting in the direction that the guys were exploring but luckily they didn't run into Yogi.

Bob was intrigued by a gravel road we passed and decided to see where it lead. He found a few interesting rocks that he picked up to take home to the grandkids.

Our rental car.

Continuing on with our drive, I tried to imagine what it must be like to live in this area and see these views on a regular basis. So different than our life on the flat prairie.

By now it was mid-afternoon and we had not seen a single bear. So disappointing since our friend in Skagway had led us to believe they were everywhere along the highway! But just about the time I had given up...we saw a bear! No one else was around and Bob pulled the car over and we began to take SO MANY photos and videos! At one point the bear got interested in us and came and walked a complete circle around our car! 

Having seen a bear, I could have been happy just returning to the ship at this point, but we continued to stop several more times as we made our way back to Skagway. At one of our stops we spotted a ptarmigan which we learned later is referred to in that area as a "snow chicken."

Striking my Vanna White pose.

About 2.5 miles before we reached the city limits of Skagway, we turned off on the Dyea Road. This narrow, winding gravel road would eventually lead to where the town of Dyea had been located during the goldrush. For us, we just went a short distance and stopped at a scenic viewpoint overlooking Skagway. 

The airport runway is in the foreground of this photo.
On our last visit we booked a flight over the glaciers from here.

The landslide area was quite visible from this viewpoint.

Just before heading into Skagway, we pulled over at the Pioneer Cemetery.  Noting how many tombstones had a death date around the turn of the century it was apparent what difficult lives the people led in their search for gold and riches.

Frank Reid's grave.

The White Pass Train passing by the cemetery.

I stayed back while Bob, Jon and Michelle took the trail at the north end of the cemetery to the Lower Reid Falls. 

Lower Reid Falls.

It was 5 pm when we drove back into Skagway...too late to make it to supper in the main dining room. We wandered down the main street, stopping in the various stores including the knife shop where our friend that we met in the morning worked. 

Bob and Jon were nice enough to drop Michelle and I off near where we could catch a tender back to the ship and then they returned the car to Avis and walked back. 

The evening show on the World Stage was the Step One Dancers performing "In Tandem", a show we had never seen but by the time we had eaten, it was too late to make the early performance. We were all so tired that we knew we didn't want to attend the late show either. Instead we watched as the Zaandam sailed away from Skagway on our way to Glacier Bay. 

This would make a great watercolor painting!

Bob had showered but was too lazy to get dressed so he
just threw on his winter coat over his robe!