Day 65 - Saturday July 22/17
Posted Thursday August 3, from Fairbanks, Alaska)

Our morning departure was delayed while we arranged medical coverage over the phone. It seems ironic to note that the plan we took was a “Snowbirds” plan. We are in fact seeing snow daily now! 

We headed south towards the USA around 10 am.(map)

First stop was a lookout just south of Carcross (photo), looking out at Bove Island.

The drive to Skagway is about 100 km. The two-lane road is in good condition but includes some narrow, hairpin turns around rock outcroppings with steep drops to the river valley below. 

We stopped at an scenic lookout and got a couple of nice reflection pictures:

We had to go through US Customs as we headed into Alaska. To our great surprise they made us remove the firewood we had in the bed of the truck. As an afterthought the agent told us we could pick up as much wood from the confiscated pile at the back of the border crossing as we liked on our return trip. We made sure to do that!

We made several photo stops along the way, including at the Alaska Border

and at a place called 'Log Cabin', where the White Pass Trail and the Chilcoot Pass Trail came together at Lake Bennett

Arrived in Skagway about 11:45. The town is very tourist-friendly – well signed, free parking, everything in good repair. We headed to the Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Park office and learned that a large number of buildings on the main street have been purchased by the Park and restored to their 1900 condition.  Some are used by the park for displays and a number are leased by local businesses for current use.

We started our tour by watching a half hour film about the gold rush. Skagway was the beginning of the White’s Pass trail (and later the rail line to Whitehorse) and nearby Dyea was the beginning of the Chilkoot trail. It was interesting to learn that it was the Canadian North West Mounted Police who instituted the policy requiring all stampeders to bring a year’s worth of supplies (about one ton) with them, so as to prevent starvation in the Yukon. Of course it was this policy that necessitated that the miners climb the ice steps up the pass 30 or 40 times, each time carrying another part of their load. (You may recall the famous photo of the endless line of men ascending those ice steps up the Chilcoot Pass.) The US Parks Ranger also told how it was Superintendent Sam Steele of the NWMP (about whom we learned much before in the Prairies and Alberta!) who set up the Canadian border posts at the top of both passes – a very proactive decision - in order both to maintain law and order, and to establish and enforce Canadian sovereignty. This decision about the location of the border was disputed by the US, but later upheld in the courts. 

Trying to decide if it is all worth the effort!

We enjoyed the Ranger-led tour of Skagway as it focused on the role of women during the gold rush. A seamstress, a mother looking for her son, a reporter, an entrepreneur and a native woman who married a developer were profiled as we walked around the town.

What 1,000 pounds worth of supplies looks like, to be hauled up the pass in many, many trips

Before heading home we took a side trip to Dyea on a poorly developed dirt road that at times was only one line wide bordering the water. Fortunately there wasn’t much traffic and we only had to pull into a lay-by a couple of times to let other vehicles pass. We reached the beginning of the 53 km Chilkoot Trail and walked a short distance. This was the main route the gold rush stampeders followed to the Yukon. This was an important stop for Nancy as she had a great-great uncle who went to the Yukon gold rush and ran a stagecoach business in Dawson. 

The drive back to Carcross, including a stop for our discarded wood at the US border, was easy and enjoyable. We got “home” around 7:30. Supper and preparations for travel tomorrow took us quickly to bedtime.