Three Windy Days and Three Windy Nights in Skagway

Did I mention it was windy in Skagway yet? Yes, very windy. It made the 50 degree temps feel like 43. Ouch. Is it June yet? The first evening in Skagway we walked into town. It was pretty much closed. The cruise ships had left and it was Sunday night so most everything had closed. It was very quiet.

The next day, we went into town with two cruise ships in town, it was a bit busier. We went to the Nation Historic Site and took the tour of downtown Skagway. It was fun but would have been more enjoyable if it had not been drizzling and cold out.

We were planning on going back up the White Pass following the steam locomotive pulling the passenger train, which we could not get tickets on because it was sold out. However, the weather was so bad on the way back from downtown, Ellyn and I decided to opt out. Of course, right after that the sun came out for a while.

Our last day in Skagway, we drove up to Dyea and the head of the Chilkoot Trail. this was where the miners in the gold rush of 1898 started their trek to the gold fields by climbing a treacherous trail up over the mountains with 2000 pounds of supplies, making as many as 50 trips up this trail, before they could continue to the gold fields. It seems like there should have been an easier way.

In the evening we went to Lairsville, a historic camp where rushers were able to rest up before hitting the Chilkoot Trail. The site is now used to re-enact the gold rush feel by having you pan for gold and it is topped of with a grilled salmon meal. Very good food, at least.

One of the cool things about being parked right out on the harbor was being able to watch the cruise ships come and go. In preparation for recording the day sky on the solstice in Fairbanks, I used the app on my phone to capture the cruise ships arriving in a time lapsed video, but have been having trouble trying to upload it, even with internet access.

On the last day, we took Jordy into town for a while to walk him around and do a little last minute shopping. Later in the afternoon we got onto the ferry to Haines, Alaska. This saved us about 350 miles of driving and the required fuel to do that drive. The cost was just about a wash.