July 2nd -we left Whitehorse bound for Skagway by way of the South Klondike Hwy. This is not to be confused with the North Klondike Hwy which is also called the Klondike Loop. That portion of it goes to Dawson City and then the Top of the World Hwy, Chicken, and the three guys from West Virginia on a holiday without their wives. You might remember that their wives were more than happy at the prospect of them being gone for the summer? Ok enough of the reminiscing.
The South Klondike Hwy is a great drive with impressive views and grades. For instance the 11 mile descent from the summit of White Pass has an 11% grade which is steep –to say the least. We passed through customs without too much trouble except that the big fella seems to become a bundle of nerves when he is asked questions by customs agents. The guy asked Greg the usual couple of questions like where are you going and where have you been. Easy stuff, right? Well, not so much for the big fella. When asked where we had been Greg said Canada, customs guy nods his head, then Greg adds…Denali was great! The customs guy clears his throat and informs the fella that Denali is in Alaska. Okie, dokie Greg should never,ever engage in small talk when trying to clear customs. This was not the first faux pas at a border crossing. At the Top of the World crossing when responding to a question about our destination, Greg said Chicken, and rather than just leave it there he added….”there’s not much else out there right?” The customs guy furrowed his brow –of course- and said, “Sir there is an entire state out there.” Oops.
Back to the matters at hand, we arrived safely in Skagway without campground reservations and were advised by one RV Park owner to go talk to the police to find a place to stay. Yikes, the police? I volunteered to do the talking this time and learned that there were three places we could park for a couple of nights. One was next to the river and looked like a tent city and was gross, the second one was a city campground someplace in Dyea that was 6-7 miles away but we could not find it, the third was a campground operated by the National Park Service that was also in Dyea. It had big sites with trees and was lovely. Camping there was a no brainer. The campground hosts met our car as we drove in and proceeded to tell us that the area was frequented by both grizzly and black bears. They advised something called bear mace and they had canisters of it clipped to their belts the size of water bottles. Also, more grizzlies were expected with a salmon run that could happen any day. Maybe camping here was not such a great idea after all. I swallowed hard, oh what the heck Greg and I don’t taste much like salmon. We found a great spot and settled-in for the next three nights.
Dyea was originally a native settlement and was also the location of a town that sprung up as a result of the gold rush. The start of the Chilkoot trail is very close and in 1898 gold seekers made the grueling hike up the 30% grade to the summit and began their journey in Dyea. The summit is in Canada and the Mounties required that each miner have one ton of provisions and before the would be miners were allowed to enter the Yukon the Mounties checked off that they had the necessary supplies. Consequently, the one ton rule often required ten to twenty trips in order to get all of the gear assembled at the summit. This was a process that took weeks or even months to complete. I cannot fathom doing that today, but the prospect of gold and financial security was the driving force. At that time people were willing to endure great hardship for the promise of gold. We explored what was left of Dyea which is not much, but the Park Service provides a self guided tour that explains where the town buildings were located and why Dyea disappeared. We walked out to Dyea flats where the Taiya river empties into the bay and watched the crows hop around in the wetlands. The water was a beautiful milky blue green color and the inlet is very narrow. And there were no bears waiting for a salmon buffet. Aw nuts! By the time we returned to the camper it was raining and we had a wonderful Miller Time inside. A martini for you know who, gin& tonic pour moi, and smoked salmon! If there were any bears in the vicinity, they would have been all over that salmon; it was delicious.
We ventured into Skagway the next day and the cruise ships were in town. Skagway is a big destination for them and the little town was inundated with people. Cruise ship passengers walk around a lot, buy things, and provide a boost to the local economy. We decided to take a ranger lead tour of the buildings that date from the gold rush. It was a good way to learn the history of the town and the people who were there prior to and during the Stampede. We opted for a ride on the White Pass and Yukon Railroad. The line was built from Skagway to Whitehorse between 1898 -1900 and once completed was a much easier route to the gold fields. Many continued to hike the Chilkoot but eventually the railroad became the preferred option and Dyea quickly became a ghost town. The ride lasted three hours and it did not leave us much time to poke around Skagway. We headed back to our lovely campsite for beer and brats and a roaring campfire in the pouring rain. It was quite a sight. The fella makes great campfires –all those years of scouts paid off- and one little guy riding his bike around remarked to Greg, “Dude, that is a big fire.” Yup it was.
Ok, the 4th of July in Skagway was like nothing that I have ever experienced. Not even the Pioneer Day Parade in Cle Elum can top this. The festivities begin of course with a parade. The route goes down Broadway for about six blocks which is about the length of the street. The people of Skagway love their parade so much that they turn the whole thing around and get a second look. It goes back down Broadway. There was only one marching band –a bunch of bagpipers from Whitehorse, YT. The big deal were the floats and cash prizes were awarded to the best ones. Super heros was the theme and some expanded on it in rather creative ways. The Red Onion Saloon float looked suspiciously like a brothel. They won a prize. I suppose the madames and their girls were considered super heros back in 1898? Just a thought. The National Park Service had a giant ranger that looked a bit like Dudley Do-Right and of course a couple of grizzly bears hanging around.
The grand prize went to a local bike excursion company. They had superman suspended from a contraption with a cable that allowed him to fly around in large circles. The problem here was that Superman was unable to control the arc or stop himself. A young woman Lois Lane maybe, acted as his spotter and she was looking pretty tired by the 2nd pass down Broadway.
The egg throwing contest was next. Did you know that Skagway holds the Guiness World Record for having the most people participate in an egg toss? Well there you go –apparently it happened two years ago and they even signed-up folks from the cruise ships to participate. Over 1000 people lined the streets in 2008 and tossed eggs. You gotta agree, 1000+ people tossing eggs is impressive. Anyway this year the toss was only a couple of blocks long and all but the most skilled were quickly eliminated. There was a toss-off because the finalists kept breaking their eggs. However, the winning pair was two young women. Yippee and we walked carefully on the board walks the rest of the day. There was egg slime everywhere. By the way, the name of the egg toss ‘official’ was Buck Wheat. I am not making this up! Trust me folks, we took his picture.
Then there was what they called the dump tank. Not a dunk tank, but a dump tank. It was a toilet that flushed when a target was hit. The dumpees were local firemen, police, and others. It was a chilly day and the dumpees looked pretty cold. There was a slow bike race; the object was to be the last to cross the finish line. The rules did not allow any ground touches.This required incredible balance and skill and it had several divisions. The kids went first, then the women, then two different age groups of men. Cash prizes for the winners. Have all you bike fiends got your tickets to Skagway for next year’s event? Hmmm? The spike driving contest drew a big crowd. This was the muscle man event. Contestants set railroad spikes on a track and you guessed it drove them into a railroad tie. The one who did it in the fastest time won hold on...YES a cash prize! There were so many contestants that it was still in progress when we left for our campground. Maybe it was a big prize? We left with warm memories (OK maybe not warm memories but memories alright!)
It was our last night camping and we had a wonderful campfire and needed to eat as much of the food that we had left as possible. No refrigeration on the Alaska State Ferry. We gave some of our left over food to the camp hosts who were grateful and still had their cans of bear mace firmly attached to their belts! Maybe the bears arrived after we left, but we said our goodbyes and were off to the ferry line.
Mary
You will need to wait another day or two for the grand finale! Keep checking back.
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