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Published: June 10th 2008
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We took an unplanned trip from Whitehorse, YT to Skagway, AK, and Haines, then back north to Haines Junction, and the Alaska Highway, called the Klondike Loop. Several folks we met raved about the beauty of the landscape driving there and ocean inlet upon which both of these charming villages sit. And they were right about all of it. This would be our only exposure to the Inside Passage.
We rate the Klondike Highway views as the best we've seen to date. And the photo does not do it justice. At Emerald Lake along the highway we ran into our friends from Victoria Lake/Germany for the third time!
We stopped at Caribou Crossing Wildlife Refuge and enjoyed the museum of all species of stuffed animal from Alaska, including the prehistoric Wholly Mammoth!
Skagway is a preserved old west town with gorgeous shops, especially jewelry stores. However those shops and the entire town are overrun with "cruisers." Up to 5 cruise ships a day dock at Skagway and their passengers spend most of the day overtaking the town.
We enjoyed a mountain hike and a bike trip to the "town" of Dyea and the trail head of the famous
Chilkoot Trail. Dyea served as the supply center for gold miners to traverse the trail during the Klondike Gold Rush. We did not take this famous 33 mile hike. The bike ride there from Skagway was hard enough! We ate lunch in the state park which reported bear sitings in the park that morning. We were definitely on bear alert during that lunch!
We took a trip by the catamaran Fjordland from Skagway to Juneau. This was our chance to see the marine life and our captain made sure we took every opportunity. We saw humpback whales, otters, and sea lions who were in their mating season on the rocks. They stay there for 2 months without food and have offspring every two months. Each male has a harem of about 20-30 females. Any of you want to come back as a sea lion??
Juneau is the capitol of Alaska and is reachable only by water. We visited the capitol building, had a nice lunch at The Hanger and shopped with the other "terrorists." We loved this all day trip and would recommend it.
Then we loaded the coach and car onto the ferry, part of the
Alaska Marine Highway System, and traveled 15 miles to Haines, a little over an hour. There we found a lovely slice of heaven at Oceanside Campground. Right off we just decided to stay for a week. Our view was the waters of the Lynn Inlet and surrounding snow-capped mountains. We loved this sleepy town with old buildings and great shops and restaurants. The town allows only one or two cruise ships a week and what a difference that made! We could bike and walk around town without feeling overwhelmed by cruisers! Alaskans are very friendly folk who have their interesting stories about why they live in Alaska. And everyone we talked to loves living there.
Traveling companions Bill and Cindee Tyner met up with us there. We fished in a local river and Terry caught a steelhead. We decided to leave it on the riverfront for the eagle and raven watching us, who had quite the fight over this morsel. We hiked the Seduction Point path with Harley through woods and alongside the water. We purchased Bear Spray for protection and were glad to have not needed it.
It was hard to leave this favored spot of Haines but we knew there was lots more to see. We left for Haines Junction to rejoin the Alaska Highway and stayed that night in a "turnout." This one had a closed road into the woods where we enjoyed a few walks. We arrived at Delta Junction, the official end of the Alaska Highway. We picked up our "official" certificate verifying that we "had gone through trials and tribulations to reach mile 1422 of the AK Highway." The only bad roads were between Haines Junction and Tok, largely the fault of road construction. Other roads had frost heaves but with good warnings to slow down.
So there you are, we're here!
We soon passed through North Pole and then Fairbanks. This city is on largely flat terrain and is home to around 32,000 souls, which includes students of the University of Alaska. We were able to tour the city on our bikes thanks to the abundance of paved bike paths. What a treat! We went with Cindee and Bill on the Riverboat Discovery Tour and enjoyed seeing the dog training center of Susan Butcher. Susan is known here as the most famous female musher of all times, winning the Iditarod four times. She died of cancer two years ago and her husband is continuing training the dogs. We also toured a replica of a native village and heard from native students of U of AK those customs still practiced and handed down by their native families. The women still sew clothing made of animal skins and furs and decorate them with bead work. Absolutely gorgeous.
We visited the impressive U. of Alaska Museum of the North and learned more about the history of the state and the people. They were a hearty bunch to have survived the elements and begin a life here with nothing but wilderness and their own wits. We viewed a film and life-sized art sculptures at the Ice Museum in downtown. These were sculpted at the International Ice Sculpting Competition help each March in Fairbanks. Over 500 artists from as many as 47 countries participate and it is considered the largest ice sculpting in the world.
We're ready to head to Denali National Park in the morning hoping to see lots of animals in the wild. Talk to you later.
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