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Published: June 28th 2011
We embarked from Juneau around 10:00 PM, heading to the northernmost port of the Inside Passage, Skagway. Upon waking on Thursday morning, we were already berthed in Skagway. It’s a small, charming town set among the high peaks of the Yukon. The town also relies on the tour ships for the majority of its income.
We found a local café on the one main street for lunch and watched the people from within. The six blocks were lined with jewelry stores, souvenir shops and that’s about it. The lone bank, a Wells Fargo sat at the very end of town. During the winter months, about 800 hearty souls live in Skagway. In the summer, the town doubles in size to service the tourists.
We engaged the young lady serving us in the café. She is a lifelong resident of Skagway and was very opinionated about the jewelry stores ruining the town. Apparently, they come in for five months during the tourist season, bring in their own people, and have significantly driven up real estate prices. During the winter months, they board up their shops and homes and leave to exploit the Caribbean tourists. She believes they are all tied
to organized crime selling mostly blood diamonds.
The other scenario regarding the jewelry stores is that they are owned by the cruise lines and setup to entice the tourists to spend even more money. Either way, you have to agree that it is an odd situation.
Our time in Skagway was limited, but we made time to experience the great outdoors. We joined 10 others to go up to the top of the Klondike Summit and bicycle down 15 miles back into town. This was a definite highlight. Our two guides drove us up to the summit, towing the bikes. After a short orientation, we were then led down the steep inclines. We had several stops along the way to enjoy the vistas and talk about the history. The weather was perfect for the trek, low 50s at the top summit. The majority of the ride was downhill, reaching speeds up to 25 miles, it was very exhilarating.
We ended our ride back at the Sockeye Cycle store in town. They were kind enough to drop us back at the ship after our adventurous day.
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