Advertisement
Although we hated to leave our "favorite campground" in Watson Lake, we headed out at 8:00am with plans to make Skagway by early afternoon. Just 60 miles out of Watson Lake, the scenery again became spectacular. Those reading this blog are probably saying "You've said that before." We'll be saying to each other, as we drive, OMG look at that. Then we come around another bend and say Oh my God, look at that! You could be taking pictures constantly here. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of turnoffs on this highway, so it's difficult to stop and take pictures. We did decide to stop and have lunch in Tagish, as we were going to be turning off the Alaska highway for our side trip down to Skagway, Alaska. We headed southwest, on Route 8 toward Carcross, YT. From there, it was Route 2 down into Skagway. To say the scenery was spectacular is a gross understatement. Words can't describe this countryside. The mountains are huge, and are completely snow covered. In fact, the rivers and lakes we're passing are still frozen over. It is a very hilly ride, with constant elevation changes. We went through U.S. Customs without a hitch,
then down the Whitepass highway to Skagway, with more incredible views along the way. We settled in to the Garden City RV Park, and walked into town. The men went to the Ferry service dock, while the girls did a little shopping. The town is very busy, as the cruise ship schedule is in full bloom, with 3 ships in here daily. The guys found out that there was no Ferry service to Haines the following day, and we'd have to stay here until Wednesday afternoon to get over. Oh well, there could be worst places to stay. No one was terribly disappointed, as Skagway is a very neat place and we could all use some time off the road. After kicking through some more shops, we had dinner at a local bar/restaurant. Had some great Halibut. Then we all walked back to the RV Park where we sat out and chatted a bit. It is really weird with it being so light so late. In fact, I don't think it ever really gets dark, just like twilight back home. At 4 in the morning, when nature calls, it's already light outside. Some of our group sleep with masks on
to block out the light. Mileage 317 Total to date: 3071 Animal sightings: 1 dead caribou on the highway and 1 black bear.
Day 11, May 26, 2015
Slept in late today and it felt really good. After a nice breakfast in, we headed into town and went to the local hardware store to buy fishing licenses for the two of us for Alaska. We have brought two fishing outfits with us to use, but have not had the opportunity as yet. Although there are not a lot of fresh water fishing opportunities here in Skagway, there will be once we get into Alaska up near Fairbanks, Denali and the Kenai Peninsula. We all hung around the local library for awhile, as they were reported to be the only Wifi location in town. Ray managed to find a commercial site, and for a modest fee, enrolled in wifi service till we leave tomorrow. After a quick lunch at the rig, we packed up a knapsack with our fishing gear, water, etc, and headed out to a mountain lake that supposedly has brook and rainbow trout in it. We found the trail head and began
what turned out to be a grueling mountain trail hike that seemed to go straight up. We finally reached the lake about 45 minutes later, and found it very windy and tree lined, making it very hard to cast our lures out. Ray got two strikes, but no fish. We finally gave up, and had a much more pleasant hike downhill. The weather was delightful today, with the temps in the high 70's and sunny. Tonight however, the weather is changing. It's getting colder, and they're calling for rain showers tonight and tomorrow. We plan on sleeping in late again, then catching the Ferry to Haines at 2:30 pm. Our plan is to then drive up the Haines Highway to Haines Junction, Yukon. This stretch of road is purported to be the most scenic road in the area. I don't see how that can be possible, but we'll see. We may not be able to post a blog tomorrow, but we'll catch up the following day.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.073s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 12; qc: 34; dbt: 0.0409s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb