Day 14- Friday-May 26, 2017- Skagway,AK to Katherine Lake, YU

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Up at 3:45am, 50deg. Worked on catching up on blog. Breakfast, & then moved RVs to ferry line for scheduled 3:30 pm ferry to Haines, AK later today. Strolled thru Skagway, shopped, had lunch & then mailed package with gifts to Naples. Celebrity Cruise ship in town, so shops were somewhat crowded. Skagway is a quaint town and owes its birth to the Klondike Gold Rush. It boomed as thousands of gold seekers arrived to follow the White Pass and Chilkoot trails to the Yukon goldfields. In July 1897 the first boatloads of stampeders bound for the Klondike landed at Skagway. I think they're still coming but they are only getting as far as the top of the main street where busses from the cruise lines drop its passengers so they have to walk the 1/2 mile to get back to the ship which takes them by all of the stores; somebody told me that the cruise lines own many of the stores.

Back at the ferry lot by 2:30 p.m.to get ready to board. All of the maneuvering to get the RV onto the ferry was a "white knuckle" event. As I was backing up, the security detail stopped me because they thought something was leaking from the back of the RV. It turned out to only be water from the water tank which I had filled to the top earlier in the day. Close calls while loading the RV onto the ferry as it almost "bottomed out" on loading ramps, but finally safely aboard. Thankfully, my driving a beer truck during the summers in college paid off! A one hour cruise down the Lynn Canal from Skagway brought us to Haines, AK. We traveled north from Haines 130 miles to Katherine Lake, Yukon Territory where we would be camping in the woods "sans" water or electricity...really "roughing it" in our self contained home on wheels with all the amenities. The trip north was along The Haines Highway which connects Haines AK to Haines Junction, Yukon Territory. The highway is noted for its glaciated mountains and the variety of its scenery – – from coastal for us to alpine tundra… The Haines highway was awarded national scenic byway status in 2009. If you ever get to this area of Alaska, you should make a point to drive this highway north as we did. The attached pictures don't really do the actual vistas justice… You'll have to see them for yourselves someday if you can. There was a time change again when we crossed the border from British Columbia to the Yukon Territory, taking us back to Pacific time again… Really confusing. The Haines Highway in general was very smooth and we arrived at Kathleen Lake Campground at 9 PM, backed into our wooded sited with Al's expert direction. The Kathleen Lake Campground is the only established campground within Kluane National Park. We had a light bite for dinner, since too late for s full meal. I tried to keep working on the blog but kept nodding off, so called it a night. We're off tomorrow for Tok, Alaska a 310 mile day. The weather is still holding fine, with bright blue skies in the mountains. We still can't believe how lucky we have been with the weather.
Miles today-132
Total--3515

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Comments

[Tom marino]

Beautiful vistas
Everything looks beautiful. How long will I be gone. R u driving back from Alaska to Florida?

[3FromNaples]

Denali today
We just arrived Dinali this afternoon… From here we head down south of Anchorage for a few days on the Kenai Peninsula and hope to do some Haddick fishing. Return RV in Anchorage on June 3 and fly home to Florida arrive Sunday, June 4 ...u should try it… Go to great Alaskan holidays and signed up for 2018... Best regards, Quentin