May 25--Carcross to Skagway

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Wednesday, May 25, 2011 Started out at 9:15 with an overcast sky with temps at 51 degrees. Mileage to start was 8422 at Tagish, First Nation Provincial Campground

Drove back to the turn off and went into the town of Carcross—as it is now known. This is an abbreviation of the old Caribou Crossing name. The herd comes down the mountains and crosses at this point which is a narrow pass. The town is also the end of the narrow gauge White Pass and Yukon railroad that soon replaced the necessity for the stampeders to climb the Chilkoot and White Pass trails. From this town boats were then taken across lakes and up the Yukon to Dawson City.

From this point down to sea level at Skagway, was the most scenic road so far on this trip. It was just gorgeous and very hard to describe the snow covered stark mountain ranges, deep gullies, numerous waterfalls and freshets, lakes and rivers all in about 65 miles. We also saw mountain goats, Dall sheep, and one black bear.

Swarming up the other side of the road, as we were going down, were tour buses huge and small, people driving rental cars and RV’s, and a string of about 10, 4-wheel drive jeeps who all came off 5 cruise ships docked in the Skagway harbor. They were also riding the narrow gauge railroad up to Carcross on the other side of the canyon from the road we were on.

We drove into Skagway which was filled with people off the 5 humongous cruise ships who didn’t go north. This tiny town is visited by at least one cruise ship a day which they are very happy to accommodate with souvenir shops and more souvenir shops. The buildings at least weren’t tacky looking, but neat with a western look to them.

We found our other Trekkers in a motel parking lot and paid the motel $5. to stay—I don’t think they realize we are spending the night, but the $5 is for a 24 hour period. Went by the ferry terminal and got our tickets for sailing to Haines in the afternoon. That will give us time to check out the museum and other sights in town.

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