Day 62 Miles 112 Garden City Campground, Skagway AK Back in the US for the 4th of July celebration here in Skagway. The trip along the South Klondike Highway was very enjoyable with beautiful Mountains and dark green spruce forests. In addition an area outside Carcross is billed as the smallest desert. Sand dunes formed in the area from former lake beds and the strong winds are credited with keeping out the vegetation for the most part. Yet the plants that do survive there are of a surprising variety including kinnikinnick, a low trailing evergreen with small learthery leaves used for tea. Carcross, originally Caribou Crossing, is the farthest the White Pass/Skagway Railway goes at this time and we saw the departure about 11 a.m. This was a stop for the gold miners on their way north and as we went further south we were close to the Chilkoot trail, up which thousands of prospective miners travelled in 1897-98. I think this was my fifth time through US customs. I know to remove my sunglasses and have my passport ready to show. The line of RV’s heading this way was amazing and we were happy to secure a site. I had telephoned this campground and another and were told they were full, but this one had said “stop and see.” We went ahead and booked for 4 nights. We will celebrate the 4th of July and on the 5th will take the White Pass Railroad to Carcross returning by bus the same day.
The fireworks are scheduled for the 3rd depending on the strength and direction of the wind. The time is 11 p.m. when hopefully there will be enough darkness. It is getting dark noticeably earlier and the surrounding mountains will benefit that.
At least 4 cruise ships were in port here and the streets were lined with shoppers! I can’t believe the number of jewelry stores. We’ve been told the Cruise lines have an ownership interest in most of the shops. We did a historical walking tour with a National Parks ranger. They have a number of buildings under their jurisdiction similar to that of Parcs Canada in Dawson City. We hope to take advantage of some of their other programs tomorrow.
Day 63 Garden City Campground, Skagway AK We arrived at the National Park Service Visitor Center in time for the 10 a.m. presentation. A ranger dressed in early 1900’s fashion portrayed a leading Skagway business woman, Harriet Pullman. Reading from Mrs. Pullman’s writings as well as historical information she told the story of arriving without money or employment and being hired at $3 a day as a cook She had brought dried apples from her Washington home and began making apple pies at night in tin cans flattened to make a pie tin and selling them. She went on to have a freight hauling business and a hotel. Quite amazing. A film on the Gold Rush followed. While I have seen, read and heard so much about this short period of time 1896-1899 I always learn something new. Another ranger later walked us through the different trail options up to the Klondike area. The long and short is most who followed never found gold but some like Harriet Pullen found other ways to make money in the area. Many died too including from an avalanche on the Chilkoot trail. They are buried near Dyea, the start of that trail (the Skagway trail was the White Pass trail) and people are still coming to claim their ancestor’s remains and rebury them in family plots elsewhere according to our afternoon tour guide who took us over to Dyea for a 1 ½ hour ranger walk to the archeological site of what was once a town and home to over 10,000. When the railroad came to Skagway it doomed the town which was already impacted by a very low water harbor. This was a glacial area and after the glacier recedes no longer compacting the land, the land rises and fills in the water areas. Small spruce are starting to sprout in this area called “the flats”. It has taken many years for the soil to no longer have a salt content and allowing more vegetation.
The fireworks are scheduled for the 3rd depending on the strength and direction of the wind. The time is 11 p.m. when hopefully there will be enough darkness. It is getting dark noticeably earlier and the surrounding mountains will benefit that.
At least 4 cruise ships were in port here and the streets were lined with shoppers! I can’t believe the number of jewelry stores. We’ve been told the Cruise lines have an ownership interest in most of the shops. We did a historical walking tour with a National Parks ranger. They have a number of buildings under their jurisdiction similar to that of Parcs Canada in Dawson City. We hope to take advantage of some of their other programs tomorrow.
Day 63 Garden City Campground, Skagway AK We arrived at the National Park Service Visitor Center in time for the 10 a.m. presentation. A ranger dressed in early 1900’s fashion portrayed a leading Skagway business woman, Harriet Pullman. Reading from Mrs. Pullman’s writings as well as historical information she told the story of arriving without money or employment and being hired at $3 a day as a cook She had brought dried apples from her Washington home and began making apple pies at night in tin cans flattened to make a pie tin and selling them. She went on to have a freight hauling business and a hotel. Quite amazing. A film on the Gold Rush followed. While I have seen, read and heard so much about this short period of time 1896-1899 I always learn something new. Another ranger later walked us through the different trail options up to the Klondike area. The long and short is most who followed never found gold but some like Harriet Pullen found other ways to make money in the area. Many died too including from an avalanche on the Chilkoot trail. They are buried near Dyea, the start of that trail (the Skagway trail was the White Pass trail) and people are still coming to claim their ancestor’s remains and rebury them in family plots elsewhere according to our afternoon tour guide who took us over to Dyea for a 1 ½ hour ranger walk to the archeological site of what was once a town and home to over 10,000. When the railroad came to Skagway it doomed the town which was already impacted by a very low water harbor. This was a glacial area and after the glacier recedes no longer compacting the land, the land rises and fills in the water areas. Small spruce are starting to sprout in this area called “the flats”. It has taken many years for the soil to no longer have a salt content and allowing more vegetation.
Our evening began with a fun presentation of Robert Service poems at the NPS visitor center. The tourism director for Skagway goes by the “Buckwheat” and does very dramatic presentations of the poems. He injects a lot of humor and story telling of his own and made for delightful entertainment.
Skagway has its 4th of July fireworks on the 3rd. One explanation is that the same company does Skagways as does Haines, a not too far distant town via water. As 11 p.m. approached, the townspeople and visitors gathered at the dock area for spectacular fireworks with dark snowy peaked mountains as a backdrop and the water of the Linden Canal (actually a very deep fjiord) as a reflection. The mountains also provided echoes to the pyrotechnics. The only ship in the harbor was the ferry. Judy took some awesome photos so be sure to check her blog.
Day 64 Garden City Campground, Skagway, AK HAPPY 4TH OF JULY! The warmest day of the trip marked this holiday. There was a complete program of activities that gave the flavor of a small town celebration. The children’s parade began at 9:30 and I had a seat near the reviewing stand. The judges were all visitors from other states. I didn’t envy them their jobs. The kids were very imaginative. The regular parade began at 10 and was also full of winners. Hopefully my photos will tell the story. The theme was Alaska’s Birthday, “Fabulous at 50”, and was used on most of the floats. The Mounties and kiltie band from Whitehorse which we saw 3 days ago were there as well as a Whitehorse float honoring the birthday. One hit was a Sarah Palin impersonator carrying a sign “I Quit” walking with an impersonator of her husband. I spoke to the woman later in the day and she said the idea came up about 4 days before. However when she heard of the resignation she wasn’t going to do it but her friends said, “just carry an I quit sign”. Some in the crowd had not heard the news and thought that was part of the spoof. Bits and pieces of conversation would lead me to believe people were not too upset though some expressed a fondness for her.
Games such as 3 leg races, tug of war, arm wrestling, egg toss (Skagway made it into the Guiness Book of World Records last year with more than 1100 participating in this one) and many others kept the crowd busy. Food was provided by different local organizations and I had a brot from the Eagles. All in all it was just a fun time. We went back to the campground to do some overdue maintenance and prepare for our next segment which will involve small towns in the Yukon and British Columbia. I filled both my water tanks. I also cleaned my battery which was full of all the road dirt and checked the water levels. The dust from the roads is everywhere
We hurried back to town for the duck race. They had this in Whitehorse as well. Judy had bought a duck and we watched as the 1000 little plastic ducks went into the rushing Pullen Creek. The race took less than 5 minutes and no winner for Judy but a fun time and more socializing. This days activities give one a sense of a strong community spirit here in Skagway.
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