After our ferry ride from Haines to Skagway, up the fjord, we parked our camper in an RV park; it was almost dark by then which is a sign that the days are getting a little shorter. Skagway is another town famous from the Gold Rush of 1898. The town was established because of all the gold prospectors that came in by ship from Seattle. It’s now quite touristy and has been kept in the style of 100 years ago; the Nat. Park Service manages various historic buildings. We joined a city walk with a Park ranger (see below).
From Skagway, there were two ways to get to the gold rivers, much farther north (Yukon/Klondike). Both involved going over a pass, slogging through the snow. Photographs and exhibits show the hard trek these prospectors had had to take with food and other supplies to last them a year.
A railroad was built all the way to Whitehorse in the north in short order, but by the time it was completed the Gold Rush was over. Today, the train is used only for tourists who can take a ride from Cargross to Skagway or vice versa.
Display of a bar in Skagway in 1898 style
The old train snow “plow.” It is actually not a plow but a steam-driven propellor which was able to drill through the snow that had accumulated on the tracks. The plow was pushed by two locomotives; it didn’t have its own propulsion.
A somewhat romantic statue, depicting an native guide leading a gold propector
A photo of the long lone of would-be gold diggers trekking through the snow
Panning for gold…..
The main street of Skagway
We paid a visit to the Gold Rush cemetary….
A famous conman “Soapy Smith” is buried there; he was killed by a man named Reid, who is also buried there and has a waterfall close to the cemetary named after him. Soapy was known to sell bars of soap, normally 25c, for 1 dollar because the buyer supposedly had a chance to find a 20-dollar bill inside the soap. This never happened.
Another “world’s largest.” In this case, the largest gold nugget. Indeed, I couldn’t lift it.
A view of Skagway and the Taiya Inlet from a higher perspective
The railroad from Skagway to Cargross
The (tourist) train at Cargross
After getting again on the Alaska Highway to continue our trip back to the “Lower 48,” we took a detour to Atlin. Atlin Lake is the largest natural lake in British Columbia, it’s about 150km long and few kms wide. You drive through native land to get to Atlin as the sign below shows….
There are more float planes than boats on Atlin Lake
Outside the art gallery in Atlin is a memorial plaque we found interesting. It shows that among soldiers from the small village of Atlin who died during WW2, there were two who lost their lives in Holland in 1944 and ‘45. (Holland was, as you probably know, liberated by the Canadians.)
We hiked up Monarch Mountain, just outside Atlin, for some splendid views of the lake
And we camped in municipal campground; it cost $5 including the firewood. Payment was by dropping off the money at any local business in Atlin on your way out of town. Pretty relaxed we thought.
The gravel road between Atlin and the Alaska highway , about 90km long was slow going, also because they were working on it. Here again, we have to follow a pilot car to take us past the road works.
Before we left the Alaska highway and turned south on the Stewart-Cassiar highway, a road almost as famous as the Alcan, we stopped at a center/museum showing native culture. Outside they had a nice display of totem poles
A sign along the Cassiar Highway, describing the Gold Rush
We stopped at this inn along the Cassiar Highway for a cup of coffee with Dan, an older Israeli cyclist, whom we had given a ride (with his bike and all his gear in our camper) to help him get past miles of rough gravel road on the Cassiar.
Another surprise: 2 young black bears crossed the road just in front of us; they cooperated for some close-up shots
We left the Cassiar for a detour to Stewart and Hyder; you pass by the Bear Glacier (below)
Stewart is in Canada; Hyder is in Alaska, USA. It’s a nothing town, just a dirt road and a few run-down houses; here we cross the border.
What makes Hyder interesting though is the opportunity to watch grizzlies catch salmon from a raised board walk at Fish Creek
I made a Flip video of this lively bear. Not sure this works but if you click on the link below, you might be able to see some live action…..
http://sharing.theflip.com/session/3753f0d95e0c5d54711cc6d8d82d95b8/video/5642135
The Portland Canal (a long fjord) by Stewart
Logging is going on in the area. The logs float down the fjord before they are load onto ships
The colorful grocery store in Stewart, where Harry and Ivana (the intrepid cyclists en route from Alaska to the southern tip of Argentina) stopped ne year ago. We tried to say hi for them to the person they met last year, but she wasn’t there….
We washed our camper in Stewart which was really needed (see our dirty bikes below)
Well, this is it for now. We left Stewart, got back on the Cassiar and then the Yellowhead highway, going east and south. Our general direction is the Vancouver area where we should arrive tonight. Our plan is to take a ferry to Vancouver Island and hang out there for a few days……
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