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View Larger Map“>Ferry Route to Skagway

We are opting to take the ferry to Skagway out of Haines to save a whole lot of driving. The link below graphically illustrates the difference when compared with the link above.

(Click on the back arrow of your browser to return to post after looking at the maps.)

View Larger Map“>Highway to Skagway

Our concerns about ferry travel have proved to be unnecessary. The Jeep is loading separately from the RV since it is cheaper to travel as two units. Ed gets loaded up first while I wait on the ramp. Ed has had time to get the RV locked up and is up on deck to look down on me in line. Using the walkie-talkies we are able to talk to each other while we wait. Finally it comes time for my lane to go. It takes a little looking around to find my way up to the deck where Ed is, but we are quickly reunited and ready to check out the ferry.

We are taking this ferry, the Columbia, for the longer ride to Bellingham, Washington, on the 22nd.  Checking out what the cabins look like is our first priority. We have a cabin for two. We seem to be finding only cabins for four, but it can be assumed that ours will only have two bunk beds, shower, potty, and sink. It is going to be small, but it is really quite nice. Next we find the dining room and cafeteria. The dining room is closed, but the menu looks lovely. The cafeteria will be opening shortly for lunch. There are two observation lounges on two different decks, both located in the front of the vessel. It appears there is also a recliner lounge with a movie theater. This is really going to be nice. It isn’t as grand as a cruise ship, but it is going to get the job done quite well.

Once off the ferry, we have a very short way to travel to our RV park at the end of State Street, one block over from Broadway. The exit from the ship puts us in line with Broadway; so the plan is Ed will follow me down Broadway to 14th and we will turn right to State. That works, but holy smoke! There are about a kabizillion tourists wandering around town. When I say wandering, I am not exaggerating. They think nothing of wandering out into the street without looking. Is this all from the cruise ship we saw?

The 17th of August finds us out and about with camera in hand. There are three cruise ships in the harbor today, and the crowds are unbelievable. To go into a store to shop takes a real shopper’s determination. To get to anything you might want to look at is almost impossible.

That apparently isn’t going to be much of a problem however because the stores are all high-dollar jewelry stores. After walking three blocks, we have seen nothing but jewelry stores, a visitor center, and a restaurant. How can one little town support so many jewelry stores? Is jewelry really that big of a seller?

The buildings are all the old quaint buildings, all prettied up. The sidewalks are all wooden, and the streets of Skagway are nice and wide. This is the penultimate tourist town.

I am starting to notice that a few of the jewelry stores (and that is by far the majority of stores here) advertise being family owned. The cruise ships have to own the rest. I remember seeing a sign in Haines, informing tourists that the cruise ships didn’t own any of the stores and to support the town. Now it is all making sense.

Many people have told us the narrow-guage railroad excursion out of Skagway is a  ”must do.” It travels through the same valley as the highway. We had initially planned on not doing it since we would have just driven that road. Since we came by ferry, maybe the train should go back on the agenda.

The train depot is down by the docks. This train sits out to catch everyone’s attention. The red thing on the front of the engine is a snow remover.

Inside the depot we have the opportunity to read about the history of Skagway.

The steam engine only operates on Fridays and Mondays. The one Friday we are going to be here won’t work because the train is booked. We are taking the diesel engine on the 4:30 train. The reservations lady told me it would be the least crowded.

The train folks load about 20 of us into a big bus to drive us over to the train departure point, about a quarter mile. The thought went through my mind that it truly wasn’t going to be crowded. Ah, but not to worry. There are several hundred people getting of the buses that came directly from the ships to take this train. The good news is that our 20 people get to be in the first car away from all the cruise people. Their cars are a lot more full than ours.

The inside of the railcar is vintage interior. The wood has been beautifully maintained. The stove in the front isn’t necessary today. The door on the right is the restroom. We are the first car on the train.

Taking a picture from the platform on the front of our car gives us a good view of the engine. There are two engines pulling the train. One faces forward: the other faces backward.

The foreground has an old rust bucket of a steam engine, No. 52. The background shows the operating steam engine, No. 73.

The train whistle blew its mournful tone across the valley as we started up the hill out of Skagway. The Chilkat River is off to our left. We will be climbing up the side of the mountain to the pass. The river will be far below us before we have reached White Pass.

The picture is a bit blurry as I snapped the first sign of fall color we have seen in the trees out the side window. I have seen some evidence of the change of season in the ground foliage, but this is the first tree that is showing signs of fall color. Today is August 17. The season changes early in these parts.

This is a view back to the harbor. The two tiny bumps along the edge of the water are the cruise ships. There are actually three in the harbor today.

The highway we would have traveled into Skagway is across the canyon from the train tracks.

A large waterfall is off to our left. The waterfall starts at the top of the mountain above the highway, goes under the road, and then presents quite a show on the lower slope.

The first wood trestle bridge we will be traveling over.

We are getting higher. That is the Chilkat River in the middle of the valley. Today is a good day for weather according to the person supplying us with all kinds of facts. Frequently the clouds are very, very low on the mountains. Today we are seeing most of the mountain tops. I am beginning to believe that the sun is a myth in this part of the world.

This is the actual trail of the stampeders in 1898 on their way to the gold fields in Dawson. This is a very narrow trail along the side of the mountain. Passing someone coming down the trail would have been very difficult and dangerous.

The Chilkoot Pass is one mountain over from the White Pass. Chilkoot was known for how difficult it was. The White Pass was billed as the “easier” trail because a miner could use a horse or mule to carry his ton of provisionings over the pass. However, this trail became known as the “dead horse trail.” Shysters would buy horses that were destined for the glue factory, bring them to Skagway, and sell them to the stampeders. The horses would make it to a certain point on the trail and then give out because of starvation and/or exhaustion. Supposedly when the wind was right, the smell of the rotting flesh could be smelled back in Skagway.

We have made it to the top of the pass. Eleveation 2,888 feet. It is 20.4 miles back to Skagway.

This is also the border between the U.S. and Canada. From left to right we see the flags of the U.S., Alaska, Yukon, British Columbia, and Canada.

This was the outpost for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. If you didn’t have your one ton of provisions, you were turned back right here.

On top of the pass the engine is moved to the other end of the train. We are now going to be in the last car on the train. The seat back flips over the other direction so we can continue to travel facing forward. Were the car crowded, we would have to switch seats with the passengers across the aisle to give everyone a fair look at the scenery. We have no one across the aisle; so we are good right where we are. I knew I wanted to be on an uncrowded train.

The conductor is waiting for the all clear from the engineer.

Standing on the platform of our car, we have an obstructed view out the back of the train.

As we enter the tunnel, it gets very, very dark.

As we come out the other side, a view of the tunnel. This tunnel was carved out of solid granite.

This peak is looking very magical as it pokes up out of the clouds.

It is very jagged. This is unusual as the other peaks have been very rounded. This one was above glacier height. The others were rounded off from the dragging of the ice over the ground. This wasn’t.

As we go around the curve, we get a shot of the rest of the train in front of us.

We have struck up a conversation with two brothers from Idaho. They are still in school and very wide-eyed. They have wanted to know all about out travel in Alaska but most particularly Denali. I think the older brother wants to go there soon. He is asking a lot of questions.

Moving back down closer to the river we are almost back to the station. There was a fish restaurant across from where we boarded the train that looks like a great place for dinner.

The meal was better than all right. I had Alaskan scallops, Ed had Alaskan prawns. We shared. It was delish! A great end to a fun excursion.

Back into the thick of it to look for a hardware store. As it turns out, the hardware store is in between the jewelry stores on Broadway.

The end of town farthest from the cruise ships definitely has fewer people than the end closest end. There also seem to be more family-run businesses on this end of town. Hmmmm?? I wonder why. There seems to be fewer ships in the harbor as well.

Much of our time in Skagway has been spent relaxing. I would have loved to have done a few of the local hikes, but it was either raining or blowing 30 miles an hour. Apparently Skagway has had a very hot, dry summer until the last week or so. We got here just in time for the endless rain.

Ed has also managed to catch a cold. As of this writing, I am managing to drown it with water and kill it with vitamin C. Let’s hope that continues to work.

This evening at 7:45 we sail for Bellingham. We have our suitcase packed, the cooler ready to go, and our snacks bagged up. We are looking forward to the next chapter.

As we are headed out to the grocery store, we discover a dead battery in the Jeep. We have been having problems with the battery discharging when we are towing. I think it is on its last legs. This could mean we will have a dead battery when it is time to get off the ferry. With a frantic search on the internet, we get the phone number for the hardware store. They sell car batteries!

Life is good.