Monday was a relatively short day – beautiful weather again, sunny with blue skies. We made it to Whitehorse soon after noon so we set up camp in the same campground we had last time and then gathered up our laundry in search of the laundromat. There were two in town, but both were busy. We managed to get a few loads in the washers, but had to wait a bit for dryers to become available. Once we finished that, it was on to the Superstore to fuel up and get grocery supplies. This bill was a big one for groceries – $200, but we were able to get some nice fresh fruit – blueberries, strawberries and cherries – and stocked up on cheese and some meat, all carrying higher prices. We don’t know when our next good grocery store will be so it is nice to have a good supply again. I made use of the food sealer I brought along again to repackage some of the things.
Tuesday was a quieter day spent at the trailer. With water right at our site, Paul scrubbed both the front of the trailer and truck to get rid of the bugs that have been accumulating! They were pretty bad – I wasn’t sure we’d ever get them off! I took advantage of the nice weather to bake bread – finally got a good batch – I’m sure the sunny and warm weather helped! I also got extra food cooked at supper so we’ll have another quick meal some night after we’re on the road and tired. After an early supper we headed 25 km out of town to Takhini Hot Springs. This one is different from the others we have been to on this trip – just a concrete pool divided into two parts, hot and warm. The warm was just nice at 37 degrees C. The only down side to the evening was getting stung twice while walking from the truck to the entrance of the pool. The bees were everywhere. Not so great to have a fresh bee sting and then head into the warm water. It took a bit of the enjoyment out of it for me but all in all, it was a nice soak and the weather had cooled just nicely to be outside in the warm water.
Today we got up early and headed out to Skagway, Alaska after breakfast. It is about 175 km. each way. We passed through BC and then into Alaska just before arriving in Skagway. Just as you cross the border into Alaska, you go through the White Pass. The view today was perfect – once again clear blue skies and lots of sun! We’ve had such good weather again!
Skagway is a coastal town of about 1000 residents that swells to 150,000 when the cruise ships come to dock. Today, there were 4 ships in port and the town was packed! We found a place to park and walked around the town a bit to do a little shopping.
We also stopped at the Gold Rush National Park Building and watched a film about the gold rush in 1898. It was a short run – only 2 years and the gold was gone. 100,000 people headed up the Chilkoot Trail but only 30,000 ended up finishing the trek. Many died and many turned around. It certainly wasn’t an easy path and they had to carry 2000 pounds of supplies up and over the pass so one trip wasn’t enough for them.
We had packed a lunch so we ate it at the harbour and then drove out of town along a dirt/gravel mountain road where we ended up at the river/ocean flats. We saw a number of people fishing and we stopped beside the river to watch an 11 year old girl catch a fish. It was a dolly varden (fresh water) mixed in with a river full of pink salmon heading upstream to spawn. It was quite the sight to see all the salmon – quite different from seeing them jammed up at the fish weir.
We then headed back to town where we had supper at a restaurant overlooking the harbour. We both enjoyed a fresh halibut steak supper before heading back out on the road to go back to Whitehorse. We arrived just as it had gotten dark.
Tomorrow we’ll head out towards the Cassiar Highway and likely stop back in Teslin where we spent a night a couple of months ago.
Following Joyce & Paul's Travels in Retirement 