| Days 51 - 52 in Skagway, AK |
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| Today was our all-day cruise to Juneau, the capitol of Alaska. Since Juneau can only be reached by boat or airplane, our obvious choice was the boat. |
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| Getting out of Skagway harbor involves avoiding the numerous cruise ships that arrive and depart EVERY DAY. |
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| Since the top of this mountain range contains the Juneau Ice Field, there were numerous waterfalls coming off the mountains. This is just one of them. Notice the beautiful turquoise color of the water. |
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| We saw quite a few harbor seals. These were resting on exposed rock in the Lynn Canal. This is the fjord that we followed to get to Juneau. The Lynn Canal is over 2000 feet deep in some spots. |
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| We were excited to see a humpback whale so soon in our journey. |
We stopped at Haines, AK to exchange captains. This is about 30 water miles and 300 car miles from Skagway, |
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| The Lynn Canal was calm as a mirror for most of the trip and since the boat was a 65 foot catamaran, it rode like silk. Although the weather was overcast to partly cloudy, the scenery was just incredible. |
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| We were having difficulty deciding how these harbor seals were able to get up so high on this vertical cliff, until someone pointed out the high water mark. They had obviously been there since high tide. |
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| The boat was not able to get into Juneau from the north due to the low tide, so we were dropped off at a private dock at the north end of town and then bused into downtown. |
Some scenery on the bus ride into Juneau. |
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| This is South Franklin street which parallels the Gastineau Channel were the cruise liners dock. |
This is a view of Douglas Island across the Gastineau Channel. Notice the float plane coming in for a landing. |
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| There is a cable car that goes to the top of Mount Roberts and was supposed to have a beautiful view of the area. However, due to the overcast, the cable car lines disappeared in the clouds so we decided to skip it. |
As you can see, the town is built at the bottom of the mountains surrounding the city. The downtown area is actually built on tailings from the local gold mine. |
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| Susan and Sharon get big hugs from this delightful bald eagle. |
Another view of S. Franklin Street looking toward town. It is a typical cruise line street with all the jewelry, art and "stuff" shops that cater to cruise-line passengers. |
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| After leaving downtown we visited the famed Mendenhall Glacier. This is the visitors center which overlooks the glacier. |
The Mendenhall Glacier with Mendenhall Lake is in the foreground. The front wall of the glacier rises 100 feet off the water and extends 300 feet below water to bed rock. |
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| The glacier is continually cracking and exposing the fresh ice below. This is a close up showing the "blue" glacial ice. |
I'ill let you use your imagination to see what you want to see in these magical iceberg shapes floating in the lake. |
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| We were bused back to the boat for our return trip home. The buoy has a number of harbor seals resting on it, while a "Blue Canoe" cruises by. This is the name locals give the many Alaskan ferries used on Alaska's Maritime Highway. |
The captain had a treat for us; she took a detour to where there were current whale sightings. Our photographers are waiting for that perfect "tail" shot. That is when a whale "sounds", or dives to feed. |
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| This is a humpback whale coming to the surface and then diving to feed. |
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| This one came within 20 feet of the boat. Talk about a bunch of excited people; we thought it was going to run into the boat! |
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| A good shot of the whale's blow-hole on the top of their head. This whale is about 50 feet long. |
Another whale diving. The underside of the whale's tail is white as is their stomach. |
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| This lighthouse in the Lynn Canal was built in 1905. It no longer has the original light in it, nor is there a lighthouse keeper living there anymore. However, the Coast Guard owns and maintains it and puts a fresh coat of paint on it every year. |
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| On the return trip we were served some wonderful smoked salmon chowder and a fresh roll. Very tasty! |
Captain Leslie kept us informed about everything we were viewing and told us stories about the history of the area. It was a great trip put on by Fjord Express to Juneau. |
| Day 52 in Skagway, AK |
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| This morning Susan and I visited the Skagway cemetery. The two main headstones we looked at were for Jefferson "Soapy" Smith (left) and Frank Reid (right). Looking at the two, who do you think was the town hero? In 1897-1898 when Skagway had grown to about 20,000 people, there really was no law in town so "Soapy" Smith and his gang pretty much ran things. In July of 1898 the good people of Skagway had reached their limit with the lawlessness that Soapy and his gang had brought to town. So they had a meeting on one of the wharfs to discuss what they were going to do. Soapy had been drinking and he decided to join the group. When he tried to get onto the wharf, Frank Reid was there and they got into an altercation, both fired their guns point blank at the same time. Soapy fell dead instantly and Frank died eight agonizing days later. The entire town showed up for Frank Reid's funeral but only one woman dressed in black (his mistress) showed up for Soapy's funeral. |
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| This railroad snow plow was built in 1899 in Patterson, NY. Designated "Snow Plow #1" it gallantly fought through winter blizzards and rock hard drifts for 65 years, retiring from active service in 1964. Her boiler and machinery was only used to turn the plow, so it had to be pushed with two steam locomotives. |
This is Skagway Centennial Statue. It commemorates Skagway, which was was originally spelled S-K-A-G-U-A, a Tlingit Indian word for "windy place". This statue shows Skookum Jim, a Tlingit from the local area, leading an optimistic miner over the Chilkoot trail. |
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| Today, the majority of us chose to take the optional ride on the White Pass & Yukon Railroad up to White pass and back. |
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| We were allowed to access the open areas on each end of the car to take pictures. Here Ed is snapping a shot while Rocky and Tom await their turn. |
A view of the train and the valley looking toward Skagway. |
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| One of the wooden bridges on the rail line. |
The train going over the bridge |
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| Looking back at the train as we go over another bridge. |
This is a very zoomed in picture of two mountain goats across the valley. |
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| This is a combination wood and steel bridge that was built as one of the original bridges when the railroad was built in 1899. It is no longer used, but it is still standing. |
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| If you look carefully along the left side of the river you can see the original White Pass trail that was used by the miners to transport there supplies to the top of the pass. |
This is as far as we go. We are now in Canada and the engines will disconnect and move to the other end of the train for the return trip. |
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| They are now disconnected and moving on the extra track to the other end of the train. |
The engines will now reconnect and pull us back to Skagway. The seat backs actually reversed so we are now facing forward again. |
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| The White Pass Summit sign showing an elevation of 2888 feet. |
The return trip showing the abandoned bridge and Dead Horse Pass. During 1897 and 1898 the miners used horses to haul their supplies up White Pass Trail. Unfortunately, the conditions were so bad that over 3,000 horses died in this pass, thus giving it the name " Dead Horse Pass". |
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| Two pictures of the train passing over bridges on the way back to Skagway. |
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| After returning we visited the Skagway Museum. It was not very large but it had many very interesting artifacts from the late 1890s and the early 1900s that were found in the Skagway area. |
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| We saw this guy all over town, so I had to get a picture of him. He gives tours of the town in his peddle cab. He sounded like he gave a very interesting tour; at least from the little we could hear as we walked by. |
A number of people went back to Dyea again tonight to watch this grizzly bear. These three pictures were taken by Loren Mulkins. |
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| Photos by Loren Mulkins. |
| Day 53 - Northern Beaver Post, YT |
