Friday August 18, 2017 Skagway
“What Would You Do-ooo-ooo for a Klondike Tour?”
We were in port at Skagway from 7 am to 9 pm.
Morning
Afternoon
While planning our activities, I had a lot of trouble choosing what to do while in Skagway.
The White Pass train is probably the most popular outing here, but we weren’t really interested in that.
The boys were somewhat interested in gold mining activities and I looked into visiting Klondike Gold Fields (now called Alaska 360)- They have a dredge you can tour, panning, husky puppies and 45 below, an experience where you go into a chamber to experience what it is like to be in extreme cold. But I couldn’t get much info about the company and it looked like they have an exclusive agreement with the cruise ships, so you could only book an excursion through the ship, not directly.
I thought our best bet in Skagway was to do a scenic tour. There are a few companies that do private tours and generally get excellent reviews, but they all seemed to be all day, 8-10 hours long. That was a bit much, especially if we decided to try to check out gold mining.
After reviewing the excursions offered by Carnival, I wound up booking Yukon Scenic Tour, 5 ½ hours, $135 per person:
Take a "Sunday drive" up the spectacular Klondike Highway into Canada's Yukon Territory.
On this excursion you will:
- Travel along the original White Pass Trail viewing waterfalls, glaciers and peaks, before crossing the Klondike Summit at 3,290 feet above sea level and pause at the ghost town of Log Cabin in British Columbia, where mail was dispatched by dogsled to the nearby mining districts.
- Then travel along the jewel-like string of headwater lakes that feed the great Yukon River.
- Make a stop to explore the village of Caribou Crossing, now known as Carcross, with its picturesque hotel and general store.
- Enjoy a home-style lunch at Spirit Lake Lodge, famous through the Yukon for its homemade pies.
- Upon your return you will be allowed plenty of time to shop and explore Skagway.
We met tour guides Pete and Mark, and we were directed to the van driven by Pete.
Pete noticed my son’s binoculars, which are huge, but were an online bargain- usually selling for more than $100, Nate purchased them for $20. Pete said he had binocular envy and talked to Nate about his college major, Wildlife Biology and Conservation. Nate appreciated the attention throughout the tour.
As we were waiting to leave, our guide advised us that there is a nice, clean, modern bathroom here at the port. Our next comfort stop, in about an hour, would be “rustic”. Then we would hit clean bathrooms again at lunch.
I am a museum educator in my part-time job at a 300-year-old farm property. Part of the programs I teach involve discussions of outhouses and chamberpots. I don’t like to take home work with me and I definitely have no desire to have this part of my work day make an appearance on my vacation!
I didn’t really need to use the facilities, but when your tour guide advises you to go, GO!
I was shocked that nobody else got off the van with me.
This may not bode well!
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Pete provided a lot of information and interesting stories about the area and gold mining history as we traveled along the Klondike highway.
Our first stop was here, at this pretty spot.
We passed by a few sites like Bove Island and a waterfall and other pretty vistas, but Pete told us that as a photographer, he was very in tune with lighting conditions. It was currently overcast and he thought that these places would be in the afternoon sun on our way back, making for better photos, so we would stop later.
We did make a stop here, which, as promised, had very rustic facilities. He advised the men on the trip that they may want to take a walk along a path into the woods if nature was calling. The women on the van with us lined up at the outhouse. Since I had already taken care of business back at the port, I enjoyed the scenery. The reports of the conditions from the women using the outhouse were not good! I was so glad I had listened to Pete’s advice.
Fireweed
A little way further we pulled over to see some abandoned structures and to look for mountain goats up along the peaks.
When we reached the Canadian border, we were instructed to hold up our passports while a border officer came onto the van for inspection. We were told not to say anything unless spoken to.
When we were underway again, Pete pointed out the Welcome to the Yukon sign. He said we would stop there later.
As we were approaching Caribou Crossing (Carcross) around 10:30, Pete suggested that we pass by, head directly to lunch to beat the crowds, and then double back to Carcross.
There seemed to be a lot of “we’ll stop there on the way back” pledges being given.
Lunch was at the Spirit Lake Lodge. All of the food was prepared from scratch by the owner of the Lodge, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America. There were delicious sandwiches, broccoli salad, fruit and amazing desserts. YUM!!!
As promised, there were clean bathroom with flush toilets. Woo-hoo!!!
As we were clearing out, the next van arrived for their lunch.
Our next stop was the picturesque Emerald Lake. Pete explained that the light green colors in the water were the result of the yellowish, whitish sediments from glacial erosion mixing with the blue water.
We also stopped at the Carcross Desert.
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Continued in Next Post