Dawson City, Yukon Territory to Tok, Alaska

August 7, 2013

At noon today we left Dawson City on a tour bus to travel to Tok, Alaska by way of the "Top of the World" highway.  This day's journey started when our big tour bus was driven on to the ferry to cross the Yukon River.  Our driver was a 26 year old, looked like 16 year old, female who was a very, very good driver and guide for this part of our trip. The highway is a dirt road because the permafrost breaks down making the pavement come apart.  A dirt road is easier to maintain at these latitudes and elevations than a paved road.  At some points in the mountains it is barely wide enough for two tour buses to pass. While on this road we saw our first caribou, 10 in all.  I also saw a couple of female moose by the road.  It was on this day that our fellow tour persons decided that Mike and I were the wildlife spotters.

View out of the bus window while on the ferry.

View from the Top of the World Highway

There are caribou in the picture, they are just really small.

US Customs - the furthest north US customs.  Two people
live here at a time.

Close up of the customs house

First view of Alaska on the highway

Picture of our tour group with tour director Amanda (left)
and driver April (right) in the center of the picture

This section of the road was very pretty.  We have been told that Holland America is not doing this particular tour next year, because of the many times during tour season that the road had to be closed.  It's a shame because this was one of our favorite traveling days.

Old miner's cabin

Small gold mining business

Large gold mining business

 Two different gold mining businesses on the same stream.  The small business actually did more damage to the stream because the large business had a pool to catch the silt.  The stream below the small one was muddy for miles and the stream below the large one was hardly muddy even just below the mine.

Stream by the road.

Chicken, Alaska 

 Chicken, Alaska - Got its name because the residents wanted to name the town after the Alaskan state bird and they couldn't spell ptarmigan.  Everything in the town which is for sale has some type of chicken theme.

View from the bus while on the road.

This day was very interesting.  It was nice except when we stopped in Chicken where it was pouring rain.  Tok, Alaska where we spent the night is such a small town that I didn't even take any pictures of the place.  It is primarily a stopping place when people travel the road we were on today.

Dawson City, Yukon Territory

August 5 and 6, 2013

On Monday we traveled from Whitehorse to Dawson City where we spent two nights. It was nice to get a break from the traveling.  Dawson City was the site of the gold discovery that caused the Klondike Gold Rush.  Once again we stayed in a Westmark Motel.  All of them are very similar.  Nothing special, but clean and adequate.  We enjoyed our short stay in Dawson City.  We explored the town, which is made of many historical buildings managed by the Canadian National Park system.  You could go into the buildings and a guide would tell you about the history of the place.  Very interesting.  We also took a three mile hike on the dike by the Yukon River and the Ninth Avenue Trail system above the town.  We saw lots of pretty plants but no wildlife.

Five Fingers Rapids on the Yukon River.

By the Yukon where we stopped for lunch.

Yukon River lunch stop.

Sunset our first night there.  Sun is red because of a forest fire which is just over the mountain.

View of Dawson City

Tilted buildings.  Early buildings were built on the ground and the
heat from the home would melt the permafrost causing the
buildings to tilt.

Old newspaper building

Where the Klondike River and Yukon River meet

View of town from the Ninth Avenue Trail

Moosehide Slide on the mountain
above town

A Presbyterian Church built in 1890's.  It is closed because
of the tilt of the buildings

Old business building

The ferry that takes vehicles across the Yukon River.  This is
the only way to cross the river to get to Alaska.

Before leaving Dawson City on Wednesday, we rode the paddle wheeler down the river to the town of Moosehide that is still used occassionally by the native people of the area.  We saw an area where old sternwheelers were abandoned after the gold rush was over and then traveled up the river to the point where the Klondike and Yukon Rivers run together.

Ship Graveyard with one of the abandoned boats

The community of Moosehide

Mike on the paddlewheeler enjoying the view

View from the boat

Mary at the front of the boat.  It was
cold and windy, but worth the view.

Where the two rivers mix.  The Klondike is the clearer one
and the Yukon is the gray, silty one.

View of Dawson City from the boat.

Overall, Dawson City was one of the most interesting places we visited.  It still relies on mining as its main source of money with tourism coming in second.  It is not as much a tourist town as the other couple of places we have stayed since leaving Vancouver.  The town is an authentic old town still occupied by local miners and others making money from something other than tourists.  It was a very interesting place to visit.

Journey from Skagway, Alaska to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory

August 4, 2013

We left Skagway on the White Pass Yukon Route train.  It runs from Skagway to Fraser where the Canadian - USA customs border crossing occurs.  The ride on the train was beautiful, but could be a little scary at spots because of the steep drops.

View of stream from the train.

View of bridge that the train will be crossing.

And here we are on the bridge just before going into the tunnel.

"Ghost" bridge -  the old, original bridge of the train

View of a waterfall across the valley.

After going through Canadian customs at Frasier, we got on the tour bus that would take us to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory then the next day to Dawson City, Yukon.  The ride on the bus was beautiful as well and we learned a lot of history of the Yukon gold rush.  Our driver, Mike, was very good at telling information about the gold rush of 1898.  The bus and train followed the route that many of the miners took to get to the mines at Dawson City.

View of  stream from bus

Another view from the bus

By a lake on the road

Rest Stop at Carcross

Old Anglican Church in Carcross

View of river in Carcross

Emerald Lake

When we reached Whitehorse we checked into the Westmark Motel then took a 3 mile hike on a loop that crossed the Yukon River twice.  Until after the Yukon River flows through Whitehorse, it is crystal clear.  Further on the water flowing into the Yukon is glacial, and contains very fine silt that makes it gray. Whitehorse is the largest town in the Yukon Territory and had more choices for eating than the other towns we traveled through.

By the Yukon.

By the Yukon

Mike by the Yukon River

Bald eagle nest with a young eagle

Sign when entering the town

Skagway, Alaska

August 3, 2013

Today we debarked the ship about 8:00 am.  That meant we had to get an early start since we needed to have our bags outside our room by 6:30 am, eat breakfast, and remove carry on baggage from our room by then.  This will be the beginning of the land tour portion of our trip.  This will last for 10 days/9 nights.  We met our tour director, Amanda, as we gathered to get off the ship.  She is responsible for overseeing baggage transfer, excursions, and hotels at each stop.

Our stay in Skagway began with a short bus tour of Skagway.  We went to an old miners cemetery and took a short hike to the Lower Reid Falls.

Miner's Cemetery

Lower Reid Falls

After the short tour, we checked into our room at the Skagway Westmark Inn.  At every town on our land tour, other than Fairbanks and Denali, we stayed at a Westmark Inn.  This chain of hotels is owned and operated by Holland America, which is the company that we booked our cruise - tour through.  Most of the rooms were adequate, if not fancy.  Considering that we were staying in remote towns in the Yukon Territory and Alaska, these places were fine.

WestMark Inn Skagway

Westmark Inn, Skagway

After checking in to our room we had a Reuben sandwich for lunch at the Red Onion Saloon in town. The Reuben was one of the best I have ever had.

Red Onion Saloon and street in Skagway

 After lunch we walked around town and into a few shops.  Skagway is primarily a tourist town and the shops show that.  We also walked to the small stream that runs through town and saw salmon swimming upstream to spawn.  This was something new for us and interesting to watch.

Salmon in stream

The salmon is a little difficult to see through the glacial silt in the stream.  The silt is about the consistency of powdered sugar and is in all streams created primarily by glacial melt off.

We took a hike over a bridge that crosses the Skagway River and walked about a mile on the other side of the river.  On this hike, we had good views of Harding Glacier outside of town.

Skagway River from walk way

Harding Glacier

Overall Skagway was an interesting little town, but one day in this location was enough.

A building in Skagway

Another view of Skagway with mountain in background