Gold Fever! - Wed. Aug. 1, 2018

The view from our balcony this morning!

In every other port on this trip, our stateroom has been on the opposite of the pier. Not this morning. We woke up to this gorgeous view right next to the ship! We got to watch all the happenings as they docked our behemoth. From the looks of it, they had put in a permanent large barge attached to pilings to make the pier long enough for our huge ship. From the barge, they had also built a longer, catwalk-like pier so they could tie up the bowline. Wow!

If you enlarge the above photo and look closely on the lower left side, you can see the White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad waiting for tour ticket holders from today's cruises. [NOTE: In 1994, the White Pass and Yukon Route was designated a Historic Civil Engineering Landmark, joining other historic structures such as the Eiffel Tower, Panama Canal, and the Statue of Liberty.]

Today, we opted to do the 11k Volksmarch (6.8 miles) so we can visit the Gold Rush Cemetery, Lower Reid Falls, Yakutania Point, and Smuggler's Cove. We were off the ship about 8:30 a.m. The first obvious attraction, if you want to call it that, is a hillside filled with "graffiti" from previous cruises. Also, a scarred hillside attests to a recent landslide (from the end of cruise season 2017).

Graffiti dates back to the 1930s.

Cruise ship "graffiti."

Landslide

Four ships in Skagway this morning. The
Norwegian Bliss has the seagulls painted on it.

It is another gorgeous day, but it was chilly in the morning so the windbreaker came along again. I took it off 1/2 hour later when we emerged from the shadow of the mountain.

Where do I start? We did so much today. We ended up walking a combined 13 miles between our walk in Skagway and our walking on the ship!

For those of you who don't know much about us, we were full-time RVers for a while and still have our 5th wheel. At the beginning of our walk, just after the dock, we passed Pullen Creek RV Park. Bob and I love it so much in Skagway, we are talking about driving our 5th wheel to Alaska one summer and spending more time here. Look at the views from this RV park! The RV park is right next to Pullen Pond and Pullen Creek where we saw some salmon. 

Pullen Creek RV Park

We continued into town. Our next stop was the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park. My, oh my. This place has so much information we didn't have time to take it all in on this visit. We did watch the movie about the gold rush, though. 

To get to the gold fields in Dawson City, basically, there were two paths you could go by, but in the long run, there's still time...Oh, wait, that's "Stairway to Heaven," by Led Zeppelin. Back up. There were two paths from the Taiya Inlet to Dawson City and the gold fields: Chilkoot Pass out of Dyea, and White Pass out of Skagway. 

"'There ain't no choice,' said an oldtimer of choosing between the Chilkoot and the White Pass. 'One's hell. The other's damnation.'" ~Martha Ferguson McKeon [from a Visitor Center display]

Skagway was the "Gateway to the Klondike." Those who chose the White Pass route would travel 10 miles farther than the Chilkoot route but would have a less-steep summit and the trail was 600 feet lower. Falsely dubbed "all weather," the White Pass Trail -- boulder fields, sharp rocks, and bogs -- earned the name Dead Horse Trail. Over the 1897-98 winter 3,000 horses died on it "like mosquitoes in the first frost," Jack London wrote. 

Skagway was also home to swindler and con man Jefferson Randolph "Soapy" Smith. During the winter of 1897-98, he and his 200 "goons" controlled life in Skagway with almost limitless power. However, on July 8, 1898, he and surveyor Frank Reid had a shootout on the town's docks and Soapy was killed instantly. Frank Reid died a couple of weeks later. They are both buried in the Gold Rush Cemetery.

Dyea's Chilkoot Trail, on the other hand, was only 33 miles long BUT over 30,000 gold seekers had to go up the Golden Stairs to cross Chilkoot Pass, a hellish quarter-mile climb gaining 1,000 vertical feet.

Historical photo of the Golden Stairs

No matter which way they went, all gold seekers had to transport a ton of goods (a year's supply) to cross into Canada. Canada's regulation prevented starvation in the interior. Picture this, it took 20-40 trips over the pass to move a ton of goods (usually three months!). Canada's Mounties gave properly outfitted stampeders official entry into Canada.

Once the stampeders had their goods over the pass, they made their way to Bennett Lake where they built boats with green lumber to carry their goods, waited out winter, and then still had 550 miles to go by lake and river to reach Dawson City. These guys did not have it easy. [Historical information above was taken from the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park brochure and the Skagway walking tour.]

Back to today: Outside the Klondike Visitor's Center we saw a sculpture and a huge snowplow. 

The Cooke Rotary Snowplow

The boiler on the snowplow was only used to power the blade. Two locomotives were coupled behind the snowplow to push it.

Bob in front of the 129-ton
rotary snowplow

With all this history in our heads, we walked into town. Two blocks of the town have not changed much, almost every building was constructed between 1897-1900. This is very unusual as it seems most old towns burned to the ground at some point and had to be rebuilt.

Red Onion Saloon was moved to this location in 1914.

The Arctic Brotherhood Hall below has 8,880 driftwood sticks from the shores of Skagway Bay nailed to the front of the building. The outside facade underwent a renovation in 2004-2005. All 8,880 driftwood sticks were removed. Forty percent had rotted and were replaced, while 60 percent were still able to be preserved over 100 years later.

Arctic Brotherhood Hall

Historic downtown Skagway: It looks like a cruise
ship is ready to sail down Broadway!

We walked back and forth throughout the town, passing many historic sites and homes.

The White House - 1902 (now a B&B).

A fence made from old windows and doors.

There are many ways to sightsee in Skagway. We chose to walk, but you could take bus or trolley tours, White Pass and Yukon Route (WP&YR) Railroad, kayak to see waterways, planes, etc.

Trolley tours.

Streetcar tours.

WP&YR Railroad

WP&YR Railroad

After walking for an interminably long time in the sun (with no shade at all), we arrived at Gold Rush Cemetery. Soapy Smith and Frank Reid are both buried here. We went through the cemetery to get to Lower Reid Falls. It was a lovely, shady forest trail. 

Gold Rush Cemetery on the way to Lower Reid Falls.

Frank Reid's headstone.

Me and Bob at
Lower Reid Falls

Nye House

Modern home high on a rock.

Coming back through town, we were very hungry. It was around 2:00 p.m. The restaurants were packed. I remembered a Thai restaurant that we had passed earlier and we went back to it (out of our way) to eat there. We were seated almost immediately and had a wonderful lunch. It gave us the energy we needed to continue on. While we were eating, a strong breeze kicked up and was blowing in the door we were seated next to. I had to put my windbreaker back on. 

We finished the 8k and decided to continue to Yakutania Point and Smuggler's Cove for a total of 11k. On the way to cross the bridge over the Skagway River, we passed Skagway's airport.

The airport in Skagway.

Map to Yakutania Point and Smuggler's Cove.

Bob on the bridge over the Skagway River.

Bob at Yakutania Point. The wind was howling here.

I am at Yakutania Point. The Bliss is in the background.
It was quite chilly in the wind.

We had more forest hiking to Smuggler's Cove with gorgeous views of the mountains. There was also a big rock that was like its own wall. We had to get pictures next to it!

On to Smuggler's Cove! 

We should get extra credit for this part of the hike!
I'm glad I wore hiking boots.

The trail to Smuggler's Cove.

Beautiful...the clouds highlighted the mountains!

Smuggler's Cove.

Smuggler's Cove.

Smuggler's Cove is our turn-around point, so we headed back to town. Once in town, we backtracked to go to a grocery store for snacks, and we went retraced our steps through downtown to find a jigsaw puzzle. Then we headed back to the ship. 

Bob and I both agree Skagway is our favorite port in Alaska. Skagway reminds me of Hope, British Columbia, another small town that is nestled between big mountain peaks and has a river running through it. The scenery is so dramatic and beautiful.

One more shot of downtown in the afternoon light.

Fishermen cleaning their catch
at the end of the day.

Once back on the ship, we have to clean up and dress up because we have a reservation at Teppanyaki tonight. That's good because we worked up an appetite today for sure!

Our chef at Teppanyaki. 

He liked to sing rock songs as he cooked.

He did a wonderful job cooking our meat!

After all that walking, we were exhausted. We spent the rest of the evening relaxing in the stateroom. I iced my knee.

As we sailed away from Skagway, we had more gorgeous scenery late into the evening.

Leaving Skagway.

 Tomorrow we will be at sea all day so the blog will be much shorter.