Yukon/Alaska

Day 17
As we left Watson Lake, we passed the Sign Post Forest heading north on the Alaskan Highway.

Not too far out of town we spotted a moose on the road and a bear in a cleared area. The bear was quite a ways away, but at least we could watch him for awhile without him running away into the bushes.

We drove a few hours and came through Teslin and stopped to see the Tlingit Heritage Center. It had a lot of masks, beadwork, mocassins, and other handicrafts they had made. This is where they gather for pow wows.

We drove anothewr to hours to come to Carcross. This is named for the crossing of the caribou. We visited the oldest store in the Yukon and bought each of us a souvenir. Then we went through The Museum of Yukon of Natural History. We got there the same time as a bunch of tour busses from the cruise lines in Skagway. What a mess! We hadn't seen that many people the whole trip.

We then drove past the Carcross Desert. This is the smallest desert in the world. Glaciers and a large glacial lake originally covered the area, and when the glaciers retreated they left sand deposits on the former lake bottoms.


We drove a little further to get to our room. We are staying at the Spirit Lake Resort. The lake is actually three shades of green. We shared a wonderful dinner of schnitzel and dutch apple pie as the owners are German. This place is really laid back. We had to ask them for a bill for dinner. Then we walked down to the lake. The cabins are brand new and very nice.

Day 18

Today we left Carcross to head to Skagway, Alaska. As we got closer to Skagway, we passed what is called the Tormented Valley. This place looked exactly likes its name. It looked like nothing I had ever seen before.

We crossed the border into the U.S. and took a steep descent into Skagway.

As we approached, we could see there were five cruise ships in port. We hurried to the Outlet Store (recommended by Amy) before the tourists woke up. We were able to buy out the store before they came. Then they came and came. What a crowd!

We went to eat lunch at a little café. They were still serving breakfast so I had pancakes and Patty an omelet. We headed to the visitors' center and then headed up to Dyea.

This was a boom town during the gold rush with around 10,000 people living there. Amazingly within a couple of years the population went to about two. There are only a few pieces of wood left as evidence anyone ever occupied this place. At the time of the gold rush the ocean was right up to the town. So stampeders could get to Dyea very quickly. In the last 100 years the area around Dyea has risen so that the ocean is now miles away.

We then went to the Chilkoot Trail. This is the 33 mile trail (one way) that goes to Lake Bennett where the stampeders climbed to get to Dawson City. They were required to carry hundreds of pounds of supplies up the steep incline. They couldn’t carry it all at once so they had to take part up and return again and again to get it all up. This was all done in the snow. Patty and I had a fun time on the trail seeing how steep it was.

As we were leaving Dyea a person took a picture of our car. I guess he had never seen so many smashed bugs on a car before.

Day 19

We had to get up early to take the ferry to Haines. By land it is two days travel. By sea it is only 14 miles, but takes one hour to get there. As we were driving off of the ferry some lady in a car waiting to get on started smiling and waving at us. She was excited to see us because she had Utah plates. This is a rarity in these parts.

We set up camp at a fairly rundown campground in town. There were four showers, but only one worked, etc. But it was nice to be close to town.

In Haines we visited a couple of museums. One had a falcon demonstration that was very interesting and informative.

Day 20

This was actually an extra day in Haines as we wanted to stay around in order to go to church the next day. It turned out to be a great day. We actually were able to see bear, salmon, moose, seal, eagles, and mosquitoes on this day.

We began the day by driving up to the Eagle Preserve. We were able to go on a walk with me pushing Patty in her transport chair as it was paved and had a wooden boardwalk. It was a very pleasant walk, except for the mosquitoes which were eating us alive.

We then drove up to Lake Chilkoot. On the way we passed many people fishing in the river.

At the lake we had a very pleasant lunch and stayed for several hours.

We decided to go back into town and wash the car so more people wouldn’t stare and take pictures.

That night we made tin foil dinners with hot chocolate. That was great!

Day 21

Today we broke camp, showered, and got ready for church. Church did not begin until 10:00. Of the three wards we attended they started at 9:30, 10:00, and 10:00. (That’s the time people choose when they can, Cheryl). We read and finally drove up to the branch where they have a chapel looking like a very large log cabin both inside and out.

They were getting a new branch president that day. There were approximately 30 in attendance. Many people came up and introduced themselves to us. It was a very strange meeting. First the counselor conducting said we would start a little late as the stake presidency was not there as they had to cross the border. Then they came and went into another room. We waited and finally started when they told us to. They didn’t come in. We had the sacrament, a rest hymn, organ playing, another rest hymn, and then just sitting there waiting. Then a member of the stake presidency came in and talked to a sister and she left. Then the outgoing branch president spoke. He had moved to Alaska with his wife four years ago as it had been a dream of his. He was moving back to Texas with his wife, daughter and son-in-law. They had the wife, daughter, and son-in-law speak. Then the stake presidency and sister that had been called out came back in and one announced the new branch president and he was sustained even though he was not there. He had been called on the phone to see if he would accept the calling.

From the amount of time all of this took we feel like they didn’t know who they were calling to be the new branch president. After they made a decision they called the wife out and then called the new branch president on the phone. This was really strange to behold.

We left to head for Haines Junction. We went back through the Canadian border. It was very different terrain. Almost all of the trees disappeared. Just before Haines Junction we went to Kluane National Park. It was a cloudy day, so not as beautiful as it might have been. We stopped at a very beautiful lake called Kathleen Lake. We would have stayed and had a picnic lunch, but the mosquitoes were in abundance.

In Haines Junction we visited the museum at the visitors’ center and had dinner at the local fast food place. Everything in Canada has been very expensive.