Trip from Destruction Bay to Skagway--July 27

They only had 15 amp service in the park so rather than pull in we just parked at the side of the park in a gravel area. The others said even the 15 amp was not very dependable. The day began with sunshine and 56*. Yeah!! We went next door to the restaurant for breakfast and then took off. Kluane Lake which was right across the roadfrom the campground is the largest lake in the Yukon Territory which is 154 miles long and very few people up there to boat on it and you don't swim in any of the water up here because it is toooo cold. It is a beautiful lake. We stopped at a lot of places today.

Our next stop just down the road a short piece was named Sheep Mountain but has been renamed Tachal Dahl because of the native people and it means "skin scraper mountain". We did spy Dall Sheep up on the mountain with binoculars and a scope--quite a few actually. The mothers give birth right up on the mountain and/or side. The info said that 1 in 5 ewes will be killed by eagles and 1/3rd won't live thru their 1st year and a large percentage will not see maturity which is 12 years. As we continue on down the Alaska Highway (Yukon Hwy. 1) we arrived in Haines Junction (pop. 840) and turned onto the Haines Hwy. 3. Just as we turned they had built a mountain with animals all around it and a man on top looking thru binoculars. We went less than a half mile and turned to go to the Kluane National Park Visitor's Center and to a bakery. The park is a part of a joint UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Center had very nice displays and a layout of the whole Park and Reserve. They also had a very good movie about the park. The bakery was nice but decided against it but we saw a goodly number of our cohorts who were enjoying the food.

As we continued on down the road we saw either wild horses or free ranging ones because there were no fences and we saw them in two different spots fairly close to the road. We had to go back thru Whitehorse so Marvin stopped at Canadian Tire and Bob and Dee went to WalMart next door and I went to the coach. While I was in the coach and we had cell service I enjoyed talking to Bob's sister Penny and our son Jeremy. This was after we ate our lunch at Ricky's which we had done before when we stopped in Whitehorse. As we left town we gassed up at Pioneer Village(where we camped on the way into Alaska) because it was much cheaper. Within a few miles we turned onto Klondike Hwy.2 to Skagway.

On we go to our next stop. Actually these stops help break up this boring long drive. The road was definitely better but we drove in the valley with black spruce growing on either side and not much in the way of animals.Then we came to a sight that took our breath away. It was Emerald Lake also called Rainbow Lake. The different shades of green and blue are the result of blue-green light waves reflecting off the white sediment of the lake bottom. This white sediment called marl, consistes of fragments of decomposed shell mixed with clay; it is usually found in shallow, freshwater lakes that have low oxygen levels during the summer months. It was fantastic!!Caribou Crossing was a stop especially for the boys because they bought ice cream. I took pics of a giant metal mosquito, a huge tall hunk of jade, stuffed sheep on a mountain and metal sculpture of caribou. It was false fronted old time looking buildings, gift shop and if you wanted to pay $7 you could go see the sled dog (we didn't). Just barely up the road was the Carcross Desert. This unusual desert aarea of sand dunes is the world's smallest desert and an International Biophysical Programme site for ecological studies. The desert is composed of saandy lake-bottom material left behind by a large glacial lake and then there are strong winds going thru the area. This was quite interesting.

We were told by our tailgunner that there was a little town we might want to turn off to go to so we did. Carcross, pop. 399, has 4 gift shops, a post office (only Canadian one open 7 days a week), a library and a community pool can you beat that. The Nares bridge that crosses the narrows between Lake Bennett and Nares Lake brings you into town. This town was a stopping point for gold stampeders on the way to the Klondike goldfields and it was also later a major stop for the White Pass & Yukon Route RR. In the early days they transferred freight and passengers from the railroad onto stern-wheelers. They were remodelling one of these ships called the S.S. Tutshi (too-shy) until it caught fire and partially burned in 1990. Now they are constructing a building to house its remains in the order of its location in the ship. They also have a small locomotive called The Duchess which operated a 2.5 mile portage between several places until 1921.There is also a St. Savior's Anglican Church built in 1902 and an unusual railroad bridge that went across the river but only half would rotate if a stern-wheeler came thru. The only problem was that every tour bus in the country comes in there. You can't stir people with a stick.

The rest of our drive was really beautiful. The road was back in the mountainous area with the lakes and streams right beside or below us. We had to stop to see a black bear feeding right beside the road--we didn't seem to bother him at all. That was a treat. Later we stopped to see where the Chillkoot trail went and the route the train went and a cabin that was along the trail.

We went past the Fraser, BC Border Crossing but didn't have to stop there and shortly thereafter we went across the US/AK border and a time zone change again. We are doing this several times. We went past numerous wonderful waterfalls and right before the Yukon/U.S. Customs border we crossed the Skagway River on the George & William Moore Bridge. The crossing was very easy and as we continued on a short way to Skagway we enjoy some magnificent views of the mountains and more glaciers. We stay at the Garden City RV Park for 4 days. Time to quit and go to bed.