Dyea Tour and Skagway Shopping

We ran into Ruth (the woman who took Fran’s pictures at the show yesterday) outside the Park Trail Headquarters Building this morning. She drives a tour van for ‘Dyea Dave’ so we hired her to take us on a tour out to Dyea. Dyea, just a few miles up the coast, was a small trading post and native village before the gold rush, but in the first few months of the gold rush, its population shot up to 8,000 as stampeders gathered there to take the Chilkoot Trail en route to the Klondike. There is nothing left of Dyea, but the Chilkoot Trail remains one of the most famous hikes in North America. Today, hikers can apply for a permit and spend 3 – 5 days on this 33 mile, strenuous climb which gains 3,739 feet from sea level.

The road to Dyea is too narrow and winding to take the motorhome on and it’s not very safe for biking either, so we were pleased to arrange this trip with Ruth. She drove us along the coastal road to Dyea and pointed out the sights along the way. There is a nice overlook part way up where we took pictures of the Skagway harbour. We could easily see the three cruise ships that are in port today.

Ruth drove us all around the Dyea area which is now being reclaimed by the forest. There are some campsites, a lodge and some homes out there.

I noticed that the Chilkoot Trail sign at park headquarters was warning of avalanche risk! There is still lots of snow up there!

The trail follows the lovely Taiya River which is nice and gentle down where we were. Fran is looking toward the mountains where it leads in this picture. The water in the river is cloudy from glacial silt.

Fran & I walked a little ways along the Chilkoot Trail – until it started to get steep!

Before taking us back to the RV park, Ruth drove us to see the Goldrush Cemetary. This is where the villain ‘Soapy’ Smith and the town hero who shot him are buried.

We were lucky enough to see the vintage steam locomotive pulling the WP & YR excursion train when we were out at the graveyard.

After a late lunch at the ‘Sweet Tooth Café’, we did some shopping. Fran ran into Sarah Palin who was happy to show him the fish she’d just caught.

We went to the Bonanza Bar & Grill to watch the hockey game but it was too depressing so we came home and made supper. The only good part was the visiting we did with other people watching the game!

Tomorrow we head back into the Yukon Territory where we will spend a few days in Whitehorse before heading up to Dawson City. I won’t be able to use my Verizon aircard for internet, but we should be able to get a TV signal (in Whitehorse at least).