Garden City RV Park Skagway, Alaska

Mileage:  47,339

Happy Birthday to our dear, funny, crazy, and smart grandson, Oliver!!!  Hugs and kisses from Alaska sweet boy!!!

As we left Carcross we passed the wildfire we had seen last night.  There were 2 young men taking pictures and they were in a fire crew truck.  They had just been in Watson Lake in British Colmbia (BC) fighting fires.  “British Columbia is burning.” They were sent to Carcross, Yukon to monitor the fire.

They told us that the Carcross fire had been burning for a few weeks.  It could have started from a campfire but more probably from a lightning strike.  No one was really certain.  They are hoping that the fire will be self limiting.  Maybe it will run out of fuel.  It is somewhat contained by the lake and the rocky peaks.  “Winter is coming quickly here.”  It had calmed down but flared again this Monday due to windy conditions.  Today is was smoldering, though we could tell it had moved further south.

The road to Skagway was as lovely as advertised.

The scenery here is unlike any other that we have seen.  The rock formations are almost otherworldly and it looks like film crews should be out here filming SciFi.  The road follows lakes and rivers.  There are rocky foothills covered with sparse trees and lichen.  The lakes are gorgeous green-blue.

As we reached the summit there was misty rain.  It was quite chilly and it felt like it could spit snow!

Skagway is in southeastern Alaska.  We went through customs back into the US for a couple of days.  It is a gold rush town and a harbor town.  We took our bikes to go explore.

We finally saw salmon in a stream…one salmon all by his lonesome…not looking very healthy.

Old trucks today.

This might be the proverbial “turnip truck.”  “I might have just fell off the turnip truck but I didn’t let it back up over me!”

A pleasant evening was spent drinking a nice pinot noir and Guinness and sharing yummy appetizers…smoked salmon spread with fried capers, sauteed clams, king crab bisque, and firecracker prawns.

We walked after dinner.  The town is nice and quiet now.  All the people have gone back to their cruise ships.  Most visitors come here by boat.  There was a glacier that was obscured earlier by clouds.

The train through town.

First along Pullen Creek and then along the Skagway River.

A really cool house up on the mountainside.