963 June 21, 2023 Skagway

I took just a short walk this morning. 

We drove today to Skagway. 

We encountered this truck and trailer pulled over on the side of the road.  They had a flat tire.  Tim stopped to see if they needed anything but they were all good.

From Johnson Crossing, past Jake’s Corner, through Tagish and to Carcross we went.  Portions of Highway 8 were gravel and slow but most of the way was decent road. 

We saw one fox prowling in the tall roadside weeds.

We stopped in Carcross and walked through the town.  There was a sign pointing to a bakery with sourdough bread.  When we got there, the bread was fresh from the oven and too hot to take. 

We walked along the railroad tracks and along the river.  We browsed the open shops.

We returned to get our bread.

Klondike Highway South runs parallel to the Skagway River.  The scenery is incredible with lots of large rugged and snowcapped mountains.

We climbed to the alpine region where it was craggier with less vegetation.  The pines were stumpy and crooked, dwarfed by the bitter cold winter weather.  There was lots of lichen on the rocks and patches of snow.  The wind was cold and blustery at Summit Creek where we stopped for lunch.

We passed dozens of cruise ship tour busses heading toward Carcross.  We were grateful to have been there early.

It was all downhill as we crossed from Yukon into British Columbia and finally into Alaska.  This is the southeastern part of the state. 

After passing through the border into the US, we could see cruise ships in the Skagway Harbor.

We arrived in Skagway in the early afternoon and we are staying for three nights in the Garden City RV Park.

Today is the day of Summer Solstice.  Here in Skagway the sun will set at 10:23pm and will rise again at 3:43am…more than 18 hours of daylight.  Even in the middle of the night it is never truly dark.

This afternoon, I walked and Tim biked through the town.  The streets were crowded with the people from the four big cruise ships docked in the port.

We went back into town after the cruise people got back into their boats. We had a great dinner at Olivia’s Alaskan Bistro. We did NOT get the Alaskan King Crab at $90.00 per pound!

We were seated in a window nook and another couple sat at the table next to us, Kevin and Karen. We began to talk with them. They have traveled extensively for the last 10 years. They also sold their house. They travel in their F150 pickup truck and will often stay at lodges or Air B&B or sometimes they camp. It is more likely that we will meet like minded nomads out here on the road than back east. We talked about our travels and our experiences and the things that led us to life on the road. These people got us and they were fun to talk with.