On our way to Skagway

So, we left Valdez heading to Skagway, we are wrapping up our Alaska trip and need to head back to the Alaskan Highway.  We had a drive from Valdez to Tok, Alaska.  Here’s an interesting point.  Valdez is a port city of 3,900 people.  We’re driving on the only highway to Tok, a town of 1,200 people.  The interesting point is these are the only two cities on our route, no other cities, towns or villages.  Every once in a while, you pass an "outpost", two or three buildings, nothing else.  But the crazy part is it’s 256 miles between the two.  Absolutely no towns on the only highway!  In Illinois you’re lucky if you drive twenty miles between towns.  Here it is so spread out & desolate, hard to imagine.  The entire route is without cell service, so if you break down, you’re screwed.  

And this isn’t out of the ordinary after we left Tok on the Alaskan Highway we drove 224 miles to Destruction Bay, YT (population 40) no towns in between, then on to Skagway, AL, 271 miles, no towns. It’s truly the wilderness.  One of the Class A motorhomes in our caravan threw a rock into his radiator before we got to Destruction Bay and had to get towed 275 miles to Whitehorse, of course he had to pay for the tow truck to travel the 275 miles to get to them….

Our stay at Destruction Bay was the same campground we used on our way to Alaska, the difference there were three caravans staying tonight.  Two Adventure Caravans, ours heading out & Caravan #5 heading in and a Fantasy Caravan.  It was packed past capacity 62 rigs in a campground that holds 45.  Some members dry camped.  But we all mingled amongst groups and had a great night, all packed out in the morning.

Moving on, one of the fun things about our caravan is the bingo game. Every rig received a sheet of paper with a bunch of pictures set up in a grid, whenever you see one of your items you mark it off, first bingo wins a prize.  Then we played a coverall.  There are pictures of Dahl Sheep, foxes, elk, black bear, a desert sand dune, moose, Emerald Lake, bridal waterfalls, seals on ice, landmarks, all kinds of things.  Everyone's card is slightly different.  We were struggling to get the Dahl sheep and found a provincial park that usually had them, so we deviated off the route after Destruction Bay and saw some.

We passed Emerald Lake. It’s truly an emerald-colored lake.  It gets its color from marl, fine particles of clay and silt that reflects the green color spectrum, surrounded by beautiful pines it’s truly an emerald in the mountains.

Shortly after passing the lush forest, we came to the Carcross Desert.  Carcross Desert is commonly referred to as a desert but is actually a series of northern sand dunes. The area's climate is too humid to be considered a true desert.  The sand was formed during the last glacial period, when large glacial lakes formed and deposited silt. When the lakes dried up, the dunes were left behind.  Now, sand comes mainly from nearby Bennett Lake, carried by wind. The dunes are huge, and some contain a wide variety of plants.  When you face a certain way, it looks like you’re in the Sahara.

Mica left her mark; I was surprised it wasn’t a butterfly.

A mile or so later we pulled into Carcross, BC.  We stopped here for lunch and a chance for a behind the scenes visit to a famous totem pole carver.  There we met with Carcross /Tagish First Nation Master Carver Kieth Wolfe Smarch and his crew.  He has been carving totem poles for over 40 years.  They were currently working on two poles for Parks Canada, but they took the time to show us some smaller projects as well.  His crew is composed of a carpenter and three other carvers, one is his son.  He talked about the visit they had from Prince William & Princess Kate.  They asked the Royals to help paint a totem they were finishing for the visitor center.  Kate did fine, but William accidentally dropped some black paint on the cheek of the top figure.  Kieth told him not to worry, they could sand it off and fix it, but his son convinced him to leave it.  They call it the Prince’s Tear.

Totem that the Royals helped paint.

The royal tear.

Carcross was only a couple of hours stop, we still needed to get to Skagway, it's one of our longer drives of the caravan, 271 miles.  At least the roads are "normal".  We have some serious downgrades ahead from 3,300 feet to sea level ahead. 

The mountains have some beautiful lava flows and it's a nice drive to the coast.  There was a long section of highway along Tutshi lake that was fun to drive.  I was able to get pictures of the lava, but everybody in the coach fell asleep during my "racing mode" along the lake....CC handled great!

As we neared yet another border crossing, we got to the true descent.  It was a 12 mile long 11% downgrade.  Thank God for Jake Brakes!!!!  Then you pull up to the US Border crossing.  Our travel guide mentioned "Very narrow gates".  They weren't lying.  There were two massive bright yellow poles protecting all the super-secret monitors that check vehicles.  The poles had all kinds of marks on them right at mirror height.  We squeezed through without touching!!  Quick visit with Border Patrol and we were back in the US.  (No pictures allowed at border) Finished the last of the downhill and we were at our campground.  We set up and then headed to an evening of entertainment, Monte Carlo night & Soapy Smith Vaudeville show.

So, the show was at the Days of 90's Theatre, it has been going on since 1923.  We got there about an hour before the show so we could have the Monte Carlo night.  They give you $1000 when you walk in. You cash that in for chips and then have a choice of playing at the blackjack table, roulette, or craps.   Mica & I hit the roulette; Rita chose craps.  I was doing pretty good for a while, but my luck ultimately failed me.  Rita did good for a while, but the same result.  Mica did really good and wound up as the second highest winner of the night (about fifty people were originally playing).

The players thinned out as they lost their money

Did I mention the dealers might have had another occupation?

They hung out the windows and sang suggestive songs!

The show followed and they musically told the story of the founding of Skagway and the trail up the White Pass and then onto to the Yukon Gold Territory.  Miners, drifters, con men, and women of the night....  Lots of fun.   Mica actually got on the stage with two other members of our caravan and did the can-can.

Yes, she can!

More on Skagway & our adventure to Juneau next blog