Day 5 Skagway

On day 5 we docked in Skagway, Alaska at 7am. Our excursion for the day was to take the White Pass & Yukon Railroad from it origin at Skagway to its first stop at the crossing of the east fork of the Skagway river, near the Denver Glacier Trail.

We then set off with our three guides into the woods along the Skagway River We hiked at a very leasurely pace for about two hours while Whitey our main guide gave us wonderful descriptions of the local plants, geography and hiking opportunities in the area. We even tasted many of the local plants. Trusting of course that Whitey really knew his stuff. Which I believe he does.

the tour guides,Along the trail we got to talking about the medical situation in Skagway turns out they have no doctor and no vet. They travel 110 miles to Whitehorse in the Yokon Territory for both. Most of particularly for the rigerous hiking and climbing in the area are EMT's so they have lots of emergency help. Somewhere in the conversation I mentioned Barbara and Canon City, Colorado. Whitey says he used to live in Canon City and did tours for the White Water Rafting Company about 10-12 years ago. I unfortunately did not get his real name (He is the guide on the far left in this picture). They call him Whitey since he apparently wears shorts just once or twice a year and his true skin color is quite shocking.

We also discussed the schooling situation in Skagway since of the 3000 residents only 700 stay during the winter. Whitey explained that the one school is Preschool to 12th grade but that many of the people in two do not work in the winter so they volunteer at the school. He himself helped out with the wrestling team. They don't have any team sports since they rarely have more than 5-8 kids in a single age group. The graduating class this year was 6, 4 boys and 2 girls (making for a bit of an awkward prom).

In all to short a time the hike ended where it started as we boarded the train for the return trip to town. As is good ediquite for all guides, the last directions we were given was to the best lunch in all of Skagway. The Skagway Brewing Co. , and if they have it Spruce Tip Pale Ale. It is to Skagway what warm donuts at Krispy Kreme are to most towns. Sadly I cannot attest to its glory as they were out and not brewing more for a few days.

Dorothy and I did have wonderful lunch and brews with them. Then we shopped the non-tourist shops in Skagway. The Adventure store, Quilt Shop and of course the Bakery where I decided that Teddy and I will always have a future in Alaska since we can make much better cookies by a long shot. This picture of town is looking down the main street to the port with our ship at the end, looking like a big parked RV which is really what it is. The gap between the two peaks contains a glacier that is headed straight for town but probably won't get there for 2-3 hundred years or more.

Next we headed south leaving Alaska on day six for Prince Rupert, Canada