Skagway, Alaska

August 9,  Woke up this morning and there are 4 cruise ships in the harbor.  Went and walked around the shops this morning, really crowded with the people from the ships.  Came back to camp and just sat and watched people this afternoon.  About 6:15 we decided to go and eat dinner at the Skagway Brewery, fish (halibut) breaded with beer batter was really good the fries where too well done for my liking, Ken said they where good, he had cheesesteak sandwich.  Fueled up, getting ready to pull out tomorrow morning.  Two of the cruise ships left around 4:30 and 5 pm, and then the others left at 8 and 9:30 pm.

 A picture from our campsite

Skagway, Alaska

August 7,  We pulled out of camp about 9 am, went to the gas station to dump and fill with water, pulled out of Haines and headed north toward Haines Junction, stopping at the border and getting asked some question and told to go ahead.  Wanted to stop in Haines Junction, but when we arrived it was raining so we just kept driving.  Continued on the Alaskan Highway east toward Whitehorse, stopping at WalMart to stock up on some food items and filled up on fuel.  Continued driving until we got to the Skagway turnoff, stopped at two Government Campgrounds, the first was full so we continued another 60 miles until we reached the second Conrad Government Campground, got a spot for the night, the government campgrounds are really nice and they supply the firewood.  We had driven 10 hours and 309 miles today, which we usually don’t drive that much.

August 8,  Left the campground this morning at 8:30, driving south toward Skagway for 53 miles, got to campground around 10 am, they do have a spot for us next to the small boat harbor.  There are 3 cruise ships in town today and to be 4 coming in tomorrow, all three ships had left the harbor this evening, last one at 8:45.  We took a drive to Dyea, an old historic boomtown, which is no more, drove to see the old cemetery that had tombstones dating back to April 1898 when an avalanche hit the men that where walking for The Klondike Gold Rush on the Chilkoot Trail, that killed more than 60 stampeders.  Came back to camp and went out to dinner at the Smokehouse BBQ Restaurant, just down from us toward the cruise ships, good food but expensive. 

Haines, Alaska

August 6,  Sat and watched the water this morning, took a drive to the west of town on Mud Bay Road to Chilkat Peninsula and to the Haines Packing Company where they can salmon and sell haibut and salmon frozen.  We had bought some smoked salmon and a few pieces of halibut for later.  Returned back to trailer and sat out overlooking the water again, got a little burnt from the sun, but all is good.  Later this evening we left and went for a drive to our east to see if we could see some bear, saw one black bear catch a salmon, took it to the shore and ate it, later he came back out and crossed the river.  While we where watching the bear, the people from Wisconsin that we met earlier on our trip passed us, we had turned around and caught up with them and talked for quite a while, they are leaving Alaska tomorrow and heading to Hyder, which will take a few days.  We hope that sometime we will run into them again, they have had a great time in Alaska also.

Haines, Alaska

August 5,  Went for a drive today, drove west out of town to the Alaska Marine Highway System Ferry Terminal, didn’t see any ferry, they just came back to work after being on strike for 10 days.  We continued driveling east to the Chilkoot Lake and Campground, drove through the campground and back out, while driving back we saw a bald eagle sitting on a branch in the water looking for fish, hoping to see a bear but didn’t see any.  They have a fish counter on the river, with over 1800 fish counted yesterday and lots of fisherman fishing.  Got back to trailer relaxed for a few hours and then went uptown, walked through some shops and visited the Hammer Museum, the world’s first museum dedicated to the history of humanity’s first tool.  With over 1,800 hammers on display, the Hammer Museum has something for everyone to enjoy.  We then went and ordered a pizza for dinner, wood fired with mushrooms, it was ok, like the ones at home better.  Sat by the fire again tonight, with a couple from Ohio and a couple from Anchorage, great conversation, saw two cruise ships going by tonight.

Haines, Alaska

August 3,  We left camp this morning about 8 am, heading still southeast, went around the Kluane Lake, which was beautiful turquoise colored, and still watching the Kluane mountain ranges.  Got to Haines Junction and then headed south toward Haines, this stretch of the road was just beautiful, with mountain ranges every where and glaciers.  Got to British Columbia and then back into Alaska, where we got our hour back.  We had traveled about 236 miles today, stopped at the Oceanside Campground, right on the water front, for a few days, backed right up to the water, with a cruise ship out in the water.  They are having dungeon crabs for dinner at the campground, you pay $12 and bring a side dish to share, so had to go to the store to buy something, making spaghetti corn to share.  It was all very good food, sat by the fire in the middle of the campground with other people until after 11pm, great conversations.

August 4,  Did two loads of laundry this morning, took a drive around town, came back to camp and then walked next door to the Lighthouse Restaurant for lunch, good food, I had fish and chips & Ken had buffalo chicken wrap.  Sat outside most of the day watching the water, boats going in and out and the tide also going in and out.  Saw different birds, eagles, seagulls, kingfisher, herons, pigeons, black birds, & ducks.  Sat around the fire again tonight until 10:45 talked to a couple from Ohio, nice couple, they are traveling the same way we are heading to Skagway next.  Watched another cruise ship coming out of Skagway at dusk with their lights on, really neat to see from a distance.

Tok, Alaska, Kluane Mountain Range

July 31,  We left our spot and headed toward Tok, we where just about 20 miles away, fueled up and got a free truck and trailer wash.  Decided to go back to Sourdough Campground for 2 nights, ate some lunch, Ken got the bugs off the front of the truck while I did a load of laundry.  Sat around for a while, made steak for dinner and then went over to the pancake toss, nobody won a free breakfast.  

August 1,  Went in town to get some bandages for Ken’s ankle, he had scraped it open when going down the stairs at Kennecott Mine and it is oozing.  Went to one of the shops in town, All Alaska’s Gift, and bought myself a new sweatshirt that zips up the front, have one that you must pull over your head, like the zip one better, I checked here earlier while passing through town but they were all too light weight, this one is heavy.  We then went down to Fast Eddy’s for lunch, I really enjoyed the food.  Went back to trailer, took a walk and just sat around the rest of the day.  Made a dish of baked oatmeal, that should last a few days, while traveling.

August 2,  We had dumped the trailer and filled the water tanks up before heading out of camp, headed toward Haines, Alaska.  But first we must travel southeast toward the Yukon border, where we had gained 1 hour and then stopping for the night at Congdon Creek government campground, we had traveled about 300 miles going through the towns of Beaver Creek, Burwash Landing, where they have the largest Gold Pan, and then unto Destruction Bay.  The scenery while traveling was beautiful, traveling along the Kluane Mountain Range.

Wrangler-St. Elias Mountians

July 29,  Decided to stay another day at Kenny Lake, Ken wanted to grease the hitch and check tire pressure on truck and trailer.  We started a fire, since the ban on fires have been lifted,  I got the elk meat out that we bought earlier at a meat store, thawed it out in the microwave and made two burgers out of it and cooked it over the fire, Ken didn’t care for it, but I did.  We then just sat around the fire enjoying it since this is only the first one we had on our trip, Ken forgot his maul, so we just got really fine timbers and got it started.  It had started raining around 6-6:30 and had to go inside, made some salmon soup for dinner and grilled cheese sandwiches.

July 30,  Pulled out of the campground this morning about 9:30 am, traveling west on the Edgerton Highway, for only about 7 miles.  Turning north on Richardson Highway, pulled off at a large, paved turnout and saw a great view of the Wrangell-St. Elias Mountains, it was clear this morning when we left and it stayed clear enough for us to see the mountain range.  After we left we could still see the mountains but you could see that the clouds where starting to cover them up.  We then turned east onto the Tok Cutoff, this road was very rough with construction for a long while, after we where through the construction the road still wasn’t that great with frost heaves.  We decided to stop for the night at a roadside pull off, the guy at the Tok Sourdough Campground told us about this place when we where there after arriving in Alaska, he says if you want to see moose this is the spot, it’s very cloudy now and looks like rain again, had rain earlier while traveling today.  We didn’t see any moose, just a duck in the water