From Teslin, Yukon Territory to Skagway, Alaska

 

I forgot to tell you that on the way to Watson Lake and the sign forest, we stopped at a place called Jade City, which is a third generation jade mining and carving business.  We listened to a family member that is running the operation now and learned that China, who reveres jade and has many, many symbols made out of jade, gets all of their jade from the Yukon.  They have no mines of their own.  The mine for Jade City, supplies 90% of the world’s jade.  Amazing, huh?  She said they were getting a shipment of several hundred ton of raw jade ready to ship to China.  Of course we had to buy some.  What kind of tourists would be be if we didn’t?  Besides, she said a lot of the items won’t be available for long because their carvers are retiring and they can’t find replacement carvers.  No one seems to want to learn

Also, I forgot to tell you and show you the new beautiful coat that Connie treated herself to.  Her son told her to have a good time …. I’m just sayin’.

On the way to Skagway;we saw a young grizzly bear.  He, also was eating along side the road and just stood there watching us go by.  About half of the caravan passed by him and he turned and loped into the trees.  The wagon master said the young ones are inquisitive and he’d bet he’d be right out there after the last of the caravan passed by.  He came up so quickly, that we didn’t get a picture.

So back to the coastal mountains once more and up and over the top to go down to the coast to Skagway.  This time we had to stop clear up on top at the U.S. customs and declare we had nothing that wasn’t allowed.  Can you believe, she wanted to see the dogs rabies certificates but never asked us if we had guns or any other weapons?  The temperature at the summit was 38 degrees and new snow on the mountain tops!

I’ve been lucky enough to have been to Skagway when my mom and I took the cruise through the inside passage in 2008.  It seems bigger than I remember but then we were on a tighter schedule and didn’t get to really look around.  The locals really have a good, old-fashioned 4th of July.  Lots of activities for kids, especially.  From sack races, 3-legged races to hot dog eating contest to 5K run and basketball tourney.  Live music, lots to eat (at lots of money).  There were 5 or 6 huge cruise ships in port so there was no shortage of people.  I talked to a lady who works at the fabric store (yes, a fabric store in Skagway.  Can you believe that?) and she comes to Skagway to work in the shop every summer and then goes home to Auburn, CA at the end of the season.  What a life!  What a temptation.

Our wagon master, Spike,  was dead serious when he handed out hand sanitizer sprays for everyone and said don’t hesitate to use them when you go into town.  Cruise ships come down with all kinds of sickness and when the people come to town, they shop and touch things.  He said wash your hands often and “don’t touch the boat people”.  We’ve gotten a lot of mileage out that saying.

We took a guided tour around town with Spike to show us where things were and which shops are locally owned and good to shop in.  Then he took us to the trailhead of the Chilkoot Trail which is full of gold rush and miners history. We drove up alongside a fjord, which some call canals but are glacier-carved inlets.  The Chilkoot Trail is important because that was the way the miners had to go to get to the gold fields and they had to have all of their provisions before they were allowed to go – all 2000 pounds of provisions!  They would take as much weight as they could carry at a time, leave it protected up the trail a ways and then go back and get another load.  They did this over and over and over, leap frogging,  until they reached the gold fields with all of their provisions… if they made it at all.

Connie made it all the way to the top of the trail to sign the guest book.  Me?  I stayed at the bottom and waited for them to come back down.  I got Spike to pose by the sign before we drove back down the mountain to the town overlook.

Back down in town, we drove out to the old, original cemetery to see the graves of folks who gave Skagway its name, its beginning and its history.  We climbed up a steep trail (this time I went) to view a beautiful waterfall above the cemetery.  There was even a bear cave that Spike pointed out.  Folks went a little overboard digging in the silt and sand in the creek for gold.

Tomorrow, we are off to see Juneau.  We leave by 8 a.m. in a beautiful boat, shown around the city by bus, look around on our own for a few hours and then the 3 hour trip back to Skagway tomorrow evening.  More on this adventure next posting.