Skagway

The old Gold Rush graveyard in the abandoned town of Dyea. Started out as an Indian fishing village until the start of the rush in 1897 when about 8,000 stampeders moved in to stage for the trek up the Chilkoot trail towards the gold fields of the Yukon. Because of its proximity to the trailhead it quickly became overrun with men anxious to get on with it. These particular graves mark about 70 men who died during an avalanche on the trail in April 1898.



Most of the town evaporated as quickly as it sprang up, but there are a few indicators of its former glory, like this storefront from an old real estate office on what used to be Main Street.



It really is a pretty little place, as this view down the valley from the old town site indicates.



The Chilkoot Trail

We were anxious to stretch our legs a bit after being cooped up on the ferry for 3 days, so we headed for the nearby trail.








This is one of the famous photos of the Chilkoot Pass during the winter of 1897-98, showing the prospectors cheek to jowl heading up the 45 degree incline to the summit...at which point they entered Canada. There were Royal Canadian Mounted Police at the top, checking that everyone had the required 2,000 pounds of food and equipment - the intention being to ensure that each man had enough to survive the first year. Took most of them between 30 and 40 trips to haul all their gear up this pass. They'd horse a load up to the top, cache it, then slide back down to the starting point on their shovels to pick up another load and do it all over again. Once at the top they made for a lake at the other end of the trail where they'd build rafts or boats (anything that would float) to get their gear down the Yukon River, past the town of Whitehorse and on to Dawson City where the Klondike gold fields were actually located.




Another look at the line going up the pass. The area at the bottom was called "The Scales", where they weighed their gear and got a receipt they had to show to the RCMP's at the top in order to receive permission to enter Canada and continue their journey.




The Chilkoot Trail actually departs from Dyea. Our hike went from the Ranger Station to Finnegan's Point.

We were hoping to be able to hike up and over the pass, but turned out that it was located 16 miles into the 33 mile hike, which was a little beyond our range...we're just day hikers after all, so we settled for just doing the first leg - to a feature called Finnegan's Point at about the 5 mile point. Made for a relatively easy 10 mile round trip, although since a lot of it was thru a swamp we were bombarded by squadrons of Alaskan mosquitoes all the way. Thank goodness for DEET otherwise we likely wouldn't have survived the experience. As it was they hovered around us in clouds...apparently waiting for the instant when the DEET wore off to swoop in. Any place that wasn't treated was immediately attacked...had several of the little SOB's actually bite thru my GLOVES until I had finally to spray them too.



Getting ready to head up the trail.



Doesn't take long to come across some of the wreckage and reminders of the old days...like this old cabin a few miles in.


Skagway

Our cabin was located about 9 miles into the back country and down a twisty gravel road. Stayed there mainly because of the close proximity to the trailhead, but was nice to be out in the countryside and away from the hordes of cruise ship passengers that descend upon the town during the season. The town really was quite nice...just wall to wall bodies on the days the boats are in.



One of the fun side trips was out to the Gold Rush cemetery where all of the old "characters" are buried. The "Unknown" in the foreground was some dude who tried to rob the local bank by shoving several sticks of dynamite into his pockets and then approached the teller to make his demand for the money. Unfortunately as he tried to pull his pistol from his belt it discharged and ignited the dynamite. Story is that there wasn't a whole lot left of him to bury. Did a nice job remodeling the bank though.



The falls just above the graveyard. Named for a gent named Frank Reid, who died in a shootout in July of 1898 with a local outlaw called Soapy Smith. Both are buried in the cemetery, although Reid's grave is in a place of honor with a big obelisk for a marker while Soapy's is located just outside the entrance.




It really was a neat place to just walk around - especially in the early evening when the cruise ship folks go back aboard for dinner.



Looking south down Broadway.

We spent most of the second day in town just wandering around. Had lunch, then decided to see the local "Days of '98" vaudeville-type show they do every night. Turned out to be a lot of fun, especially since the dance hall floozies grabbed me out of the audience and pulled me up on stage for part of the show. Not sure how much Rita enjoyed it, but I sure did.

We're here thru tomorrow, then have a short drive up to Whitehorse - our first venture into the Yukon.