Day 24: My Husband just took me to the most beautiful place on earth

June 9, 2010 will be a day I will never forget. 

Where does the mountain stop and the lake begin? Even the clouds are reflected. I stayed here a long long time just being thankful and quiet.   

We drove the South Klondike Highway from Whitehorse Yukon Territory to Skagway Alaska. 




This 98 mile drive is one of, if not the best, scenic drives in North America. The road follows lakes and streams as it winds through valleys and over the mountains. The lakes of the Yukon and British Columbia that we pass along the way are the headwaters of the great Yukon River. Driving this scenic highway is truly spectacular and I only wish the pictures I took (which are many) could convey the breathtaking beauty that surrounded us.

Emerald Lake is just that, a lake that looks like it is emerald green.

Passed by “The Smallest Desert in the World”, the Carcross Desert. The area was once covered by a glacial lake. When the glacier retreated, the sand that was left behind is being constantly blown around by the winds off of Lake Bennett, and nothing will grow in it. Amazed to see all this sand amongst a landscape of rock and mountains.


Stopped at small town of Carcross to clean the bugs off the windshield for photo ops. Just happened to be a small RV park right there. What a great view of Lake Bennett they have. Such rich history in this area because of the Klondike Gold Rush in 1897-1899. Stampeders, as they were called, (found out at the museum in Whitehorse, that more than 100,000 such folks, from all walks of life) took a ship up from Seattle and landed in either Skagway or Dyea, where they then climbed over the mountains on their way to Dawson City to stake their claims on the gold. Many had to camp on the shores of Lake Bennett to wait for the spring thaw so they could then sail there boats down the Yukon River to get to Dawson.

Bove Island,  Summit Lake and everywhere else along the Windy Arm, kept our sense of sight mesmerized.

This land of magic and mystery (the words that come to mind) really heightened my sense of spirituality. The reflective views on Tutshi Lake took my breath away.

Yes that is reflection on the lake. Can you tell where one stops and another begins?

A bit of a cloudy day which made for a fantastic reflective view on the lake. Man oh man, have never ever seen clouds in the water before. Stood on this rock side and actually thought I was looking at the sky below. Could hardly catch my breath from the beauty of it all.

Carl standing on the other side of cliff with the lake behind him reflecting the view. Looks like he is standing on a cloud. You all simply have to come here.

View of the road, lake, and mountains. Still trying to catch my breath!

Once over the White Pass it was downhill all the way into Skagway, at up to an 11.5% grade for about 11 miles. This is where we saw the poles on either side of the road which mark the highway edge for snow plows. They looked to be about 10 feet high.

Goat Lake (300 ft deep lake at top of summit) hydroelectric project. Pipeline runs down the mountain connecting with the power house which supplies all the electricity for Skagway and most of Haines. As many as 2,000 stampeders, construction workers, teamsters, and packers stayed and rested here before making the climb up the summit. Tents, log cabins, and shanties were constructed.  After the completion of the railroad ended to these "boom-to-bust" towns.

Pitchfork falls is right next to the pipeline.

We soon arrived at the US border. Time to get out the passports again!

Find Skagway packed with tourists. Clerk at one store told us about 10,000 folks a day dis-bark the cruise ships, except on Sundays when only one ship comes into port. On those days only about 500-1000 tourists are in town. She said this last all summer long.

If we return to Skagway, we will do it on a Sunday. On the Wednesday we were in town, 4 ships were in port.


We stopped at the visitors center (along with about 5,000 other tourists), had a bit to eat at local cafe, toured the Mascot Saloon, Bernard Moore house (founder of Skagway), Skagway museum and did the historic walk. All of which provided us with some great information, facts and history. Every bit of it was worth while and enjoyable. We did notice that although the streets and shops were busting with tourists and shoppers, non of the jewelry and gold shops were busy. Interesting huh. We heard many different languages spoken and talked to a clerk who has work camped here each summer for 3 years. She states they stay in a nice RV park outside of town along the river (provided by the employer) and away from the hustle bustle of town. She reports she and her husband enjoy working here, employers are great, and money is good. Her employer operates several businesses in town and they have worked at most of them as clerks, stock people, drivers, show folks,and so on.

Return trip home gave this incredible site of jet over the mountains. Picture really doesn't do it justice.

We could see where the railroad tracks along the granite rocks of the mountainside.

Goad Falls, about 3,000 feet tall, actually passes under the tracks.

Ruins of the Venus Mine (copper mine) on Windy Arm of Tagish Lake.

Myriad waterfalls, 

There is one gas station in the town of Skagway. The tour books and local tell us to fuel up in the States as it is cheaper than Canada. We finally found the station and were surprised to see diesel at $3.89 a gal, which was a whopping 3 cents cheaper than Whitehorse. Carl decided to wait to fill up when we return. Guess he was pissed off at how they really take advantage of us tourists. I kept my mouth shut. We had agreed, before leaving Michigan, we would always fill up at the nearest station once we got down to 1/2 tank. This agreement is to keep my peace of mind and a little less anxiety while traveling this "last frontier".

As lovely as this trip was, the road (sometimes paved, sometimes gravel) had sections that were being worked on. Mostly spreading gravel and wetting it down. Carl's poor truck took a beating. Photo of our once black bed topper and fender now a dusty gray white. Oh well, nothing a little power wash won't help. And that is exactly what Carl did as soon as we got back.

 All in all our excursion began around 9:30am and ended around 6pm.

A DAY I WILL REMEMBER ALWAYS!

BY THE WAY:

SUNRISE TODAY 4:30 - SUNSET 11:30
THAT MAKES ABOUT 19 HOURS OF DAYLIGHT