The Road to Skagway

We left Liard, driving through Watson Lake, famous for the Signpost Forest and is the gateway to the Yukon. We stayed there on our last trip up here and walked around the Forest looking at all the signs people have left. It is pretty interesting. I just took a picture this time as we drove though. We certainly haven't seen the wildlife we saw last time from Muncho Lake upto Watson Lake. We saw the most we saw on our whole trip. We saw a few buffalo but didn't get any pictures. We saw three bears, two of which I got pictures of including the one below taken on the way to Watson Lake.

We stayed one night at the Yukon Motel and Lakeside RV Park, which is in Teslin on the Nisutlin Bay. They had a dump and water fill up which we needed after spending time at a few no hook up spots. We also ate the restaurant there which was okay. The next time we made our way to Skagway. We first continued on the Alaska Hwy to Jake's Corner where we turned southwest on Tagish Road to Carcross and then down the South Klondike Hwy. Both Haines and Skagway are located at the north end of Southeast Alaska and the Inside Passage. Last time we went to Haines. We thought about taking a Ferry on the one hour ride to Skagway for the day but never did. So we decided to drive down to Skagway and spending a few days there. The drive down to highway, which goes through the Yukon, BC and then Alaska, is beautiful. We finally were seeing a lot of snow on the mountains.

The closer we got to Skagway the colder it got with some snow on ground near the summit. The last part we drove down hill to sealevel at Skagway but it was still cold and windy.

Savannah taking a little rest on the long drive after she got off my lap.

We had called ahead to make sure we could get a spot at Pullen Creek RV Park. It is a city owned campground located right at the Boat Harbor. There is a campground set among trees but we stayed at the oceanside spots. There are just 12 backin sites set in a parking lot but with views of the harbor where the cruise ships come in and the mountains in the background..

The cruise ships really keep this town of 900 people busy. We are within walking distance of the town. The town has a number of restaurants and many tourist type shops. It seemed there was a jewelry store on every corner.

Nice park right next to the Campground

Much of downtown Skagway is now part of the Klondike Gold Rush Historical Park with its restored buildings. The historic White Pass and Yukon Route narrow gauge railroad was completed in 1902 and was considered an engineering wonder as it climbed the precipitous White Pass and continued to Whitehorse. On days when cruise ships are in you can take a train ride from Skagway to Frazer.

They have a nice little museum we checked out.

We had a drink and appetizer at the Red Onion Saloon, a restaurant, bar, and museum which was once a bordello during the Klondike Gold Rush days. The waitresses and bar keeps dress up in corsets and petticoats. They even have a tour of the upstairs with some history of the place. We were there during the day when the area was crowded with cruise people. Interestingly we went back one night to have a drink and listen to a live band and no one was dressed up in period costumes. In fact it was mostly local people there. When we walked in town, there was almost no one on the street. All the cruise people were back on their boats for the night.

Stay tuned for another blog on Skagway and the drive back through the Yukon, BC and finally to Tok, Alaska, We will then be in Alaska for the next 6 weeks or so.

A nice soak on the way to Watson Lake

Wednesday we left the beautiful Muncho Lake. We had an unexpected extension on how long we stayed and had no cell service, no Internet or tv, no hook ups or dump. By following our rules of filling up the water tank and dumping the grey and black tanks before we got here there were no problems. Our solar panels have kept the batteries charged even though we had overcast skies. The length of daylight is about 20 hours so even a reduced charge kept the batteries up. We didn't even need to use the generator. We continued to have great views and upped our wildlife count.

            

We drove about an hour before stopping at Liard River Hotsprings. It has long been a favor stop for Alaska Highway travelers and it was for us as well. There is a short walk to get to the pool. The trail goes through wetlands that support 250 boreal forest plants which includes a number of them that only survive at this latitude because of the hot springs.

    The hot springs have temperatures ranging from 108 to 126F according to the milepost book though you do have cooler spots. It is hotter at one end and so you can pick what temperature is comfortable for you. We had a spa at one time and liked to keep it at 105 or so which was pretty hot. Here you can just move around from even a real hot spot and find cooler waters.



Hottest Spot
People who get this far add a rock or stone to the pile which I did

                                                               
  Nicely refreshed, we headed on to Watson Lake and the Yukon, territory of Canada. On our way we passed a big herd of bison, including some cute little babies. This is the most we have seen since our Yellowstone trip last year.
We also saw some bears and a porcupine.

We arrived at Watson Lake and stayed at Downtown RV Park. It is just a big gravel area with motorhomes close together. Most people just stop here for a night and to see the famous Signpost Forest.

It was started by a homesick soldier in 1942 during the construction of the Alaska Highway and has grown to over 75,000 signs put up by people from all over the world. It is pretty awesome.