Again we woke docked to a new port. This time it was Skagway, AK, Garden City of Alaska apparently.
Serving as an entry point into the interior via either the Chilkoot or White Pass route for "Stampeders", the wannabe miners of the Gold Rush, to the town of Dawson City in the Yukon Territory. Skagway, with the help of a railroad and a reputation for being less difficult than Chilkoot Pass; remains today while the town of Dyea has withered to nothing.
The regular population of Skagway is 832, today it swelled by more than 12000 tourists!
Our initial view of Skagway, we were sharing the port
with four other cruise ships.
Martha had arranged for us to rent a couple of scooters for a guided group ride. Turns out we were the only two to sign up so it was more of a personal guided tour by the guide, Rob.
Lower Reid Falls, near the old town cemeteryt
Scenic viewpoint overlooking Skagway and the cruise ships
in the harbor
That's our guide, Rob, waiting patiently for me
to take pictures
Overlook of the site where the Bark, Canada, come to rest
after being abandoned.
Not part of the regular tour, we got shown a real
fixer-upper of a shack. Known as the squatter's shack.
Views near the site of Dyea, showing the shallows that
made it a very unsuitable harbor back in the day.
View from a bridge on the Taiya river, of a small glacier
Rob, our guide, also took us down by the river where they do kayaking and such:
These little 50cc Honda Ruckus scooters did very good
on the dirt and gravel roads we traversed.
The sandy conditions led to Rob's Honda Ruckus toppling over.
It was fine though.
A view of the mountain peaks as we made our way
back to town.
Martha finds Godzilla
Scooters returned safely with no mishaps, a successful
tour by scooter of the Skagway sights!
Like this old miner, we were done and ready to return
to the ship.
Snow blower
Pretty good day of scootering, weather held out and we were barely sprinkled on at times. A bit windy though, which makes the Tlingit name origin of Skagway makes sense: Tlingit idiom which figuratively refers to rough seas in the Taiya Inlet, that are caused by strong north winds
Martha, I'm very happy to report, did great on her scooter!
4 comments:
“Martha, I'm very happy to report, did great on her scooter!”
Does this translate to “you did less than great”?
Nice to know that the scooter rental option is there!
Dom, I am way behind on my reading. You and Martha are on an epic journey. What a great scooter ride, looks like you had lots of fun.
A mutual friend of Richard and mine drove one of those scooters all over North America, At 50 miles an hour, Mike Saunders is his name
Great idea to have in a town like Skagway
Not exactly RichardM, its just that it had been a while since she'd ridden her own scooter....
VStar Lady, thanks...and yes, we did.
Bob and Sharon...I believe I've read some of this blog Bob, talk about going the slow route....and yet he probably broke down less than I did.
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