The first place we ventured was the Chilkat Bald Eagle Museum and it was informative but not what we thought. We were expecting to learn about Eagles but instead we got a bunch of stuffed animals. We did watch a 45 minute film on Eagles from the Chilkat River area with an emphasis on the last salmon run of the year. At that time on the Chilkat River up to 4000 Eagles converge for one last feast before winter sets in. This feeding is critical to the Eagle and their ability to survive the winter. I bet it would be amazing to witness this spectacle which happens in October. Cold but Amazing.
We left the Eagle Museum and headed out to Chilkat Park which was the opposite way from Chilkoot Park where we stayed the first night. It was a nice drive and we saw a few more glaciers that you could not see from Haines. The big one with the waterfall is Davidson Glacier, the others are too small to name, at least on the maps. We had lunch in the park and then headed back to Haines.
After lunch we headed out to the State Fairgrounds which is home to the fictional mining town " Dalton City ". It was used in the filming of Jack London's White Fang. The current users have kept the "City" looking exactly as it was when they were filming. However business's have taken over the buildings and it is a little one street city on its own. We were there on a Sunday and everything was closed for the day.
We left Dalton City and as it was too early to head for the ferry we drove back out to Chilkoot Park and found a place to park. We had a bite to eat, played some crib and enjoyed the scenery until it was time to board the ferry.
The ferry from Haines to Skagway was only an hour and I must admit that travelling on the Alaskan Marine Highway was very pleasurable. They are well organized and were able to load 125 vehicles and get us under way and into Skagway on time. I was glad to see how large the boats are as we could be in some pretty rough water during our numerous ferry trips.
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The ride to Skagway was uneventful as it was raining most of the way. Kathy and I had desert in the restaurant and played cribbage until we docked. We arrived around 9:30 PM, drove around for awhile to get our bearings and to decide on a RV park. We found one, set up and called it a night.
Coming into Skagway
Today ( Monday ) did not get going all that quickly but eventually we headed out. We decided to walk downtown and see what we could learn about Skagway first hand.
The first thing we learned was that Skagway was originally spelled Skaguay. The name was taken from the Tlingit name for the area "Skagua" meaning a windy place with white caps on the water. It is aptly named as the wind has not stopped blowing since we got here.
The history surrounding Skagway and the gold rush is fascinating and we enjoyed spending time in a couple of museums that have done a good job of portraying what it was like here 100 years ago. However, today it is a tourist town and not much else. They have kept or restored a lot of the original buildings and today they are retail shops. You have one main street about 10 blocks long with nothing but shops. The side streets are either shops or tour companies.
Skagway has become a city that caters to the cruise ship industry. It has a population of 860 people in the winter that grows to 1700 in the summer to handle the 900,000 yearly visitors.
The White Pass and Yukon Route narrow gauge railroad, part of the area's mining past, is now in operation purely for the tourist trade and runs throughout the summer months.
We walked around for most of the afternoon and did a little window shopping. We decided to have supper downtown before heading back to the camper and calling it a night.
Two cruise ships were in port but the docks can handle up to 5 ships.
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