Carcross to Haines Alaska

From Timberpoint we drove to Carcross and visited local sites that included a NWMP Museum, Wildlife Museum with a huge polar bear (1700 lbs/ 11'7" nose to tail) and an even larger Wooly Mammoth that weighed 7000 kg.  

One afternoon we hiked in the desert and the next found snow on our hike to Montana Ridge.

After enjoying the the quiet solitude of Montana Ridge, we continued on to Skagway, Alaska.  Skagway can see up to 12,000 tourist in a day on Wednesdays when there are 4 cruise ships and the once week ferry from Haines. We were relieved to discover that we were in Skagway for the two slowest days. Saturday's have 4500 cruise ship visitors while Sunday a mere 1500 cruise ship visitors. At the height of the gold rush, the population of Skagway was 10,000. They talk about tourism, which is primarily from cruise ship visitors,  as the modern gold rush. With the number of jewelry shops in town, there does seem to be a lot of cash flowing. 

We were in Skagway for the summer solstice. The  Rotary Club hosted a solstice party by the river. We had blackened wild salmon for dinner and then stayed to listen to some local music. We enjoyed the music of two local bands Hillbilly Jean and Krowd Kontrol.   It was 9:00 pm by the time we drove back to town, so decided that a half hour drive to Dyea to camp wasn't that appealing.   Instead, we checked into the Skagway Historic Inn, which is a former brothel. Each of the rooms is named after a local "girl". We stayed in Cleo's room. 

That night we strolled the deserted streets of Skagway and had a drink at another former brothel, the Red Onion. 

The next morning we took a ride on the train to White Pass, the alternate route to the Chilkoot Trail during the gold rush. 

The ride was very scenic with many points of interest including the Gold Rush cemetery where local gangster Soapy Smith is buried and the NWMP post where stampeders were checked to ensure that they had the required one year supply of goods before being permitted to carry on their journey to Dawson City. 

Next was the ferry from Skagway to Haines. The scenery was beautiful and reminded us of the Chilean fjords. 

After a quick stop in Haines for a homebaked cinammon bun and coffee, we carried onto to find a camping spot for the night

We camped a beautiful campground by the Chilkoot River. 

That night we went for a walk and watched an eagle stealing fish from a fisherman. I didn't get an shot of the action, but did get a photo of the eagle on his perch in the tree.