SKAGWAY- Home of the North Wind

Skagway, translates as ”Home of the North Wind” in Tlingit Indian dialect. It is the oldest incorporated city in Alaska and a year-round port. Skagway was born out of the Klondike gold rush when 20,000 gold seekers (known as Stampeders) arrived in the summer of 1887. By summer of 1899 the stampede was over; in 1903 the population of Skagway was only 500; and today Skagway’s permanent residents total 800. With tourism as its main economic base, the population swells by thousands each time a cruise ship docks. The citizens have succeeded in preserving the Klondike atmosphere that has made this quaint little town a “must” to visit. There are several interesting museums, souvenir shops galore, the White Pass Railroad, flight seeing tours over the area and my favorite, The Wilderness Safari which took us “up close and personal” with the Davidson Glacier.

Quick Tips:

Most of the visitors to Skagway arrive by cruise ship and only have a limited amount of time. One can walk from the dock through the main street to the opposite end of town in less than one hour. The museums are small and don’t take a lot of time. If you want to catch one of the live performances, be sure to checkout the times, as they change with the demand. There are many terrific photo opportunities throughout the town, so don’t forget that camera.

Best Way To Get Around:

Walking is best form of transportation. If you arrive by cruise ship, it is a short walk from the dock to the town, or you can take a big yellow antique sightseeing limousine driven by some very interesting looking characters.

The Days of ’98 Show with Soapy Smith is in its 75th year of running. It is presented at the Eagles Hall and is a historic musical comedy of Skagway and the legendary con man, Soapy Smith and the town hero, Frank Reid. It is presented several times a day and is good family entertainment. At the evening shows of this musical comedy, you can gamble with “Funny Money” (907) 983-2545.

Hike the Chilkoot Trail- 33-mile (53 KM) trail begins on Dyea Road climbs Chilkoot Pass elevation 3,739 feet to Lake Bennett, following the historic route of the gold seekers of 1898. Definitely not for the faint of heart.

Trail of ’98 Museum is owned and operated by the citizens of Skagway. It is located on the second floor of the Artic Brotherhood Building on Broadway and is open mid May to mid September from 9am to 5pm. Admission is $2.00 adults and $1.00 children. The museum’s goal is to preserve Alaska’s historical material and to display Alaskan pioneer life. (907) 983-2420

Gold Pan Theatre- Includes a Bar Room Shoot-Out, Vaudeville Melodrama, Old Fashion Sarsaparilla Bar, and a beautiful Victorian Parlor. Located at 7th and Broadway, there are nightly shows June-September (907)983-3177.

Artic Brotherhood Hall, Broadway between 2nd and 3rd Streets, 10,000 pieces of driftwood adorns the false front of this 1899 fraternal meeting hall, now used by the City of Skagway and the Trail of ’98 Museum.

Gold Rush Cemetery located about 3 miles from downtown, is where the notorious Soapy Smith and Frank Reid, the town hero, are buried.

The Glacier Point tour begins with a short bus ride through the Skagway ending up at the Skagway Airport for a 20-minute scenic flight over Alaska’s deepest fiord to a remote beach landing strip on the tip of Glacier Point.

Here we came face-to face with a sprawling glacier in the heart of southeast Alaska’s lush rain forest. After landing on the beach, we boarded an old Bus for the short drive to the trailhead. There we were outfitted with heavy jackets and knee high rubber boots. An adventurous ¼ mile walk across the glacier’s terminal moraine took us to the edge of a lake where we could see the Davidson Glacier right in front of us.

We divided into two groups and boarded two 31-foot canoes for our final journey among icebergs to the face of the mighty Davidson Glacier. Although the canoe had a small outboard motor, we did have to row- the motor was only used in specific areas. Our guide was very knowledgeable and basically allowed us to direct where we went around the glacier and how long we stayed. As we approached the glacier, we saw the deep blue color you always hear about in the glacier, and we were seeing it "Up Close & Personal".

There was actually an "ice cave" from which melted snow was gushing. I must have taken an entire roll of film on this one site- the deep blue packed ice, the melting snow, the beautiful water, and the snow caped mountians in the background.

We returned to the landing strip by the same route – and enjoyed a picnic of smoked salmon and listened to the adventures of the fascinating men who lived and worked in the wilderness. Our guides live on Glacier Point with no running water and no electricity about 7 months out of the year. They obviously enjoy what they are doing. We returned to the Skagway Airport, leaving our beach airstrip and colorful guides behind.

The tour is approximately 5 hours and the cost is $199.00 per person, and well worth every penny. It was a realtively easy tour, with the most difficult part being the short hike to the lake. It is a wonderful trip for children and adults alike.

There are more than 200 certified charter/air taxi operators and countless private pilots in Alaska and literally thousands of landing areas for amphibious aircraft. The Alaskan Bush Pilots are an integral part of the Alaskan landscape, bringing supplies, mail and passengers to some of the most remote regions of Alaska.

We had some thrilling and exciting experiences with small aircraft in the Alaska wilderness. The first was the flight in Skagway to the tip of Glazier Point and the beginning our Wilderness Safari. I found it very interesting how these pilots handled not only their aircraft, but also the weather, mountains and unique landing facilities. We left Skagway airport, with two other planes, each carrying four to five passengers. The planes flew in somewhat of a loose formation, always in site of each other. We flew over the water and between beautiful mountains and before long we spotted what they called a "beach landing strip". The entire flight was exciting but never frightening. These pilots do not have radar and fly by the "seat of their pants". As we saw for ourselves, the Bush Pilot is a unique and dedicated breed.

The second flight was out of Juneau over the Juneau Icefield by seaplane. This one-hour tour was bold and incredible. Taking off on the water, flying just below a low deck of dark clouds and over the mountaintops, turning and twisting, swooping down into the valleys to give us great views and spectacular photo opportunities.

The White Pass & Yukon Route is a narrow-gauge privately owned railroad built in 1898 at the height of the Klondike gold rush. Between 1900 and 1982 it provided passenger and freight service between Skagway and Whitehouse in the Yukon Territory. In 1994 the White Pass & Yukon Route was declared an International Historic Civil Engineering Landmark, one of only 15 in the world.

During the gold rush days, thousands took the 40-mile trek from Skagway to Lake Bennett, where they build boats to float down the Yukon River to Dawson City and the goldfields.

This railroad has one of the steepest railroad grades in North America. From sea level at Skagway, the railroad climbs to 2,885 feet at White Pass in only 20 miles.

Today the White Pass Railroad operates a three-hour round trip train excursion between Skagway and the White Pass Summit and features the most spectacular sights of the entire route, including the steep climb to White Pass Summit, Bridal Veil Falls, Inspiration Point and Dead Horse Gulch. From mid May through mid September there are two trips daily, one leaving Skagway approximately 8:45 am and the other at approximately 1:00 pm.

Glaciers are formed when years of snowfall compact into ice and begin to slide down the mountainside. Gravity and melt water combine to drag the ice mass toward the sea.

Glaciers photograph best on overcast days when the blue in the ice is most visible.

Glacier ice is blue because blue is the only color not absorbed by the physical characteristics of ice molecules.

Compressed air trapped inside glacial ice creates a phenomenon called "ice sizzle". As the ice melts, the bubbles burst creating an audible "snap, crackle and pop".

When the climate of a region becomes warmer, glaciers will start receding. The debris deposited by a melting glacier is called a ground moraine. The debris left at the edge of the glacier’s extreme forward movement is a terminal moraine. On our Wilderness Safari Tour we walked ¼ mile on a terminal moraine. It looked like a rain forest, trees, grasses, etc, but the ground was very soft.