Whitehorse YT to Skagway, AK & back

Yiks! We woke up and it was raining and turning to snow. Our plans were to drive down to Skagway for the day to visit friends. When we went to the car, there was all this snow on the ground and the car; 1-2 inches. Never know what is on the other side of the mountain and off we went.

The clouds were as beautiful as the mountains. The clouds moved so fast around the mountains that the scenes were constantly changing.
The town of Carcross is perhaps, half way between Whitehorse and Skagway and a place we had been to on our cruise a couple years ago. There have been numerous improvements to the quite town, leading towards tourism. The building below is part of the National Park Service for the Chilkoot Trail, located in Carcross.

This house in Carcross has "houses", bird houses
that is, on the house.That's keeping the families together.

May of the log homes in Carcross are still being lived in.

The bridge below in Carcross is part of the Whitehorse Pass & Yukon Railway System. Some train cars are serviced in Carcross.

Most of the snow is melted, except in the mountains. This piece of snow can only help us imagine how deep it was in the dead of winter.

Emerald Lake is full of blues and greens and lives up to the name of Emerald. It is a very tranquil there.

Parts of some streams and lakes, such as Spirit Lake still have thin layers of ice on them.
Spirit Lake is on the Chilkott Trail and the place
where many gold seekers were forced to stop for three months to wait out one of the severest winters on record up to that time. In the spring they hustled to cut down trees to begin the water portion of their "run for the gold".

Can you imagine know you are driving through a possible avalanche area, seeing one occur and
remembering you aren't suppose to stop! Man, I
don't know how I would react. Hope it never
happens.




The pipes on each side of the road are there
to help the snowplow guy not run into the
mountain or fall off the edge.

Guess this bridge would be called "a piece of art"
in the Yukon. Kinda strange for a bridge, but it
works.









There are bunches and bunches of
waterfalls along the route, some found

in amazing places.











Arrival in Skagway required a drive up to Dyea, across the river, to view Skayway from the over
look. Both Dyea, a thriving area in 1898, and Skayway were used as the Trailhead for many
of Klondikers.

Above is the home community area of Skayway, and to the right is part of the downtown area, not
on the main drag for the "cruisers".

Along the railroad trusses, these delicate
beautiful Columbine wildflowers are growing.












We sure had a fun few hours with our good
friends, Judy and Jerry Funk. We had lunch at

Skagway Fish Company then Judy and I went
shopping. It's always a good day if the girls get
to go shopping.















The typical Skayway view; cruise ships at dock.

This little gal to the right was bundled up tight
in her fur wrap and it was very cold today.

Historic buildings of Skagway, including the "famous" Red
Onion Saloon home to ladies of the night, who can still be seen watching for the next customer, from the upstairs windows.



Small-flowered Woodland Star












Wild American Vetch

On the way home the sun came out and the colors on the
mountain were stunning: green, reds, yellows, ochres.











Windy Arm Glacial Lake

TTFN, Karen and Don