7-9 to7-13 Whitehorse to Skagway to Haines

 The day started out beautiful with a stop at the Continental Divide, then on to Teslin, a small First Nations village where we stopped for lunch and visited the Tlingit Heritage Center, with it's five totems representing the Wolf, Eagle, Frog, Beaver, and Ravin Clans.
We intended to stay at our favorite campground just north of Teslin, Mutluk Annies, but were dissappointed to find it had closed. The owners had retired and soon after that he passed on. We remembered it fondly as they had a delicious salmon bake and he had taken us on the river in his boat. Instead we drove on to Whitehorse WM.
We explored Whitehorse in the morning,driving down Miles Canyon and stopping at the fish ladders, the longest wooden fish ladders in N America. Miles Canyon is where 30 or more prospecters perished in the swift rapids trying to reach Dawson out of Skagway or Dyea in1898..
We drove to Carcross where we unhooked the car and took it into Skagway. The drive down into Skagway has to be one of the most beautiful we've ever been on. The town of Skagway has turned into a cruse ship town with the cruse lines owning most of the stores. There were 5 ships docked  while we were there.
The streets were crowded with tourists. I went in one of the jewelery stores and was ambushed by an agressive salesperson, took me awhile to get away! Wanted to sell me a chocolate diamond
in the worse way!
1 This is a picture of the White Pass & Yukon train that takes you
up the pass that we just drove down, taken from the road as we came down.
2 Skagways main street.
3 Some Alaskan quilts in a quilt shop in Skagway for my quilter friends.






4 Outdoor advertising on the mountain above Skagway.




                                                                              2

 The town is remembered for it's gold rush days of 1898 when it was the start of the White Pass and Yukon Trail. Last time we were here we visited the goast town of Dyea which was the beginning of the shorter but harder route over the mountains.
The track was laid for the train two years later but by then all the gold claims were taken.
The best thing about Skagway, in my opinion, is the trip down and back . On the way back  we saw 12 Dahl sheep up high on the mountains. My Nikon did a great job of catching their immage. We also saw a moose cross in front of us and a Lynx by the side of the road.
We left our beautiful boondocking spot and went back to Whitehorse before heading to Haines.
Stopped in Haines Junction at their beautiful new visitors center. They had a great movie on the KluaneNational Park, which we will be driving through on the way to Haines.  Our camp for tonight is about 40 miles down the Haines highway, another splendid boondock.
Found another great spot to boondock only 6 miles from Haines, the highway is about 150 miles long. from Haines Juction to Haines.
Drove around the area for a while then started walking the streets of Haines. We took in the Hammer Museum and talked with the owner for a while. He came here from Cleveland OH. many years agio and has himself a nice little collection of Hammers. His 26 year old son is a commercial fisherman.
Dad said the state of Alaska has a great program to help people get started in the Fishing business. They pay for 80% of the fishing license fee which can range form over $100,000 down to as low as $25,000 depending on the year. His ran $58,000 and his dad helped him with the other 20% . You must have fished for 3 years here and have been refused by a bank to qualify. The program helps keep young people in Alaska. There are only 400 Commercial licences in Southern Alaska. While we were there his son called to offer him interest on his loan, 6 red salmon, part of his catch today. Pop said the smoker would be working tonight.
We bought some Halibut at a local store, and Norm remembered a massage therapist he had gotton a massage from 10 years agio so we looked her up and he scheduled one for tomorrow.  We have a down day tomorrow because we are going to take the Fjord Express trip to Juneau on Saturday from Haines. I will be at the library working on my blog.
In the evening we took another seinic drive up the Chilkoot river to Chilcoot Lake to  see the eagles and bear.   We were rewarded with about 12 eagles perched high up in the trees overlooking the river. There were lots of fisherman lining the banks because the salmon were running. We didn't see bear but we will try that drive again tomorrow night maybe whithout the drizzle?