CARCROSS, YUKON TO SKAGWAY, ALASKA

I wasn't going to post today, but some of the pictures I took yesterday, needed to be entered.  The first shot is of Bove Island, which is located in between Nares Lake & Windy Arm Lake.  During the Klondike Gold Rush, tens of thousands of gold seekers paddled their boats, rafts, or anything that would float, past the left of the island, and off into the distance toward the Yukon River.  Once they reached the river, they still had about 500 miles to go before they arrived near the goldfields at Dawson City.  Bove island is just off the South Klondike Hwy, a few miles south of Carcross.

 The South Klondike Hwy near the White Pass summit.

 Starting the 14 mile descent from the top of the White Pass.

The downgrade on the South Klondike Hwy into Skagway is long and steep, and requires some caution when driving large vehicles.  The grade is 8-10%, and when we started down from the top, I radioed Nancy to put the tranny in 2nd gear, and make sure the exhaust brake was on.  Even in 2nd gear, the road is steep enough to still require lots of brake applications before reaching the bottom.  For two summers, I drove buses up and down this hill, and never got tired of the absolutely incredible scenery.

When we arrived at the Corrington  property, approx. 3 miles north of town, we got the motor homes backed into our full hook up spaces, then headed out to the gold rush cemetery.  The two graves pictured are first - the notorious Soapy Smith, and second - the hero Frank Reid.  Soapy was the bad guy, and when Reid killed him in a gun fight, he became the town hero.  Unfortunately, he was also wounded in the shoot out, and died several days later.

 A short walk up the hill from the cemetery, is lower Reid Falls.

While at the cemetery, we watched a White Pass train pass by on it's return from the White Pass summit.  As I write this, Patty & Nancy are riding the train, thanks to Margaret's complimentary passes.

After finishing a great spaghetti dinner that Patty had prepared, we got a surprise visit from Sherry Corrington.  Sherry was Patty's boss for the four summers that we worked in Skagway.  Actually, Sherry was much more of a friend than a boss, and they enjoyed reminiscing about some of their experiences during those summers. 

These last two shots are looking at Harding Glacier from the cemetery.  This glacier is visible from just about anywhere in Skagway, and it's situated across the bay, almost due south of town.