Day 11: Skagway

Our first port of call on Tuesday was at Skagway Alaska.

 

 

Skagway was one of two major jumping off points for prospectors chasing fortune in the Yukon gold rush of 1897.  Skagway and Dyea grew literally within months from nothing to towns of saloons, outfitters and brothels where prospectors bought their gear before embarking on the 33 mile Chilkoot trail before boarding a steamboat on the Yukon River, bound for Dawson and the gold fields of the Yukon.  One guide said Skagway exists today for the same reason it did back then, to separate those disembarking from ships at their harbor from their money.

 

Harry and I went on a rock climbing and rappelling expedition while Sue and Linda went on a glass blowing tour.  Unfortunately I don't have any photos of the glass blowing, but I will have a beautiful glass ornament when they ship it to our house in a week or two.  The rest of the gang went on a zip line outing. 

NOTE to the rest of my cruise members, this blog is just my own recollections and I intentionally don't share a lot about other people because not everyone likes to have their lives shared on the www.  Feel free to post your recollections as comments to the blog and e-mail me your own photos at paulmazouat@gmail.com and I'll post them.

 

I had not been rappelling since I was in boy scouts some 35 or 40 years ago.  While my first attempts was somewhat shaky, I gained in confidence and by my third mini-climb, I was starting to feel like I could do this

 

 

Harry was a natural

 

Colleen, this little 98 pound guide, was all that stood between us and certain death.  Here she is in the blue jacket, attentively manning the other end of Harry’s belay line.  If you can't see, note how she's sitting and chatting with one of the other tour members off camera while she's tending to Harry's safety line. 

Sherry, in the purple jacket, at one of the zip line stations.

 

I may look like I was in pain, but rappelling was a blast once you got over the edge and relaxed a little

 

We kept looking for the Smurfs whenever we saw one of these toad stools

 

Skagway has many original 1897 buildings maintained along their main street.  All the ones closest to the wharf are jewelry stores.  Come to find out most of them are maintained by the cruise lines, because they may have left a few dollars in your pocket from their on board enterprises.  Our guide told us to look for the signs on the door for the “locally owns” stores, and we did that.  We also went to the Skagway brew pub where they brew a beer from the tips of the Sitka Spruce.  Our guide says they offered a free quart of beer in exchanges of a pound of harvested spruce tips, and many of the young guides who have more energy and thirst than money take advantage of that deal.  

 

Note the ship at the end of Broadway

After shopping we took a quick hike around Lower Lake, which sat high above the town and around 1908 was dammed up to provide hydroelectric power to Skagway.  I believe it still provides most or all of their electricity today.