Just around the corner is the gold rush
It was time to leave Haines for Skagway...and it wasn't even raining. As we were driving past the Chilkoot Inlet Spur Road on our way out we saw cluster of people on the bridge over the river, so we turned and went over the bridge to find that the two young Brown Bears were along the shore. We parked and joined the pack of viewers. It was our best view yet of Alaska Brown Bears. The pair hunted along the river side by He bridge. One was busy eating a salmon. They then climbed up onto the end of the bridge as we all backed up, urged by the ranger present. As the curious bears walked onto the bridge, the ranger shooed them away. She had pretty good control of these bears. They are the pair who have been patrolling the river and the ones who wandered into the campground. At this point, the ranger considers them "Her Bears". It must be true since they obeyed her. They continued along the shore even passing behind Speedy, which was parked at the end of the bridge.
We had a bit of time before out afternoon ferry, so we into town for coffee. After a caffeine refueling, we took Speedy out to Mud Bay to the last Haines cannery. they still offload and process fish there but is mostly smoked and frozen. They stopped actually canning salmon in metal cans since their process leached metal into the surrounding waters. They now can smoked salmon in glass jars and ship salmon off to be canned elsewhere. Unfortunately they weren't doing either smoking or canning while were there and they had just sold the last jars to tour group that preceded out visit, but we were able to buy one at the Mountain Market when we got back to town.
We stopped and had lunch in Speedy overlooking the Chilkoot Inlet before getting in line for the ferry. It was a lot looser process than when we checked in in Whittier. The ferry to Skagway was only an hour trip but it took as long to load the ferry as the travel time. The ferry was a much bigger ship than the one from Whittier and they had vehicles backing and turning inside the ship trying to fit them in as compactly as possible. Harry had to back their van nearly the whole length of the ship. We were a bit luckier and only had to make a U-turn from one side to the other.
The surprise when we arrived in Skagway was four large cruise ships. One was on the way out as we were coming down the inlet into the port. There were three mega cruise ships docked in the town. The town itself is part National Historic Park and part cruise port. It reminded us a bit of St. Thomas. When we lived there, the cruise ships would come in almost every day and disgorge shoppers.
We drove straight through town, ending up at the Dyea campground of the Klondike Gold Rush Historic Park on the other side of the inlet for the night.
Dyea used to be a town larger than Skagway. In the first couple of years of the Klondike Gold Rush, Dyea was a main port for getting to the Klondike. The route ran from Dyea up the Chilkoot pass where the gold seekers had to walk their way up the pass carrying all their supplies on their backs....several times. They were required to bring everything they would need to survive on the gold fields, about a ton of supplies apiece. This would take 20 to 30 trips up the pass and if you tired out and stepped out of the line, it could be several hours before you could get back into the procession.
The town only lasted a couple of years before the railway from Skagway to Whitehorse was completed and that became the way to go. Dyea quickly disappeared. All that is left is a few pilings and the campground.
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