The White Pass Trail starts at Skagway, while the Chilkoot trail starts at nearby Dyea (Die•ee). We set off on e-bikes for the 11 mile ride to Dyea with my daughter as our guide. The pavement soon ended as we would our way up and down along the indented shoreline on a road made worse by the recent rains. Crossing the Taiya River, we came the Dyea sector of the Klondike Gold Rush National Park.
There is virtually nothing left of Dyea. Boasting a population of 4,000 at the height of the Klondike gold rush, the town became irrelevant when the railway opened at Skagway. The town's remains include the pilings for a planned two-mile long dock (1). The disintegrating keel and thwarts of a wooden boat far inland are testimony to the land having risen over 7 feet in a process known as glacial rebound since the last ice age (2). Cycling to the shore, we enjoyed the views out to the Fjord before heading back to town.
Due to the mudslide-induced detour getting to Skagway, our car was still across the water at Haines. It so happened that the Southeast Alaska State Fair was on this weekend at Haines, so my daughter rode the ferry over with us (3) (4). On the fairgrounds are the set from the 1990 movie White Fang. We enjoyed the fine fair food (e.g. fried strawberry-rhubarb pie), while listening to a pretty-good rock band. At 5:00, the Whiskey Dicks came on, playing Celtic and Yukon folk tunes.
Seeing our daughter off at the ferry dock, we headed back to Canada and the long way around to Whitehorse. Along the Chilkat river, there was a small landslide pushed off the road that was not there four days ago.
Driving through the Kluane National Park in the extreme northwest panhandle of BC, we saw the craggy, snow-capped peaks that had been obscured by fog on our drive through the other day. East of Haines Junction, we stopped for a small herd of antelope on the road in the dim light here in the high northern latitudes at 10:30 pm.
(1) The water in the harbor here is much shallower than at Skagway, and the tidal range is 27 feet, hence the need for a long dock.
(2) The weight of the glaciers had depressed the land during the last ice age. As they receded, the land rebounded, a process that continues at a rate of about an inch a year.
(3) There is also a fish store in Haines, which Skagway lacks.
(4) Many of the other passengers on the afternoon passenger ferry were seasonal Skagway residents looking for something different to do.
What the town looked like in 1898
On the ride back
Set of White Fang
The Whiskey Dicks
Last view from Haines
At Haines Junction
No comments:
Post a Comment