by Bob Sparrow
Beautiful Skagway, Alaska
Skagway when we arrived
Next stop is Skagway and from the ship it’s hard to tell Skagway from Juneau or Ketchikan as the accompanying photos would indicate. There is no deep-water port next to Skagway, so we must anchor off-shore and take ‘tenders’ into port. Unfortunately, it’s windy and rainy and the seas are too rough to run the tenders the morning we arrive. We are concerned about getting ashore, as we have a very cool excursion planned on the White Pass & Yukon Route Railway, which was established during the 1890s Yukon Gold Rush – the scenery is said to be spectacular!
As we wait in the morning mist and rain, the wind finally dies down and we get word that the tenders are now running. We are excited and among the first to get ferried ashore. We find the train and are escorted to our car and as we’re reading the brochure on what an awesome adventure we’re about to go on, the conductor comes on board and tells us that there has been a rockslide up ahead that has covered the track and that there will be no tour today! The Alaska gods seem to not be shinning on us this trip! I later watched the train trip on YouTube – looks fun! I’ll never know!! We walk the main street of town and have lunch at the Red Onion, a bar that was formerly a brothel (I think every bar was a brothel back in the day), and head back to the ship.
Glacier Bay on a good day
Glacier Bay for us
Our next two days are at sea as we cruise in Glacier Bay and College Fjord, working our way north to Whittier, the coastal port for Anchorage. In spite of the low cloud cover and rain, we do see a number of glaciers and in fact, see a couple of calvings. I have to say that I wasn’t as impressed, as I thought I would be surrounded by white and looking up at massive glaciers. Our ship put us at eye-level or above the glacier and the glaciers lost some of their majesty, perhaps because the mist and clouds covered the surrounding mountains, it seemed less grand. As I read the history of Glacier Bay, I discovered that in the 1700s the whole bay used to be a glacier. So, looking at the where the glacier was in certain years, made it a bit sad, as it’s gradually receding and will eventually be gone!
Mt. Denali
Mt. Denali is rumored to be there
Once in Whittier, we board a train and head to Denali National Park in hopes of seeing Mt. Denali. If Mt. Denali sounds foreign to you, you may remember this mountain as Mt. McKinley. It is the tallest mountain on the north American continent at 20,310 feet in altitude. The name was changed by President Obama who asserted that the name should go back to its original Athabaskan name meaning ‘the great one’. But none of the local refer to it as either Denali or McKinley, they just refer to it as ‘The Mountain’. Of course, it was never visible to us at any point during our trip, as we find out that only about 25-30% of tourists get to see it, the rest of us see nothing but clouds.
Christmas in August
One of the first things we notice when we check into the Denali Wilderness Lodge is a Christmas tree in the foyer – fully decorated and other yule time trimmings around the hotel. Those of you who have traveled to a National Park in August, know why the tree is there. For those who haven’t, and previous to this, I was one of them, I’ll explain.
On August 24th, 1912, a sudden, unexpected snowstorm stranded a group of travelers in Yellowstone National Park. The travelers, making the best of the situation, decided to celebrate Christmas by singing carols and preparing a sumptuous Christmas feast. They enjoyed the celebration so much that a tradition was born.
Next time: North to Alaska Part 3: The Final Days and Some Alaska Dos and Don’ts
