Skagway, The Gold Rush Town

Wildflowers in bloom

The following morning found us in Skagway, which was my favourite of the stops that we made.  It was THE gold rush town where everyone would come ready to head to Dawson City in search of Gold.  Dyea and the Chilkoot trail were the most popular and quickest way over the mountains into the Yukon.  We rented a car there and drove to Dyea.  The scenery was beautiful; mountains, lakes, fields of wild flowers! 

We followed these old winding dirt roads and ended up at the “Slide Cemetery”.  It was in the middle of the forest at the base of the mountains and when you stumble onto the actual cemetery its absolute silence is almost spooky.  A snow slide on April 2, 1898 killed many of the men along the trail.  Some were frozen solid in a running stance.

Slide Cemetary at the foot of the Chilkoot Trail

 Our next stop was the trailhead at the beginning of the Chilkoot Pass.  It was fascinating.  The stairs were rocks cut into the very side of the mountain heading steeply up, up and away.  We climbed them for a bit and then stopped at a landing where hikers must register in a logbook.  You could just imagine all the men climbing along this same trail a hundred years ago in search of their fortunes.

          We got back into our car and were heading along the White Pass road into the Yukon.  We drove for miles and miles passing nothing but beautiful scenery.  You wouldn’t want car trouble here.

Chilkoot Trailhead. Those steps are steep!

  We arrived at the summit and the mountains that we had looked up at earlier while we were at the trailhead were now here among us and we could look down into the valleys far below us.

           We arrived in Canada.  All along the road there were avalanche warnings and all these red metal rods like upside down hockey sticks every few metres.  We figured that if rocks began to fall, it would hit one of the warning markers shutting the gates at the beginning of this stretch of road and setting off the emergency system they had in effect.

     A few minutes later we arrived at the “Welcome to Canada’s Yukon” sign where we got out of the car, did the obligatory posing for pictures and then my husband saw our little boy picking up a rock.

  He assumed that he was taking it home as a souvenir, like children do.  He told him to take a few to which the child replied that he had four already “in case I miss.”  In case he misses?  My husband couldn’t figure out what he was talking about.  Finally he asked him and he excitedly told his father that when we were driving along the highway he was going to throw the rocks at the avalanche markers to see if he could set them off! 

 After much persuasion he left the rocks behind.  Rocks being thrown out of a speeding car on the highway are NOT a good thing.