The Cassiar Highway & The Road Home

 We’re really getting close to the end now.  We are starting the long haul south.  I might have mentioned before, Alaska is a long drive, well we are really living it now.  We pulled out of our Skagway campground & are heading to Stewart, BC / Hayder, AK.

We will be on the Cassiar Highway for a while, first leg is to Nugget, BC, one of our longest trips, 306 miles.  An added perk is we are leaving cell service, Mica is bummed.  Stopped at Baby Nugget RV, no cell, no internet, Mica is really bummed.  Still heading south now driving 240 miles to an abandoned gravel airfield, because there are no towns on the way.  Burrage Airstrip is being used for helicopters at a logging camp.  We got there in the rain, so we just settled down for the evening, it’s a nasty chilly rain, no pictures either….Still no cell or internet, Mica is starting to show signs of withdrawal!  

The final leg to civilization is 148 miles to Stewart, BC.  Its claim to fame is it’s adjacent to Hyder, AK, a salmon spanning sight known for bears.  As we neared the valley Mica’s phone started dinging, cell service!!!  Mica is all back to normal, she did great this trip.  Normally there wasn’t cell service while on the road, but to overnight stops adding up to three days & nights of no cell was rough, for us too.  It’s surprising how much we use our phones & the internet.

Let me show you a couple of pictures of this part of the caravan.

At least there aren’t any frost heaves!  But let me tell you about the isolation of a trip like this.  After we were on the road a couple of hours from Skagway we were passed by an RCMP  (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) running lights & siren, followed by an ambulance.  Now remember we are almost two hours from civilization.  We come up to an Airstream camper blocking a curve along with a guy holding a stop sign, WTH?  So, we stop, and the traffic control guy walks up to us to explain the situation.  

Two motorcycles were traveling together, apparently rather fast, when one of them struck a bear cub that ran onto the highway, throwing the driver.  Keep in mind, no cell service. The guy in the Airstream is a doctor, how fortunate.  The cyclist was thrown forward and broke a number of ribs, one or two puncturing a lung.  The doctor had the other motorcyclist drive on ahead for help.  He went another 20 miles where he found a road construction crew.  They had a satellite phone and called Skagway for help.  (Injured motorcyclist has been down for at least 30 minutes).  The road crew sent traffic control to the site to help with traffic.  The RCMP & ambulance took over an hour to get to the scene, (now he has been down on the road for over an hour & half).  They assess the injury, confirm punctured lung and other injuries and decide they need a helicopter rescue.  They have traffic really backing up, so they start allowing us past.

About half of the caravan got through before they were stopped again for the medivac to land on the highway.   The injured guy wound up lying on the highway for over two hours.  Wow.  I remember getting lectured by my lieutenant for having a 10-minute response time!  The desolation of these highways in Alaska & British Columbia are mind boggling.  All the more reason to drive safely when on this type of trip.

But back to the Stewart stop.  We got to our campsite, unhooked and drove across the border to Hyder, AK.  First, some context, Stewart, BC is a bustling metropolis of 401 people.  Hyder AK is a whopping 12 people.  It is so big, they don’t even have a US Customs Border crossing, just come on in.  There’s nowhere to go.  Hyder is famous for Grizzly and Black bear viewing during the salmon spawning season at the Fish Creek Wildlife Observation Site. That’s why we are here.  There is a fully staffed ranger station on the creek, an impressive, elevated sidewalk with broad viewing areas.

You just sit/stand with dozens of other people & wait for the grizzlies to show up.  We weren’t disappointed.  

We found out that we were a little early in the season, in a week or so there will be 6-10 bears at a time fishing for salmon.  But still it was pretty cool.  The trip back to the RV required a trip through Canadian Customs, but it was pretty uneventful.

We spent two nights here, so we did make an additional trip to Hyder to see the bears.

Now the end is right in front of us.  We drove 165 miles to Hazelton, BC then onto Prince George, BC, 286 miles.  And it’s a REAL city!! Population, 74,000!  This is the final stop on the caravan.  We had a nice group dinner in town, then hugs & goodbyes in the morning. It was a bittersweet ending.  We made some really good friends & have some great memories.

Now the last crazy twist.  The caravan is officially over, but we’re still 600 miles from the US border.  We cut the trip in half staying at a rather aging campground in Spence’s Bridge, BC (292 miles) and hopefully the last 30-amp campground in a while.  We crossed into the US south of Vancouver, BC, unfortunately for us it was a Canadian holiday, so the crossing was insane, over three hours of bumper to bumper.  Plus, our big RV towing the Tahoe, in tight winding lanes…..

But we made it unscathed, went to our Harvest Host brewery in Tacoma, WA where we met our youngest daughter, Jackie, who flew out to Geocache & escort Mica back home.

So, here’s the answers to the questions.

Was it expensive? Yes, but we think it was worth it.  Our Wagon masters & Tail gunners took great care of us and all our arrangements, from camping to sightseeing to extra things to see & do.  When someone in our group had a mechanical issue, they had “the book”.  An updated list of reputable service providers for the whole trip.  Plus, if you broke down, they were right there to help.

Were there any extra benefits? There were so many excursions & shows that we would have never seen or done, from history, to musicals to a casino night. 

We did bus tours that included side trips & rides, that if I saw the price, we would have probably passed on it, missing that view or experience.  With the tour it's already paid for so just go!

Yes, it was worth it to us, so much so, we signed up to do a 59-day caravan next summer to the Eastern Canadian Maritimes.

Luckily for us we'll have the same Wagon masters & Tail gunners!!!!

Tail Gunners Ron & Judy  /   Wagon Masters Janet & Conrad

Skagway, Juneau & the Killer Whales!

Skagway, has a population around 1100, it's located at the northernmost point of the Inside Passage in Southeast Alaska, the streets are lined with wooden boardwalks and restored buildings, looking much as they did over 100 years ago.  We walked the streets and shops, maybe hung out at a couple of the micro-breweries, just enjoying the pace of the town.

We walked out to the original cemetery to see some of the graves of the original settlers.  We did see the graves of Frank Ried & Soapy Smith.  Frank had a nice fancy plot, Soapy the con man, not so much.  These two wound up having a gun fight in town.  Soapy died at the scene, Frank held on while.  Frank was heralded as a hero!

We even saw a grave for a US Marshall who was killed in the line of duty, just hours after his baby was born. here is the link to the Officer Down Memorial Page for him.

In the back of the cemetery there is a trail to a waterfall, so we took it.

A day of walking should be rewarded so we ended up at the Skagway Brewery.

Strange thing about this town.  It has had many changes over time from outpost to launching point to the gold fields to its current status, tourist stop.  Most of the town is owned by cruise lines.  The cruise lines supplement the businesses & employees.  There are always several ships in port and during the day the town is crowded.  But around dinnertime everyone gets back on the ships and the town is like a ghost town.  So, we started heading to the historic part of town and the cruisers left.

Of course, we had to take the Skagway train to White Pass Summit.  There were only two passes into the Yukon Territory and the White Pass was the least steep.  Rising 2,865 feet, the summit of the White Pass trail is fifteen miles from the shores of Skagway. Conditions at the summit were very harsh for gold seekers passing over the border into Canada.  Canada was having problems with gold seekers arriving at the border severely unprepared for the conditions and began imposing restrictions prior to entry.  Each team of gold seekers were required to have over a ton of specific supplies to cross the pass.  This required them to make numerous trips up and down the trail to stockpile their supplies at the top.  Imagine carrying two thousand pounds of supplies up a rocky winding trail climbing 2,865 in 15 miles.

Some carried the loads on their back and many used pack animals.  But these gold seekers were not professional animal handlers and blatantly abused the horses.  Over 3,000 horses were killed by this abuse; it was often called the Dead Horse Trail.  It took some pictures of portions of the trail that still exist. It is incredibly narrow and windy.  It's hard to imagine navigating it with pack animals or even on your own, especially when you remember it was a two-way trail....

The trail along the river

It's a rough rock trail.  Not even close to a smooth path

View down the pass.

The train ride was fun, magnificent views out the window, plus we could stand outside of the train car for fresh air & pictures.

We're heading for that bridge & tunnel

Thankfully, they built a newer bridge, of course when we saw that coming it was a bit of a shock!

A great train ride deserves a reward, so back to the Skagway Brewery.  The next day we are taking a water taxi to Juneau.

So, we boarded the Fjord Express service between Haines, Skagway and Juneau for the about 3 1/2 trip. The boat was a catamaran, with about 40 seats, like a wide airliner.  There were plenty of windows to look out and a large deck on the rear to sit out on and sightsee.  The captain pointed out wildlife on the way and we saw bald eagles and humpback whales.  They even served a light breakfast.  But overall, a little uneventful.

Juneau was mostly a shopping, eating & drinking day. Of course, no visit to Juneau would be complete without a visit to the "Red Dog Saloon" originating during the heyday of Juneau’s glorious mining era. 

The place was packed, so after a 30-minute wait we made it inside.  The floors had a 2–3-inch covering of sawdust.  Live music era dressed servers and of course the famous drink, the Duck Fart Shots, they are a layered shot with Kahlua coffee liqueur, Bailey's Irish Cream, and Crown Royal Canadian Whiskey. We ordered some and when it arrived it was a neatly layered shot.  Our server explained it's not a sipping drink so, "Quack, Quack throw it back!"

"Quack, Quack throw it back!"

The Duck Fart

Thick sawdust floors

After roaming around town, we headed back to the water taxi.  Here is where the adventure began....

Same water taxi company different crew.  On the way back the captain is talking over the speaker system.  Started out a typical boat ride, pointing out an occasional whale or waterfall.

Another glacier

Eldred Rock Lighthouse

Some sea lions chillin' on a buoy!

But then we came on a pod of eight humpback whales.  The captain pointed out that they were bubble netting.  He noticed a flock of sea gulls circling the pod like vultures, it's a giveaway to the bubble netting.  They swim on the surface together, then all get a big gulp of air then all dive together.  I tried to get a picture of all eight whale tails at the same time but failed...  Then they start swimming in an organized circle deep around a school of fish.  They start releasing air together creating a circular trail of bubbles, taking a barrel shape.  This is called the bubble net.  The fish get confused & stay inside the "bubble net".  The whales keep doing this then close the bottom of the "net" with bubbles forcing all the fish together and close to the surface.  Then the whales simply swim through the bubble net & crowd of fish with their mouths open and have a great meal!

Deep breath

Dive, Dive, Dive

Pop to the surface to eat!

And repeat!!

We watched for a while, but the water taxi needed to keep to a schedule so after a couple of netting sessions we continued heading back to Skagway.

About a half an hour later the captain noticed a pod of dahl porpoises. We thought they were going to swim along with the boat because they were swimming fast.  That was when we noticed the pod of Orcas, killer whales, behind them.

Dahl Porpoises have similar markings to the killer whales, black & white bodies.  The captain started explaining over the speaker system that the Dahl Porpoise can swim about 30 miles per hour.  The killer whales swim at 25 miles per hour.  He pointed out that the porpoises were more like sprinters and the orcas marathon runners.  It was becoming obvious that the chase had been going on for a while, about ten in each pod.

We are watching, trying to see what was going on when all of a sudden the captain SCREAMED over the speaker "O my God!!!" Right alongside the ship a huge killer whale came flying completely out of the water with a big porpoise in its mouth, bloody mist and water was flying everywhere.  Then all the other whales converged on the kill....  The other porpoise just seemed to vanish.

The crazy part of this story was that there are 40 people on this boat with 40 cameras, from cell phones to fancy high tech cameras.  We were all so surprised by the actual attack, NO ONE got a picture.  We have pictures right after the attack, pictures of the water all around the kill, but it was so shocking no one has a picture.  But what an experience!!!

After that, the rest of the boat ride was normal.