Saturday, August 4th
Much to everyone’s surprise (especially the local Skagwegians), we woke up to a beautiful sunny day! We explored town a bit more, including a walk down to the cruise ship dock, where a new boat had unloaded its happy passengers earlier that morning. From the dock, we had some sweet views of the Tracy Arm. Then, we made our way back into town for some pan au chocolate at Glacial Smoothies and Espresso. Noticing an ad in the Skaguay Alaskan paper in the coffee shop, we stopped in a store nearby for a free train whistle with the purchase of some snazzy bear socks. In times of radio silence while driving through massive British Columbia, the train whistle certainly came in useful (without much success, we both attempted playing songs ranging from Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” and a smattering from Lonely Island).
After much hugging and a few high fives at the Attic, we started the scenic drive out of Skagway through White Pass, climbing some 3,000 feet in just nine miles and crossing the Canadian-America border one more time.
We crossed from BC into the Yukon, where we happened upon the deserted Venus Mill mining structure on Tutshi Lake. Built in 1908, it was meant as a last-ditch effort to try to mine silver from the lake, but it was unsuccessful. Later on we crossed through Carcross (from the original town’s name CARibou CROSSing) and then the Tagish Road onto the Alaska Highway for the third and longest stretch of our trip.
We made a quick stop in Teslin for gas and groceries before making a nice lunch overlooking Nisultin Bay just outside of town. With a full tank in the trusty Pilot and full stomachs, we covered a lot of ground before reaching the Watson Lake Signpost Forest. We meandered around a bit and made the necessary stops to check up on Chase’s two signs there. We skipped out on the Northern Lights Centre, deciding that we would just have to wait until our return to Alaska to see them again in the sky and not on film.
From there, we drove for a bit and started seeking out a place to rest for the night. Our first stop was place we will forever call mosquito land. We took a turnoff, hopeful for a nice spot, but it looped around back towards the Highway. We found what appeared a nice spot in the back of the loop, but after a few minutes of setting up the tent, we were swarmed with plaque-like quantities of mosquitoes and quickly decided to pack it all in and search for something better. We stopped in a rock quarry a few miles down the road that was still fairly mosquito-infested but a much better option for a place to make dinner and get some rest.
From there, we drove for a bit and started seeking out a place to rest for the night. Our first stop was place we will forever call mosquito land. We took a turnoff, hopeful for a nice spot, but it looped around back towards the Highway. We found what appeared a nice spot in the back of the loop, but after a few minutes of setting up the tent, we were swarmed with plaque-like quantities of mosquitoes and quickly decided to pack it all in and search for something better. We stopped in a rock quarry a few miles down the road that was still fairly mosquito-infested but a much better option for a place to make dinner and get some rest.
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