Valdez , Skagway, Juneau

In the last 8 days we covered nearly 1,000 miles working our way around the southern coast of Alaska. Valdez was our first stop. We drove down through the mountains, past spectacular water falls on either side of the road, including the famous Bridal Veil Falls. Once in Valdez we took a 12 hour boat trip around Price William Sound to do some whale watching, explore the coast and get up close and personal with a couple of glaciers. We came up a little short on whale viewing, but observed doll porpoises which can swim at nearly 35 knots per hour. To say the sound is beautiful would be an understatement. The boat trip took us out to a massive glacier, turned off the engines, and from a distance of about a football field we watched as the ice cracked, popped and calved, with huge chunks falling into the sea accompanied by explosive "thunder".

Much to our surprise we discovered that Valdez was not impacted much by the 1989 oil leak from the tanker of the same name. However in 1964 a massive earthquake caused the residents to abandon their homes and a new city of Valdez was built in a nearby cove. What remained of the original city was bulldozed and burned, A few buildings that were moved from "old Valdez" One again we feasted on fresh salmon (Cajun style) provided free by the campground.

We moved on to Skagway, descending 3,300 feet into the city through the famous Chilkoot pass, a nearly 8% downgrade 7 miles long. Skagway got it's start as a entry point for gold miners to the Chilkoot pass.

We drove out to the Cemetery in Dyea where 49 of the hundreds of hopeful gold miners were buried. A massive avalanche in 1898 buried hundreds of men, women, and pack animals on their way to become gold miners. This was a dangerous life, not only for the gold seekers, but for the folks who built the white pass railway which eventually replaced the dangerous trek across the pass. While blasting the right of way 21 workers were buried alive when the powder went off early. The railroad, not able to recover the bodies simply placed a Cross at the accident site, which can be seen from the train.

The town became infamous due to "Soapy Smith" a con man who literally ran the town. Between 1897-1898, Skagway was a lawless town, described by one member of the Northwest Mounted Police as "little better than a hell on earth." Fights, prostitutes and liquor were ever-present on Skagway's streets. The most colorful resident of this period was bad man Jefferson Randolph "Soapy" Smith. He was a sophisticated swindler who liked to think of himself as a kind and generous benefactor to the needy. He had gracious manners and he gave money to widows and stopped lynching's, while at the same time operating a ring of thieves who swindled prospectors with cards, dice, and the shell game. His telegraph office charged five dollars to send a message anywhere in the world. Prospectors sent news to their folks back home without realizing there was no telegraph service to or from Skagway until 1901.Smith also controlled a comprehensive spy network, a private militia called the Skagway Military Company, the newspaper, the Deputy U.S. Marshall and an array of thieves and con-men who roamed about the town. Smith was shot and killed by Frank Reid on July 8, 1898.

Today Skagway is a major tourist destination, with as many as three huge ocean liners in port at any given time, and others waiting to dock. Swarms of tourists from all over the world descend on this tiny town at the edge of a fjord. Shops and restaurants line the main street, some of which are owned by the cruise lines, waiting to trade trinkets, T-shirts, and other "collectibles" for the tourist money.

I was disappointed in the city, however our campground was far enough from the tourist traffic to allow us to appreciate the beauty of the mountains and water. We took a jet powered catamaran to Juneau,

Alaska's capital. Juneau can only be accessed by air or water. Juneau also relies on tourism, with as many as 30 ocean going liners passing through each month.

The trip out and back on the fjord was the highlight. Saw (and photographed) Humpback whales breach the water, communities of sea lions on the rocky cliffs, and brightly colored birds (puffins). A pod of killer whales swam past our boat hoping for a chance to get in on some the the salmon that were able to escape the fishing boats as they pulled in there salmon nets. When we left the boat we found a fishing vessel unloaded fresh Dungeness crab and we able to buy them for $6.00 each yielding almost 1 1/2 pounds of the best crab meat you will ever eat.

We are in the last week of our tour, and will be making our way south another 500 miles where we will say our goodbyes to the group and start our trip home.