Sun, rain & snow on a drive to Skagway
I needed to go to Skagway yesterday to pick up a part that I had flown in for my RV, and it turned out to be a wildly varied day. It was -1°C (30°F) when I left home at 09:00.
One of the first signs that Winter is really over is when the lakes open up. Many of the people on cruise ships have been asking about Emerald Lake – the ice is very rotten and a good wind now will probably clear it. I shot this photo on Wednesday when I took the motorcycle for a 160-km spin, but it looked about the same yesterday.
The light at Windy Arm was wonderful, conducive to creating this mild HDR image of the scene to make it “pop”. There were just a few bits of open water along the shore.
I had Bella and Tucker with me so stopped at Tutshi Lake for a run. We’ve come to realize that Monty had a stronger influence on the pack than we knew – since his death, Bella has become quite disobedient, to the point where leash-free walks off our property have to come to an end except where there’s no possibility of getting into trouble. Tucker, as can be expected from a puppy, follows her bad lead. The ice piled up along the shore by the wind was beautiful.
Heading into the White Pass, with the temperature right at freezing, it began to snow, though it didn’t stick on the road.
The “Welcome to Alaska” sign at the border has been re-installed for the summer.
The unique William Moore Bridge is about to be replaced by an ugly concrete “dam” thing. It will be to the right of the bridge in this photo, and the rock bluff there will be blasted away to remove the fairly tight curve at that end of the current bridge. Construction will be starting soon.
With the first cruise ship arriving in less than 2 weeks, the shelves were being stocked in this new building across from the train station. It was a dreary, wet day, so I just took care of business and headed home.
The curve ahead is the one that will be blasted straight by the new bridge project.
The WP&YR rail line has been cleared as far as Fraser, and there’s so little snow that I expect that they’ll let Mother Nature take care of most of the rest of it all the way to Carcross.
One of my favourite spots on the highway, at Km 52, stopped me again for a minute 🙂
A reflection on a lead of open water along Windy Arm.
I never tire of this drive. Several of the mountain routes are already hike-able.
That’s Tutshi Lake and the beach where I run the dogs.
My initial look at the new campground at Conrad left me with a very negative opinion of it, so I decided to have a really good look around.
My summary now is that I have absolutely nothing good to say about the campground. It’s planning, engineering and construction are all hugely flawed. Only 2 of the campsites are even close to being level, and many are sloped in two directions. What kind of equipment operator can’t build a level pad?? What kind of supervisor would allow it to be left that way??
Yes, the view is wonderful, and should have deserved a well-built campground. There isn’t even any beach access, much less a boat launch – the superb and endless gravel beach is a couple of hundred feet through brush below these campsites.
Even the tables are very poorly built, and I expect some won’t last the first season.
Tucker and Bella don’t mind the leashes, and it’s a minor nuisance to me to keep them safe.
The tramway terminus ruins and mining company dock a few hundred yards from the campground. I expect that the old townsite and beach will continue to get plenty of campers because it’s a far better setup than the campground is, though our rig is too big to safely get in and out of there. Oh well, Conrad had potential, but we certainly won’t be going there.
I had been extremely happy with the service I got from Fleetwood to get the new levelling jack to me quickly, but despite a lengthy discussion with the clerk there about the clear error in their catalogue, it turned out to be the wrong part! When they re-open Monday, I’ll try again – at this point I’m out $1,200 and have a rig that I still have to level with wood blocks. Yes, roughing it! I leave in 8 days 🙂
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