Going to Skagway for the mail
My normal mail pickup is just a short walk to the tiny historic post office in Carcross. For several years now, though, I’ve also had a PO box in Skagway, Alaska. The justification for driving 67 miles one-way to pick up some of my mail is easy – I use it for online shopping. While many online stores are located in Canada or at least will ship stuff here, many American shops will only ship within the States. I do a lot of buying and selling on eBay, and the justification is even easier there. Many of the folks selling the stuff I buy (Yukon-Alaska-Arctic material) won’t ship outside the States, and since many of the people who collect such things are not American, I get the stuff for a fraction of what I’d have to pay if non-Americans could bid!
The other justification is what I want to show you here – it’s an excuse to drive one of the most spectacular roads in North America, if not the world. The highway has been closed a few times lately due to avalanches, but I went down last Thursday afternoon, mostly to pick up some towel bars and such for our Whitehorse renovation project that had come in via UPS (which is Wings of Alaska in Skagway). The photo that starts this series is of the Bove Island viewpoint at Km 95, at 2:46 p.m.
A few minutes later I pulled over to do some shooting and caught this semi heading south at Km 87, site of the concrete foundations of the Venus silver mine from the 1970s.
The days are short, and by 3:00 when this photo was taken at Km 74, the sun was already getting close to the horizon, providing some great photographic light. Just off to the left at this point, Daniel Johnson has several eagles on display during the summer – well worth a stop, for visitors and locals alike.
Just over the hill from the previous shot, the view opens up as you drop down to Tutshi Lake. I often wonder if I’ll ever get bored with this drive – then always decide that isn’t likely. A few miles ahead is an unofficial camping area on the beach where I always stop to run the dogs when they’re with me (that’s usually the case).
Another treat for the fur-kids is that many of the Customs guards give them treats – to them a border crossing is just another take-out window! How many times have you heard of that happening at a border crossing Outside?
The weather closed in at the White Pass Summit, but there were still photos to take – in particular, I got some good shots of snowplows and semis kicking up lots of snow-dust. I didn’t spend much time in Skagway – I often have lunch at the Sweet Tooth Cafe, but my late start meant that that didn’t work. This shot northbound at Km 29 (near Summit Creek) was shot at 4:51 as the good light was disappearing. Well, the good light in terms of taking pictures on the fly without setting up a tripod.
I actually did stop for a few tripod shots, though this one at Km 46, taken after a fairly lengthy stop at Customs, was taken through the windshield at 5:19. This was one of those days that make it so I could never leave the Yukon.
After taking 88 pictures while picking up the mail, an awesome Northern Lights display began about 11:00, and I stayed up until after 2 shooting them (here’s one of those shots).This image was shot with a tripod-mounted Canon Digital Rebel XT with an 18mm lens, set to ISO 400 and exposed for 25 seconds at f5.6. 🙂
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