Skagway

Skagway is at the top of an inlet (fiord?) (fjord?!) and is notable historically for being a major debarcation point for the 1897 Yukon Gold Rush. It is in the US, on that curious narrow strip of land that separates Canada from the sea all the way to Juneau and beyond. We shall see more of this strip later on. We had not stopped at Skagway in 2002, but knew of it from cruiser lore, and decided to visit it to break up the Alaskan Highway monotony. Skagway would be a ghost town but for the US National Park Service presence there and the many Alaska cruise ships that, for a few hours, put in there. The town shuts down immediately after the last ship departs, about 5PM. Seriously. Really. If  you want a quart of milk you'd better find the grocery store before the ships hoist the Blue Peter. We stayed in the local campground. 

The road to Skagway became fairly scenic

Tourist train; a must if you're a cruiser: only way to see the beautiful upper 
canyon

Ghost signs on a canyon wall

"What do you mean, there are no doggie biscuits?!"

In the excellent Park Service visitor center

The Canadian government required all the gold-rushers
to carry a year's worth of provisions and equipment...1,000
pounds or more; I guess a carry-on and a day pack would
not have cut it

Two of the four cruise ships in town the afternoon we arrived

Industrial-sized snow blower; also makes hamburger

Popular saloon

Now on a hike, up the canyon a bit, beyond the giant faux nugget

To see the waterfall

And the gold rush era cemetery

Sort of a Haunted House feature

We'd see more of the Klondike as we continued on through the Yukon
and back into upper Alaska

Into The Yukon

We drove on, following the Alaska Highway, just as we had in 2002...remembering little because, well, for the first thousand miles or so, there is little memorable...

Mostly it looked like this

Every now and then, there would be another vehicle or an animal warning sign

Sometimes it was hilly

Always there were the intensely, relentlessly ugly and useless black spruces

Occasional mountains

Canyons

In this amazing photo, Vicki captures the emptiness, both fore and aft

But we are not alone...there were bears

And woodland bison

A small herd

At last we are at Watson Lake ("elementary!")

And its world-renowned Sign Forest; begun by a a homesick American
soldier in 1942; definitely something memorable

People vandalize and steal from their home towns to bring
signs here on their Yukon/Alaska pilgrimages

Acres and acres of hometown signs

After spending the night among the signs, we drove on  into
the Yukon, the scenery getting far more dramatic...

Into Canada

And so it came to pass that on August 8th--exactly one month after departing Cary--we entered Canada, via Eastbrook, into British Columbia, Pacific Time Zone.

At the border

Clear skies in Cranbrook where we spent our first night; high hopes for seeing the northern lights...

Beautifully restored '51 Mercury V-8

No Wallydocking in Cranbrook, but Canadian big boxes are a bit more
accommodating

Incipient badlands

Lots of varmint viaducts and critter crossings on the highly traveled
roads; rather fewer as you proceed north

Interesting formations

Didymo--aka rock snot--here in Canada, last seen
by us in New Zealand

Animal crossing modeled after Roman bridges

After three tries over two days to get into the Lake Louise parking
lot, this is all we saw; fortunately we'd seen it before...in 1972; in
Banff NP

Overflow RV parking at Lake Louise

It was tough, but we made it; and were to suffer worse in the Yukon

Into Jasper NP

A bit of the Columbia Ice Field, which feeds the Atlantic, 
the Pacific, and the Arctic Oceans

Lots glaciers hereabouts

Vicki driving

Interesting picnic table design

Logging is alive and well in BC

In Beaverlodge, BC

At official start of the Alaska Highway, Dawson Creek, BC

Vicki there in 2002