Canadian Adventure- Part 5: Riding the White Pass Railroad & Laughton Glacier Cabin

Returning through the U.S. border proved to be even easier than getting into Canada, and after a few requisite questions about where we'd been and what we were bringing back (nothing), we were on our way.

We arrived into town by around 9:30 a.m. and stopped at the Mountain View RV Park we did laundry at on our last Skagway trip.  There, we re-packed for the trip to the cabin. There was a picnic table to lay our supplies out on and survey what food to bring.

Then we drove to the ferry terminal to leave the car until the next day. I had wondered about possible theft of our raft or bikes (the latter of which we locked to the car), but with people constantly coming and going it was about the safest place in town.











We hoisted on our backpacks and made the short walk into town to check in at the train depot for our ride to the Laughton Glacier Cabin. This part of the trip was the next most expensive, after our ferry tickets. The train ride cost $67 per person round trip to the Glacier, but at over 15 miles from town it was too far to walk for the time we had. And I was looking forward to riding the train.

Of course, the first thing we did was get on the wrong car. Fortunately, the train's employees are used to directing tourists all summer long and got us off that car and onto the right one. Just goes to prove that even "locals" can get confused. :)

Before we got on the train, a train employee took our backpacks for storing. We were also asked to show our passports, because although we wouldn't be going into Canada again, we still would be checked by US Customs on the way back into Skagway. And then we settled in for the ride.

The White Pass & Yukon Route railroad goes from Skagway to Carcross, Yukon. It's 67.5 miles one way. At Carcross, passengers (most from cruise ships docked in Skagway) have the option of taking a bus into Whitehorse or on several other excursions (read more here). We would only being going about 15 miles along the route to access the trailhead to the Laughton Glacier Cabin. 

    Waiting to board the train at the Skagway depot

           Railside                                                                                                      Warming up by the heater on the train  

Scotty and I have been here before, in early spring 2010. On that trip we walked the tracks to stay at the Denver Caboose. It's an old caboose available for reservations that has been converted into a cabin, complete with an oil-drip stove and a cupola sleeping left. When we stayed here the first few days of May, there was still patchy snow on the ground and the trains were one week away from opening for the summer season. 

Denver Caboose

On the train ride we could see the highway we had traveled just that morning across the river gorge. Below, white water rapids churned. The train's narrator told us that no one had ever successfully kayaked the the river. (He didn't mention whether there were any unsuccessful attempts.)

View of the river gorge between railroad and highway

Upon reaching the Laughton Glacier trailhead, the train stopped to let us off, along with another couple, who told us they were day-hiking up the glacier. Then, a man who had helped us off the train started to put up the folding steps to leave and we still didn't have our backpacks. "Um, we need our backpacks," we reminded him.

"Your backpacks?" He appeared mystified. We described the lady we had given them to. After a few minutes of of apparent searching someone finally brought them to us. Afterwards Scotty and I laughed at the awkwardness and agreed that it would have been very bad if they left without giving us our stuff for the night.

Laughton Glacier trailhead

The hike to the cabin was an easy one, only two miles away. We both noticed how well-maintained the trail was, with nice rock steps. Someone had done a great job of making it a nice one. Along the way we stopped to filter water from the fast-moving river. The water comes from glacier reservoirs in the mountains and was icy and delicious. Even with the stop, the hike took us about 45 minutes.

Hiking into the wilderness

As we approached the cabin we saw that we had company. Some people had started a fire down by the river on the hill below and we wondered if they would be there throughout the night. As we unpacked our sleeping gear inside, one of the guys walked through our front door.

A weird thing about cabins that I may never get used to is that they are open to public use during the day. Which means that between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. anyone can walk in and make himself comfortable. For a person who likes hanging out in their pajamas and drinking coffee until Noon on a random Sunday, this means I have to get dressed at an early hour. Scotty, in true sailor fashion, likes to be completed packed up by the time of allowed public use. But people who frequent the cabins are generally very nice and respectful and this guy was too. He told us he and his friends were working in Skagway for the summer (many young people are) and just out for a day hike.

As dinnertime approached a steady rain set in. The "pan-abode" style cabin is of a type of construction made for this part of the country and included a nice overhang of the roof  creating a dry front porch. We sat there and ate our dinner, listening to the rushing of the river.

Laughton Glacier Cabin

Check back Monday for a wrap-up of our trip and news of another upcoming adventure!

Canadian Adventure- Part 4: Whitehorse & Takhini Hot Springs

After seeing Atlin, we headed north to spend the night in Whitehorse, BC.

Sometimes, when Juneau is especially soggy outside, I like to look for hot springs we could potentially go to and some of the nearest are in Whitehorse. We were so close I just couldn't pass it up, so we decided to make the two-hour drive north. Plus, Whitehorse is right on the Alaska Highway, the superhighway of Alaska road-trippers, and we were curious enough to see a town we'd heard mentioned often.

The Alaska Highway, from where it intersects with Tagish Road to Whitehorse, wasn't quite as scenic as the other roads we'd been on (lets just say there were lots of trees). We reached Whitehorse around dinnertime. Our target destination, Takhini Hot Springs and Resort, was about a 20-minute drive past town, so we stayed on the highway, following directions in the Milepost.

Usually, we would have called to make reservations at that point, but since we entered Canada our cell phones had switched over to some strange roaming and Scotty received a text that we would be charged around $20 for using it ("Per minute?", we wondered), so we had turned our phones off completely.

There were a few turns onto smaller gravel roads before we reached the Takhini Hot Springs Campground. It was a pretty spot, with abundant deciduous trees, including my favorite, birches (they remind me of Minnesota, my home state). Though the campsite felt far from crowded, it was obviously a popular place and we got one of about four tent sites left. We thought it was a very nice site, though a bit sloped so we made sure our heads were facing "uphill" in the tent.

We got there around 7 p.m., starving, of course. So we grabbed out swimwear, camp towels, and a change of clothes, and drove over to the hot springs building, which has a connected restaurant. We surveyed the menu and ordered chicken wraps- I wish I had taken a picture because it was seriously the best wrap I've ever had in a restaurant. Instead of the usual chicken breast, it was dark meat chicken, crisply fried with cheddar cheese and spinach in a multigrain wrap. Yum. In the spirit of our trip, we each had a Molson's Canadian beer.

Then it was time to go for a soak.

In theory, I should have loved this part, but the pool was too crowded for comfort. There are two sections to the pool as this is a developed hot spring, with one side hotter than the other. The evening air had cooled down again, probably to the low 40s or high 30s and going from the pre-soak shower, outside to the pool took some shivering. Entering the pool was a relief, but we didn't stay long. There were just too many people for me to be able to relax and Scotty felt the same way.

From now on, I think we'll stick to undeveloped hot springs far from civilization or maybe only go to this type of place in the very off-season months. Takhini is open year round and maybe it is  less crowded in January. Just maybe.


Besides the crowded pool, we encountered another "surprise": the type of showers in the locker rooms. In both the men's and women's rooms there were only two, side by side in the open. So either you had to be comfortable baring all to an open room of people or continue to wear your swimsuit. Even then, the showers could only be turned on by pulling hard on a rope that hung from the ceiling. I had to practically hang from the rope to get it to go on, and then shampoo with ONE hand. Needless to say, after two days of camping and hoping to finally take a nice shower, it wasn't what I had envisioned.

We went back to the campground, tired, but glad to be (sort of) clean, then made another campfire and talked until the flames turned to glowing embers. We went to bed around 10:30, earlier than usual in order to get up early and be back in Skagway by 11 a.m. for a train ride out to the Laughton Glacier Cabin where we would be spending our last night of the trip.

On the way back to Skagway, we drove through Whitehorse. It's a mid-sized town of around 23,000 people, and seemed sort of deserted though it was very early, around 7 a.m. on Labor Day Monday. We only drove through as nothing was open yet.

Whitehorse sort of reminded us of Anchorage in that the town itself is pretty flat with only a few hills surrounding it and mountains far into the distance and the buildings were an assortment of two-stories and a few new-looking office buildings or hotels "downtown".  

Whitehorse, Yukon (Photo found here)

Before leaving town, we stopped for coffee and gas. On the drive we listened to the only radio station we could find, which turned out to be mostly classic country/ classic rock. Together, we cruised down that highway, no other cars in sight; it was a great way to start the day.

The drive back to Skagway took about two and a half hours. This was where we saw some of the most beautiful scenery yet. The lighting/ time of day and the time of year certainly added to the spectacular beauty of the land.

 

Carcross Desert, Yukon

I'll be back later this week with the final installment of our "Canadian adventure"- a ride on the White Pass Railroad and a stay at a really cozy cabin in the woods.

Canadian Adventure- Part 3: Atlin, BC

Can you tell from the signage Canadians are proud of their natural scenery? We were impressed, too!

                 Obligatory road sign pics: heading north on Highway 7 into the Yukon (me) and south to BC (Scotty)

After the border crossing our next destination remained uncertain, because besides knowing the general direction we wanted to head in, we hadn't made any reservations for that night or the next. But we had done enough Internet research to know there were quite a few campground options. And of course, it's a remote area where the bears probably outnumber people (I'm just guessing) and nothing to stop us from pitching the tent anywhere that looked okay (besides said bears).

We also had an important resource on our side: The Milepost (also pictured here).

Anyone who has traveled by road in Alaska or Western Canada probably owns a Milepost or has at least consulted one. In fact, a friend who reminded Scotty to buy this travel guide before we left, proudly said he had had his copy since 1976. Not typical, but then people who live up here really aren't normal in general. :)

In a nutshell, the Milepost gives mile-by-mile travel information, including camping, local attractions, restaurants, supply stops, and hotels. It also tells travelers distances, temperatures, amounts, etc. in both metric and U.S. standard units. Very helpful indeed, especially once we were on Canadian soil and all of the distances on the road signs changed to kilometers.

After our border crossing in Fraser, BC, we passed through the tiny town of Carcross, nearly deserted but for a small crowd of tourists who had taken the White Pass train from Skagway.

Carcross, Yukon

We drove onward heading north on the Klondike Highway and then turned east off the main road onto the Tagish Highway which would connect with Highway 7 leading back south to Atlin.

From the Milepost and some web searches, we knew there were several campgrounds with sites available on a first-come, first-serve basis. So we basically drove down the road until we saw the first campground. Named Snafu (an old army acronym, I now know), this place was nestled on the banks of a small lake and had some really beautiful sites that were already occupied. So we cruised several more kilometers down the road to Tarfu Campground.  Both sites are government run and campers are expected to self-register and put money ($12 Canadian) in an envelope. Scotty actually had some Canadian dollars in his wallet from tips on his whale watch tours and we just used $15 since we had no change. It was a sort of funny moment- something we forgot to consider that ended up working out.

Next to the self-registration booth was a big bin with bundles of firewood and though we didn't need any at that point it was nice to see it was available.

Our cute campsite at Tarfu Campground, Yukon

The view of Tarfu Lake below

Our campsite itself turned out to be perfect. We chose site #10 on a hill above Tarfu lake; as no one claimed the two sites nearby we had complete privacy. The only sounds were very faint music from a campsite down the road and the jingling of a dog's collar as it briefly appeared to check out the new neighbors.

That night we made dinner with food we brought from home, kept in a cooler and then cooked over our camp stoves (one white gas, one propane). We made a sort of Southwest omelet with eggs, cheese, seasoned beef, and tomatoes and refried beans on the side, then ate sitting by the fire.

While in the planning stages of the trip we discussed whether it might be too cold to camp and decided to either tough it out or get a hotel room as a last resort. But since I'm recently back from moonlighting as college student in New York City, this was supposed to be a budget weekend. Into the car went our down sleeping bags, fleece liners, silk liners, and the Mexican blanket. Yep, even though I live in Alaska I do not like being cold.

As the sun set over the mountains in the distance, temperatures dropped to low 40s and we donned hats and mittens. Fortunately, with down bags we were able to sleep comfortably.

The next morning we woke to sunshine streaming down and warming the walls of the tent. Though it was still cold enough to to bundle up while cooking breakfast, by the time it was done we had both removed most of our cold-weather clothing.

Scotty with his new Lodge dutch oven

Shielding our fire from the wind/ the unglamorous side of camping

We considered staying there another night, but eventually decided to go see the town of Atlin and stay in Whitehorse for a night, before heading back to Skagway. Going to Whitehorse meant the possibility of going to some hot springs there. That decision basically meant we were not going fishing, but we hadn't bought fishing licenses yet and were feeling rushed. In the end, we knew that we had planned to do a too much in a short amount of time, but promised I promised Scotty we would be back with the sole purpose of fishing and camping near Atlin.

Can't get enough of this scenery- the mountains and lakes seemed to go on forever

By 11 a.m. we departed Tarfu Campground and continued south down Highway 7 to Atlin. The views were amazingly beautiful. 

The drive lasted about 45 minutes (going 60 mph) and ended where the main road stops in a "T" with several other small roads. Turning west, we entered the town.

 The MV Tahrane, a historic vessel that used to take passengers along the lake in the 1920s and 30s.

At the edge of town laid Atlin Lake, and beyond it the mountains and an expansive ice field in their midst. Juneau was 90 miles southwest "as the crow flies" from where we stood. Atlin Lake is said to have some really excellent trout fishing, but with high winds that day, the water was so rough we would never had been able to safely go out in our dinghy anyway. "Now, if we had the Raa Wee [our boat]..." Scotty said.
                                                                                                     Atlin Lake, BC

We stopped at a convenience store in search of a cup of coffee and though they had none, we bought some Canadian maple syrup to take home. After that we stopped at a café with the idea of getting lunch, but we stood there for almost ten minutes and no one spoke to us, though we did get plenty of stares from the customers. And everyone in the small place (about 20 people) seemed to still be waiting for their food, so we left and came across this little place, Casey's, down a side street.

At "Casey's" food stand in Atlin

The man there greeted us warmly, made us each a cup of Keurig coffee, and went right about frying us some (cod) fish and chips. We sat and ate in the sun, enjoying the tasty fish and homemade french fries. Several people came by and said hello (it's a very small town). Even a cat came to sniff at our car.

Atlin's official vehicle inspection kitty...

... taking the job seriously.

After lunch we hit the road again, but not before stopping to take a picture of the town's welcome sign. And someone else, a man named Archie, pulled his truck over to talk to us, then gave us a postcard he'd made himself.

Postcard from Archie, Atlin resident

As it turns out, Atlin is a pretty friendly place.

Next up, a stop in Whitehorse!

Heading north out of Atlin: that's 98 kilometers

Canadian Aventure- Part 2: Checkpoint Charlie- Crossing into Canada

... or, "The Story of How My Boyfriend Inadvertently Saved Our Firewood from Confiscation".

Border checkpoint to enter Canada in Fraser, BC

Scotty and I have been through more than a few checkpoints together in our years of traveling and each experience tends to be "unique". Going through Canadian customs went like this:

One car from the checkpoint:

Me: Put the camera away! You're not supposed to take pictures!

Scotty: Oh, okay. (Takes one more picture.)

We pull forward and are greeted by a man who appears to be in his early thirties. He has short-cropped dark hair and is wearing a crisp, military-like uniform.

Border officer: Hello there. Passports please.

We hand them over.

Border officer: What is your purpose for traveling to Canada today?

Scotty: To go camping. 

Border officer: For how many days?

Scotty: Three.

Border officer: What do you have in the car? Any alcohol? 

Scotty: Nope.

Border officer: Any firearms?

Scotty: No.

Border officer: How are you going to protect yourself?

Scotty: That's what the hatchet's for. (Oh, Scotty...)

Both men chuckle.

Border officer: Any firewood?

Scotty: Yeah, I've got a couple bundles of wood.

Border officer: Where are they? (You can tell he already knows.)

Scotty: Under the boat.

Border officer: Can it come off?

Scotty: Well, it could...

Border officer: Okay. Just a minute.

The officer steps back from the car and surveys the car's truck bed and the intricate knots Scotty used to tie down the dinghy.

Example A

Border officer: Do you know that you're not supposed to take any wood into Canada?

Scotty: No, I didn't know that.

Border officer: Well, you're not supposed to. Don't bring any next time.

Scotty: Thanks, man. Have a good day.

Border officer: Cheers!

We drive away.

Scotty: The wood probably came from Canada anyway.

Me: What do you mean?

Scotty: That's where Alaska gets most of its firewood. (Good to know.)

This weekend, we're off to hike and spend a night at a local cabin, but I'll be back next week with more of our trip. Happy Friday! (Unless you're in the service industry and then, happy tip days, hopefully. :)

Canadian Adventure- Part 1: The Inside Passage to Skagway

Now that we're back in Alaska and I'm finally (sort-of) caught up in the rest of my life, I can't wait to share our most recent adventure with you: a four-day trip to the Yukon Territory and the Northwest corner of British Columbia! For those of you who might need some brushing up on Canada's geography (like me) here's a cheat sheet (found here):

The trip included some of the most gorgeous, expansive views ever, some surprisingly good food, and a bit of small-town curiosity directed our way... with a few compliments paid to the borrowed Zodiac tied to the top of the car. :)

Moon setting over the water, very early on the morning of our departure~ Statter Harbor, Auke Bay

But let me start at the beginning...

The night before we left we were up late putting the finishing touches on packing the car under the light of the blue moon. Spirits were high- after all, there’s nothing like a good old-fashioned road trip.

Since we live in Juneau, we had to take the ferry to Skagway in order to access the road to Canada. Which meant waking up at five in the morning on a Saturday- ouch. But a bit of coffee and excitement got us there well in time. Then, the drill is to go inside the ferry terminal office, pick up tickets, and return to your vehicle to queue up with the other cars waiting to board. You wait your turn until a ferry employee tells you to go and then someone checks your tickets and IDs before you can start down the gangway. Once you're parked in the boat, you need to take anything you might need or want for the voyage as passengers aren't allowed back into the car deck while underway.

A little side-story: While we were waiting to drive aboard, we watched an older man in line next to us attempt to start- and re-start- an extremely old truck; it finally revved to life and a few people cheered. But when he drove onboard the beast sputtered and died again; we watched as four ferry workers teamed up to push it into a easy-to-access spot in the corner of the ship's belly. Witnessing how these men all rushed to help push the old truck made me think about how in other places they might have simply not allowed him on the boat... another thing to love about Alaska.

The ferry route goes through Alaska's Inside Passage, an inland waterway made up of barrier islands and small coastal communities. With only one ferry per day going to each destination, there is no choice of which ferry to take (it's not like choosing between flights). The travel duration on our vessel, the Malaspina, took six hours and 45 minutes, including a stop in Haines to drop off and pick up more passengers.

Getting coffee in the galley aboard the Malaspina

After boarding, we got breakfast in the cafeteria near the back of the boat. It's sort of like a cozy, self-serve diner and where most people seem to congregate. 

After eating the "Chuck-wagon breakfast" it was time to walk around and check out the top deck.

                     

We'd taken our time eating and all of the reclining lounge chairs above deck in the heated solarium had been snatched up, but it wasn't raining so we curled up on the deck for a while with my well-loved Mexican blanket.

Just south of Haines, Alaska

By the time we got to Skagway we had napped and were more than ready to get on the road to Atlin. It was already two in the afternoon as we pulled out of town.

Skagway, Alaska

Klondike Highway near Canadian Border in Fraser, BC

The road to Canada is an adventure in itself. AK-98 N, better known as the Klondike Highway (in fact, most highways in Alaska are referred to by their names rather then numbers like in the Lower 48), runs parallel with the White Pass & Yukon train route out of Skagway through the town of Fraser, BC, and onward to Carcross, Yukon.

Here's what we saw on our first few hours on the Klondike...

Driving through the clouds near the border at around 2500 ft. elevation

Waiting in line to get through Canadian customs

I'll be back soon with more about the first stop in Atlin, BC and our sweet camping spot for the night. (We're definitely going back!)