Sharp's Travels

Today was a full day. At 8:40 am Spike took us to the visitor’s center where we watched the film “Days of Adventure Dreams of Gold” and we had a presentation by a ranger on the history of the area.

We went to the post office to pick up our mail. We haven’t had any mail for about 3 weeks. We headed back to the 5th wheel to check it out and had lunch.

At 12:50 we met Spike at the camp office. He was dressed up a Frank Reid, a guy from the 1800’s that shot and killed Soapy Smith, a con-man from Skagway. A few people from our group were dressed in costumes also and they all put on a skit about the shoot out that killed both Frank & Soapy. Gay got lots of pictures of that.

At 1:30 we all carpooled for Spike’s city tour. The main street of Broadway is lined with boardwalks. The buildings all have false fronts on them, creating a unique atmosphere of an old gold rush town. There are lots of shops to check out.

We headed out of town towards Dyea to the Chilkoot Trail. This 33-mile trail was the route to the Klondike gold fields. Over 30,000 gold seekers toiled up its stair steps. Most scaled the pass 20 to 40 times shuttling their required ton of goods.

We all went up the first leg of the trail and signed the guest book. Some went higher on up the trail, including Gay. The stair steps were a combination of tree routs and rocks. It was a tuff climb.

We hopped in our cars and headed back down towards Skagway. We stopped at a pull-off to see an overview of Skagway from on top of the ridge. Spike supplied water and cookies for everyone.

Klondike Cemetery was our next stop. This is where Frank Reid and Soapy Smith were buried. We moved on out the back of the cemetery and up the hill to Reid Falls. The water comes barreling down the cliffs, just a beautiful site.

We had free time back at the 5th wheel. I fixed prawns and a salad for supper.

At 6:45 we hopped into Spike’s van and he drove us up to the Eagles Hall for an hour of mock gambling before our “Days of 98” show with Soapy Smith. Some of our group was pulled up on stage to join the performers in the show. It was great---the singing, dancing and dance hall girls.

Gay & I walked back to the 5th wheel. The wind picked up and it was cold. The fireworks were scheduled for 11:30pm. We bundled up and took our folding chairs down by the boat dock and watched the fireworks being shot off over the bay. It was a neat scene with the mountains in the background, the boats in the harbor and the fireworks going off over the water. They were done by 1200 am and we headed back to crawl into bed and get warm.

Gay has uploaded pictures of the day. See album: Skagway 7/3/08