Gateway To The Klondike - Skagway Alaska

Skagway, Alaska (72 degrees, blue skies, windy, great weather)

It's Skagway's Gold Rush history which makes this city so fascinating. We have really enjoyed our visit and we immersed ourselves in finding out more about what happened during this time period (1898-1900). Over 11,000 cruise passengers disembark here everyday and overwhelm the main street and shops. However, this is small compared to the 100,000 men and women who arrived during the Gold Rush hoping to get rich. Only about 70 of them actually did. The rest definitely suffered many hardships trying to do the same.

Most of the buildings in Skagway are original along an eight block area on Broadway. There are lots of shops and restaurants and most everyone has arrived for the day by cruise ships.

Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park

Ranger Cayla

We signed up for two walking tour at the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park. Both our rangers did an excellent job telling us about the Gold Rush times. Our first tour was downtown and Cayla gave the best interpretive program I've ever watched. She really was so dynamic and included everyone in the talk. She told us how newspapers glamorized the discovery of gold in the Yukon and lured thousands of people who were convinced it would be so easy to strike it rich. Few of them did. In fact, most found after this arderous journey all the claims had been staked and they were out of luck.

First home in Skagway

We stopped at several historical places as she continued to weave the story. These tours are free and can be signed up for in advance with Reserve America for $3/booking. Or if you go early in the morning it may be possible ti get a ticket. We ordered ours in advance.










Our second walking tour did not require a reservation and went out to a ghost town called Dyea. This was once a bustling boom town and Tlingit community during the gold rush. Now it has mostly disappeared and been reclaimed by nature. This is also near the famous Chilkoot Trail. It was an alternate trail used by the prospectors to haul their ton of food and goods over the mountains. Our ranger also did a great job telling us about the town We were astounded to hear of the long pier which the prospectors had to hustle their good down before the tide came in.

All that remain of the pier

Teddy (our jeep) sure enjoys exploring this area

Wild Iris

The drive out and back to Dyea from Skagway is breathtaking.

Skagway and the harbor

On another day we also drove out to the Gold Miners Graveyard. Here we found the scoundrel Soapy Smith's grave. He conned probably one too many people in Skagway. Frank Reid who was thought to have killed him died a few days later and was considered a hero by the town. Note the difference in the size of their tombstones.  

Soapy's gravestone

Frank Reid's grave

Pretty waterfall named after Reid

John thinks there may be gold here..What do you think"

On our last day we attended a Summer Solstice Party at the Jewel Gardens. There was food and music and glass blowing demonstrations. The gardens are in a bit of a disarray but we had a good time with the locals.

Campground Review:  Garden RV Park, 3 star, full hookups, no WiFi, flat gravel pull through sites, no shade, on outskirts of downtown. Owned by the city and could use some attention.  Very friendly manager, Verizon signal was weak but good downtown,

Our visit to Skagway was so much fun and packed full of history. Tomorrow we take a ferry from here to Haines. 

Salt, Societies, and Spirituality - A Visit to Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument

Mountainair, New Mexico (very chilly, high 42 degrees, low 20's, clear blue skies)

"Listen to the wind,

it talks

Listen to the silence,

it speaks

Listen to your heart,

it knows."

Native American Proverb

ABO

One chilly morning we ventured out with our visiting friends Fran and Randy and went on a all day tour of the Salinas Pueblo Missions which are a part of a National Monument. They are not all together but spread out over a very scenic part  of New Mexico. It's an all day adventure but easily done with a good map and an early start. 

ABO

ABO

John, Fran, and Randy with ABO in the distance

The title of this post is taken from the parks website and it aptly summarizes what happened at these three beautiful missions. Here you can see ruins of churches operated by Franciscan monks which were  built by Tompiro Indians in 1150. The Pueblo Indians were the most recent residents.

We visited all three pueblos starting with Abo, then went downtown to Mountainiar visitor center to watch the historical film, ate a delicious lunch at a cute coffee house, and then on to Quarai, and finally Gran Quivira.  

This valley eventually because a major trade center with over 10,000 inhabitants. They traded pinyon nuts, maize, salt, pinto beans, pottery, and cotton goods for meat and hides. 

Quarai

Canyon  Towee

I won't go into all the history but it's important to know that  many cultures lived here including Nomadic Indians as far back as 20,000 years ago and later the Mongolian pithouse dwellers. The Spaniards eventually tried to settle this area and built churches to convert the Indians to Christianity. This clash of culture did not always go well. Eventually famine, lack of water, and relentless raids from the Apaches finally drove them away in 1670's never to return again. 

Gran Quivira

This is a very helpful map from the park website which shows the locations of the missions. It was a great road trip and the architecture was magnificent against the blue skies. We all thought these walls had many stories to tell. 

Craters of the Moon - "I don't know where I wanna go when the volcano blows"

Craters of the Moon near Arco Idaho (101 degrees, HOT)

Jimmy Buffet's song Volcano definitely danced through my head during our visit to this National Monument in Idaho. 

"Now I don't know, I don't know, I don't know

where I wanna go

when the volcano blows"

This vast ocean of lava must have had a very violent past 2000-7000 years ago. The lava field extends for 618 acres and it's  an amazing place. This is a must see National Monument in our opinion.  

Stop at the Visitor Center first to get recommendations for trails and to obtain a pass to go into a lava tube. There are five tubes to choose from with varying degrees of difficulty. The pass is just a safety precaution to reduce the chance of spreading a fungus from other caves which kills bats.  

Art in the park

Supposed to replicate going through a lava tunnel

This time of year it was certainly essential to go early and take lots of water.. It get very HOT HOT HOT in the afternoon. The only cool places are in the lava tubes. For the most part it's a very inhospitable landscape and the few bits of vegetation which get a foothold are delightful. These little flowers are the very definition of perseverance. 

Over a two day period we went on four trails and explored one lava tube. The trails are very well maintained with lots of informational signs. Broken Top Loop Trail is a great one for birding.

Buckwheat wildflowers

This is the trail to the Indian Tunnel - the most accessible lava tube. It's a half a mile trail each way in the hot sun. When we reached the tunnel there was a metal staircase going part of the way down. The rest of the way you pick among the rocks until you get to the bottom. A walking stick and flash light come in handy.  It is cool and delicious under the ground.

A lava tube is formed by flowing lava which goes below hardened lava. The molten lava pours out and  a very cool tunnel is left after everything hardens. In places you could see where lava drips were  almost frozen in place. 

The tunnel extended for quite a distance. The ceiling of it had collapsed in places making it easier to see. My pictures do not show  how large and tall the tunnel was to explore. John went further in than I did. Its a little challenging for me to pick among the rocks in the dark. 

The next day John went back looking for some birds in the area and added two new ones to his life list (Brewer's and Vesper Sparrow). Pretty cool. This is also the first time we have visited Idaho. We will be in this state for about a month.

We stayed in at Mountain View RV Park about 20 minutes from Crates of the Moon. The campground at the monument is closed and under construction. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay here and highly recommend it. They offer full hook ups and have a Good Sam discount ($38/night). Best of all there is a very small restaurant on the premises. They smoke some very delicous  BBQ beef ribs and even have craft beers on tap. We ate there all three nights!  The owners are very friendly and take very good care of their place and campers. 

The NPS service says the monument is about due for the volcano to blow again. On average it's happens every 2000 years and it's been more than that now. We managed to dodge that occurrence. So in case you decide to go...you've been warned. I'll leave you with the last verse of Jimmy Buffet's song. 

"No time to count what I'm worth

'Cause I just left the planet Earth

Where I go I hopes there's RUM!"