An Alternate Method of Getting to Alaska...and Cheap Too

I'm writing the text of this post (Tuesday, June 14th) from Kathleen Lake (yes, yet another lake!) within the Kluane National Park in the Yukon. When we get a strong cell/data connection I'll post it with pics...this one may lag by a day or two.

It's a grey, rainy day and outdoor activities have been temporarily suspended so we're enjoying a lazy day in the rig looking out at this stunning landscape thru our 3 huge windows in the back (both sides and the rear are completely windowed)- we call it the IMAX room with just about 360 degree viewing. Pretty sweet...hats off to the designers at Lazy Daze, these windows are what sold us on this motorhome and we've yet to see anything else on the road that comes even close. I saw one motorhome the other day called 'The View' and there was only one single window in it that was about 18" square. We've got a very comfortable set up indeed.

Now, to the title of todays post.....

We left Skagway, AK yesterday and took the ferry over to Haines, AK. A short one hour ferry trip away, Haines was like entering another world. Skagway was a bit overwhelming for us with cruisers - 3 cruise ships were in dock when we left. These 3 boats cumulatively dumped about 3,000 tourists onto the streets of this tiny little town and it really sucked. We were driving down Main St and I kid you not it looked exactly like a summer day on Disneyland's Main Street. Clueless people wandering in the middle of the street, snapping photos of buildings that have been built with fake facades to make them look like they were built in 1897 during the gold rush days. Ole Walt Disney himself couldn't have staged this deal any better.

The flip side is that the locals are raking in tons of cash and I suppose that's a good thing for them. Talked to a gal serving us lunch and she said the next date that no ships are scheduled into Skagway is August 27th! Said she's looking forward to the day off when it comes. But, she makes enough cash here in the summer to support her plus college expenses for the rest of the year back down in Florida...hey, you do what you gotta do I say. A means to an end.

For all of my negativity on the place I say if you're able to get outside of the downtown tourist section of Skagway you'll find some epic and very beautiful countryside with interesting history to enjoy - highly recommended place to visit.


Skagway......

Now, back to the the ferry....it is run by the Alaska Maritime Highway System and is just about as bureacratic as it gets. If it only takes one person to do a task then lets assign 3 so that no one knows what the hell to do. It took FOREVER to load about 50 vehicles onto this thing...actual elapsed time was from 1:30 til 3:45 PM. The voyage ended up being OK - we saw some very nice scenery along the way and it saved us a 359 mile all land route drive to Haines.

If you're comng this way (and you most definitely should) best to allow a full day for this Skagway to Haines ferry operation (even though the actual trip only takes one stinking hour) and make reservations a day or so ahead of your planned departure date.

Seems an alternative way to get to AK is to put your car on a ferry in Bellingham, WA (just a scootch north of Seattle) and cruise up the Inside Passage on the ferry to AK. They call it the poor mans Alaskan cruise and we had a chance to check some of these guys out.

The ferry has a top deck near the bow section of the ship that they call the Solarium. It's a half covered, half open deck area that can seat (in plastic lawn chairs and chaise lounges) around 40 people under the clear roofed cover and room for about a dozen or so 4 person tents in the open area.
You should have seen some of the elaborate methods these guys used to secure their tents to the deck with tape, bungee cords, etc - MacGyver would have been put to shame.

I'm not sure what the costs are or how long it takes to get to AK using this mode of travel, guess I could look it up on their website. I recall briefly researching it for our trip and I quickly did the math and seemed like it was a lot more expensive than gas costs, plus you miss some great scenery and meeting wonderful people along the road like we have.

Now, if you're 4 young folks in a van and can split it 4 ways and sleep in a tent on deck I'm guessing it would be a good deal and most likely a hell of a lot of fun. Just don't plan on doing any drinkin', druggin' or camp stovein' for a few days....


I'm wagering you're not going to find a sign like this on any deck of the Royal Carribean Cruise Liners going to AK....

We had planned to do a lot of boondock style camping on this trip and surprisingly did our first roadside hang last night outside of Haines. It was SO beautiful and beats the hell out of any RV Park/Campground...from what we hear many more opportunities like this will open up for us in AK, we can't wait.



Went into Haines last nite for, in no particular order - cash/ATM, groceries and liquor - it would be more convenient to have all of these in the same store, but noooo let's spread them out all over town. Did however give us a chance to check out Haines, AK. Visited the local Haines Brewing Company for a taster. OK beer but the locals inside exuded a very negative vibe, kind of felt this way all over town. Quoffed a quick one and returned to the peace, beauty and solitude of our roadside boondock.

Drove up the very fine Haines Highway today from Haines to Kluane NP. Started off in Haines with coastal scenery smack full of estuaries, marshes, eagles nests, white swans, roaring rivers fed by glacier melt and then up and up into full on glacial mode....way too many glaciers to count but all unique and all extremely gorgeous. Topped out at the Haines Summit amongst alpine tundra landscape and harsh volcanic crags, lakes, waterfalls - the full nine yards. Probably the prettiest and most geologically diverse terrain I've ever seen, all smushed into 130 miles. I've said it before and I'll say it again...this place is unreal!

Staying the night here at Kluane NP Kathleen Lake Campground (looks like we're the only site occupied of 40 sites available) and will do a 5 mile RT hike to see Rock Glacier in the morning (weather permitting of course) and then we're off to points north......heading towards the US border crossing at Port Alcan, AK and then on into Tok (pronounced Toke), AK.

Cannabis legislation was just passed this year in AK, wonder if you can find any weed for sale in a town named Tok?

Your intrepid observer will dutifully report back to you all on that one.
Stay tuned....