Valdez To Skagway

[akfxdl]

When I told the wife we were going on a 5 week vacation she said ‘Great”. Then I told her we were going to spend part of the trip on a cruise ship she started to get really stoked. I left out the part about traveling 6800 miles on the Ultra Classic, and the minor fact that a “Cruise Ship” would be a trip on the Alaska State Ferry. I figured I would handle those minor details and questions when they came up. Just use the phrase “Are we having fun yet or what?”, then claim you can’t hear the answer because there must be something wrong with the intercom….it works. It works because my wife is one heck of a great sport
The trip from Valdez to Skagway covers around 750 miles, so we decided to travel 470 miles the first day to Burwash Landing, and the next day to Whitehorse and down to Skagway
We had good intentions of starting our vacation trip bright and early. You know what they say about good intentions, yup out the window. It is hard to leave “early” when you were up until 0230 in the morning. Good thing the Far North has 23 hours of daylight, that way you can leave your house at 1100 (early) and ride until 2200 and never ride in the dark.
Another of our good intentions was not to let the drizzle get us down, “Why put on the rain gear too soon honey, the sun will come out by the time we get over the pass?”

Well 60 miles up the road sure enough, out came the rain gear, and the camera got stowed in a dry place, so not many pictures from the first day.
The road is somewhat paved all the way to Skagway. I say some what, because there are large sections being repaved. About 70 miles of the 320 miles of Alaska roads were under various states of construction due to the earthquake damage from 2 years ago and just general maintenance. The Yukon sections were as always “under Construction”. After one stretch of about 15 miles of gravel mud and dirt, I almost thought the Electra Glide might not make a bad dual sport machine….with a few modifications.
We had lunch/dinner at Fast Eddy’s in Tok. We also waited out a thunder storm during our lunch/dinner, I recommend Fast Eddy’s for either.
Knowing we had at least 230 miles to go we put on our rain gear during a lull in the storm and headed south to the Canadian Border. We got to our destination of Burwash Landing around 2130 and after a couple of cold beers it was off to sleep knowing the next day would be bright and sunny.
After breakfast we packed the bike and suited up in our rain gear to slog the next 172 miles to Whitehorse. Luckily there were some breaks in the weather so out came the camera.


Here are a few photos to give you an idea of the road conditions….just remember pot holes, frost heaves and road construction is the Yukon’s way to enforce the speed limit.




From Whitehorse to Skagway we also had a couple of breaks in the weather so we got a few more photos.




I will never forget the beauty of coming over the pass and heading down into Skagway. I just had to pull over and take a photo, but as you can probably tell it doesn’t do it justice.




Finally we arrived at Skagway, we took off our rain gear, explored town, had dinner, and
prepared for the next leg of our trip, the Alaska State Ferry ride to Prince Rupert B.C., or as I like to call it “The Cruise Ship” leg of our vacation.

As all women know, men don’t stop for directions, and if they do the get them wrong !

The wife decided this was the way to find the Real Dudley Do Right

Actually this big bad snow blower used to clear the tracks on the Rail Road from Skagway to Whitehorse. The entire steam engine was used to blow snow, she had another locomotive pushing her into the snow drifts

After exploring town we went out to dig up some old friends

The Graves of the famed Soapy Smith, and Frank Reid. Frank shot and killed Soapy in a gun fight, however Soapy shot Frank in the groin, and mortally wounded him. It took Frank three days to die. The town was so happy that he had killed Soapy, they made sure he had a good funeral and a nice headstone.

Frank’s toumbstone reads “He gave his life for the honor of Skagway”

Finally around 2200 we lined up to get on the cruise ship…uh Ferry.

[Chocoholic]

Oooo that's a nice trip you had. Great pixs too.

[Loki]

Wonderful report and photos. I'd stop for that flag person anytime. didn't you take any photos of your cruise?

[Steve1962]

Jeff,
Nice report .
Being a Europhile , I can only droooool at the thought of a " 6800 mile trip " .
That snow blower was fantastic !

Steve

[Orson]

beautiful pictures

thanks for posting

[JimmieS]

Hey where's the rest of the story??
and Pictures??
Good stuff!!
Cheers!

[Papa-Ken]

Very nice story Jeff, I know there must be more to come from your ride in the lower states. I love your style of writing humorous. It fits your personality well. Tell us more..........Ken

[Ally House]

Nice post and pics. I am taking a cruise (a real one, not like the one you got to take) up thataway in two weeks. Thanks for the preview!

[akfxdl]

Thanks to all for the kind comments.

Ken you are right, after 5 weeks and 6800 miles there are a few more stories and photos.

Ally....unless the weather changes, bring your rain coat. Got back on the 11th of August and we have only had one day without rain...that one had fog. Are you just going to be on the inside passage or will you go to Anchorage and Fairbanks also?

[Ally House]

We depart Vancouver BC, go north to Ketchican, then Juneau, then Skagway, then Sitka, then Anchorage. There are a couple of "at sea" days in the middle of that. One of the ship Ketchican "excursions" is to rent a "late model" Harley, travel 50 miles on paved roads with a stop for coffee at some point, and return...all for the modest price of $350 for the rider and $150 for the pillion I think I'll take the $500 and put it towards an organized MC tour (my dream is New Zealand, but Alaska is right in the running). Any suggestions for "must see" stuff would be appreciated, via PM would be best, I think.