Alaska cruise - Skagway

We woke up to a beautiful clear day, perfect for exploring Skagway.  Kip and I had planned a long run, John went on a big hike, and Bob and Cherie rode the White Pass train, so everyone was excited to have some big views.

Ah, lovely Alaska mountains.  Much of this post will just be more of this:

Kip and I started our run by crossing over the Skagway River heading west:

Playing around at the workout stations on Yakutania Point:

We climbed up to Dyer Road, happy that the trails connected to it:

Later we found a paper trail map that is quite excellent - I had searched all over online for something of this quality.  Here's a piece of the map, in case it helps anyone else in the future:

(Next time - AB Mountain!)

Such a pretty morning, happy to be here:

I've not heard of a "trail unit" before, neither have I seen this particular pose - there was some giggling involved:

The road bridge at the Chilkoot trailhead:

Yay, we made it to the Chilkoot Trail!

Someday maybe we'll hike more of it, like to Canada:

For now we were happy exploring the first several miles:

Following the Taiya River:

Bridge monkey:

I'm guessing I took this picture because I'm happy it's not poison oak?

Having a fun running day:

Kip looks excited, I'm not so sure about this:

Just to be safe?

The funny thing was that there was no warning sign coming from the other direction, so on the way back we ran across together.  We noticed it once we had crossed back, wait what?  Guess we got lucky!  Or maybe they are exaggerating just a little...

We reached our goal of running to the beaver ponds and still had a bit of time to explore that section before turning around:

Checking out the materials that were staged for some trail upgrades:

Beavers have been busy:

A new boardwalk trail, very nice, and very long - I did a pace count, can't recall exactly what I calculated but I think it was over 200 meters:

Multi-tiered beaver dams, sort of a beaver mansion:

Yep, definitely beavers:

Yay for a fun trail run!

On the way back we spotted some rafters on the river:

We had noticed a little campground cafe that appeared open, so we stopped in on the way back.  They didn't have much (it was late in the season and early in the day) so we decided what the heck, let's try an Alaskan beer or 2 (it was good!).  Maybe that makes us "real trail runners" now:

Admiring the braids in the river as it makes its way toward the Pacific:

And admiring this little truck from Austria, very cool:

Some kind of camp that might be part of a shore excursion party/cookout?  Good for a funny pose at least:

And another pose - not sure what these are:

I'll never get tired of the scenery:

Running down to Yakutania Point:

More monkeying around:

Almost back "home":

We were happy to have a full day docked at Skagway so we could wander the streets and pop into several shops.  Beards sure do get around!

Local wildlife (since I hadn't been able to get a good photo of the real ones we saw):

Public art:

OK, so there must be another thing called a "dolphin" that I'm not aware of.  At least, I hope so:

John did his own version of walkabout, up into the hills to the east of town.  I'll let him describe it in pictures:

He wins the elevation challenge of the day!

We need to come back for more Alaska mountain hiking:

Maybe with an RV or travel trailer...

Thanks for the great photos, John!

And thanks for an excellent long run, Kip!