Day 4 - Skagway 1, Dewey Lake Trail
Skagway: a tiny town in the middle of nowhere that lives solely on the backs of the cruise ships that stop here.
At the peak of Gold Rush it was the biggest city in Alaska with population of about 8,000 - the main port where prospectors were coming by steam boats and then making their way to Yukon. When everything crashed the city nearly died as many other in that area, but was saved by a few people that wanted to preserve the local history. The main street still has the original buildings for the most part and some of them even house the same businesses that were there before.
Main street: it was quite early, so stores were still closed and no people. By the time we got back from the hike the street was packed. In the background is out ship:
In Skagway we didn't need a car at all - Dewey Lake trail starts a 15-20 min walk from the ship. Directions there are a bit confusing, "follow 2nd Ave to the end and turn North after crossing a creek" means "follow 2nd Ave to the East end and turn left right before the rail tracks". Yes, there is a creek too, but it is small, and tracks are much more visible. Plus depending where exactly your ship docks your "end of 2nd Ave" might be in different places. Not that anything there is too far, but still :))
Here is a map, in case anybody wants to find the place without asking locals for directions. None of our phones worked there, neither as phones, nor as gps devices, so, it was back to basics - writing directions on a piece of paper :)
There is a railroad that is also from the time of the Gold Rush era though by the time it was completed it was too late - there was no need for it. Then it was used to transport ore to the port, during the WWII it was used by the US Army, then in 1982 the world metal prices plummeted, mines closed, and all trains stopped. In 1988 the railroad restarted as a tourist attraction and still works today.
There is a manual switch close to the start of the trail. Local engineers had to modify all Alaskan switches as mooses like to scratch their sides on these and were moving the handles. So a pedal was added - now in Alaska, unlike everywhere else in the world, one has to simultaneously push a pedal and pull the handle to work the switch.
The trail starts with a pretty steep climb for about half a mile and then levels at the top to hike around a lake (another 3 miles).
The climb up:
The flat part:
There are signs and the path is parked, so it is pretty hard to get lost there:
The forest here is very different from the first two stops - no moss, almost all trees are evergreens, so it is much brighter.
But some birches are still managed to live here:
On some other trail showed the kids birch brackets (Piptoporus betulinus, древесный гриб), but here managed to find one that fell off:
The forest around the trail is being cleaned out, dry fallen trees are cut into logs and put into piles along the way. I am not sure if these are supposed to be used as firewood at the BBQ sites (there are 2 or 3 there) or have some other intended use.
For some reason a lot of evergreens in Alaska are leaking sap. Sure, I have seen it before a bit here and there, but on this trip it was happening on every hike - there would be a tree or three with some bark missing and the beads of sap on the trunk.
The lake itself is absolutely gorgeous!
At one end of the lake there is a run-off that powers the local electro station:
And every open space by the is covered with flowers.
