September 13, 2005

Skaguay

This was our big day in port so I thought it needed it's own page. We woke up about 6 and we were already docked at the port. Jay got a quick breakfast. I was not about to have anything to eat at this point. We were going on a helicopter and I wasn't going to risk any motion sickness since I'd never been on a helicopter before.

The day was cloudy and chilly and looked for a while like it was going to rain. We got Marie and Dick and did the usual checkout to get off the ship. We all have plastic keycards that we carry and we use them for purchases that we make on the ship, to open our rooms and we check out when we leave the ship. No one is allowed back on the gangplank without showing the card. Then back on the ship we check in with the keycard which is inserted in a reader, then we go thru security just like in an airport.

So back to the story. We got off and we made our way thru the mobs looking for someone with a plaquart with our tour name/number on it. We finally found them at the very end of the line. We boarded the little shuttle and we were driven to the helicopter pad. Given a lecture on safety aboard the helicopter, issued life preservers and boots for walking on glaciers. After a little wait we were boarded aboard. We were boarded based on our weight to balance out the aircraft. Marie and I lucked out with the 2 front seats. She was in the middle beside the pilot and I was on the other door, with a window below my feet. Jay was on one side of the back and Dick was on the other side of the back.

Our Helicopter	Marie, Gail and Dick getting ready for take off
Denver glacier from the air	Denver Glacier from inside the helicopter
Denver Glacier	The toe of the glacier

We took off and from moment one, I was thrilled. He took us out over the bay and then turned into the mountains. He went straight up over mountains and down into valleys. It was spectacular!! He took us around the glacier and pointed out what we were looking at before he flew around to land. There were 3 guides on the glacier and as we got out of the helicopter, they handed out walking sticks. The helicopters took off and we were alone on the top of a glacier with no way out except if that helicopter came back to pick us up. A very strange feeling. The guide walked us carefully around <glacier are very slippery> and pointed out cracks and a couple of holes in the ice. One of them was 200 feet down and the other 300 feet down and you could see straight down to the end of the whole. The ice is blue for the most part. It has to do with oxygen not getting to the glacier thick pack and there for blue is the only color not absorbed. <??> The top of the glacier is quite dirty with blown dirt and pulverized rock dust and occasionally there are rock falls. We were on the "toe" of the glacier and about a half a mile away was the area of the glacier that is still growing. It's too dangerous to go on that part.

Denver Glacier from air	Looking toward the building glacier
Landing on the glacier	Our helicopter leaving.
Following our guide on the glacier	Gail on the glacier

Let me tell you at this point, it was cold on top of that glacier. The temperature was 38 but there was a wind blowing that made it seem much colder. My hands were cold because I didn't have gloves but other than that, I was comfortable. Then it started to rain, not hard just a little drizzle but it made things much colder.

Marie and Gail and the guide	Rock fall on the glacier-one rock forms a table
Gail and Jay	Jay on Glacier
Dick, Marie, Gail and Jay on the glacier	300 foot hole-note the blue ice
Taking off from Glacier	Coming in for a landing at the heliport

After lots of pictures, the helicopter came back with another group of passengers and we got back into the aircraft and flew back to Skaguay. What a great experience.

I've done this page a little different because there are so many pictures to share. I apologize if it takes a little longer to load.

Tunnel	Railroad bridge
Bridal Falls	Valley
Old Railroad Tressel	Sawtooth Peak

After we got back to the ship and checked in and went and got some breakfast, then Jay and Dick walked into town and I tried to read but fell asleep. Then we had to be back out on the pier to take the railway tour. It was a 4 hour train ride to the top of White Pass. Spectacular scenery. The tracks went along the very edges of the cliffs in more than one spot. The railway was build in the 1800s if I'm right and was basically built for the gold rush in the Klondike. Skaguay was the doorway to the Klondike. People loaded up with supplies and hauled them over the mountains. Before they were allowed into the Klondike to mine for gold, everyone had to have 2000 lbs of supplies so it took people many many trips to get the amount of supplies that they needed. At the top of the pass we actually were several miles into BC. The train looped around and came back down the same track.

Then we walked into Skaguay which is a very old town. It looks they kept the look of an 1800s town and refinished everything. We did a little shopping and then headed back to the ship for supper. The ship left dock at 9pm heading for Tracy Arm.

See Tracy's Arm

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