Saturday, Skagway

Today we did only a short drive around to the next inlet where the site of the booming gold rush town of Dyea (prounced Dye-ee) lies on the Taiya River. It is cloudy and windy with spatters of rain, sorta like October in Hood River, which discouraged lingering very long outside the car. But we stopped at a few places for some photos. This first is from across the valley that Skagway lies in, looking back at the town. The Klondyke Highway and Skagway River are in the foreground.

This (below) is the Taiya River, looking back towards the townsite of Dyea. That is mostly spruce forest, with cottonwoods along the river.

This (below) is looking the opposite direction along the tidal river towards the inlet and the sea.

This is Dyea (below). Nothing is left of the town of 10,000 that stood here a hundred years ago, except for some pieces of stove pipe and part of the false front of a store that is currently propped up with some 2 x 4's. The forest has reclaimed the site, but there was a great trail where we walked back into the forest. The park service had warned us of habituated bears in the area but didn't tell us what to do if we saw one. It would probably have been an occasion for one of Patrick McManus's "Full-bore Linear Panics," however the occasion didn't arise. In fact, we saw no wildlife at all, although I think I will go looking for one of the little creeks that flow through the town where spawning salmon are now visible. I'll let you know what I find.