The Klondike 1998
- Yukon & The Alaskan Marine Highway -
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Page 1: Canada - British Columbia, Yukon.
Page 2: Alaska. Page 3: Canada - Yukon & Alaska - The Alaskan Marine Highway. |
Last Updated October 26, 2008.
St Elias Mountains in Kluane National Park, Yukon Canada.
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On September 11 we did our fourth border crossing, back in to Canada and Yukon. We did five crossings all together, on our
"Klondike" trek. We had spent the whole day in the van, driving, so shortly after that we stopped at Beaver Creek and put up our tents and settled
down for the night. We just had dinner and then went to sleep.
I woke up in the middle of the night still in the dark hearing someone screaming on the outside; EVERYBODY GET UP!!!! I don't think I have ever been so quickly out of bed before thinking; Oh my good what is happening? When I came out I found out the reason why. "The Northern Lights"!!! Even being a Swede I have never seen it before, and it was the most spectacular and beautiful sight I have ever seen. Trying to explain what it looks like is impossible. All these colors shifting way up in the sky. After that no one was able to go back to sleep again. |
Yukon - Kluane National Park
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We continued our journey to Kluane National Park where we were supposed to do some major hikes.
What a beautifully park that is.
We were supposed to be camping here as well but it was so off-season by now that the campground had closed so we rented a cabin instead. |  On our way out on the Auriol Trail. |
 View from the Auriol Trail. | In Kluane we went out on one of the most beautifully trails I have ever been on, The Auriol Trail. |
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The trail is about 15 km and we quickly split up in to two groups again. We didn't see much wildlife here, there was suppose to be some Black Bears there but the trail itself was so beautifully in it's autumn colors and it's snowy peaks that it didn't matter. |
 Me on a walkabout on the Auriol Trail. |
Alaska - Skagway
 My dreamhouse. |
We continued our journey to Skagway to enter the ferry for our 3 days ferry ride to Seattle
on the Alaskan Marine Highway.
On our way to Skagway we once stopped for a brake and suddenly there it was, the house in my dreams. The kind of house and location I would love to live in, maybe sometime in the future. |
The Alaskan Marine Highway
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I was a bit worried about this ferryride, that I would get really bored. To my surprise I really enjoyed it. We saw some beautifully scenery's and got some rest, which was needed at this point. |
 Mt Edgcumbe near Sitka. |
 Our neighbours, the backpackers, who put up their tents on deck. | We slept in the solarium on the ferry together with a bunch of other people, mostly backpackers, which didn't bother me at all, I slept like a baby the whole time. |
| Going by ferry for three days like this is just great and you are so close to shore all the time that you are actually able to see a lot of things. |
 Me and Mark in the solarium on the ferry. |
 Nicole, Lisa and Yumi saying Good morning from their beds in the solarium. | I believe everyone was sleeping very well. Sleeping outside with fresh air all the time can really make you sleep real nicely, well almost outside, we had a roof. |
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We had very good weather and most of the time I spent in a chair somewhere on deck with my Walkman
looking at the very beautifully views along the way, listening to my typically "Trektunes": "The Last of the Mohicans"
and "Passion" with Peter Gabriel, which is two of my favorouite cd:s. I always bring tapes with these two cd:s with me on Treks because they sort of give me the right spirit along with that they are very good. I usually listening to them over and over again, in the van and whenever I can. |
 This is me standing on the rear side of the ferry, with some snowy mountains in the back. |
| We also saw some really nice sunsets and sunrises on this ferryride. |
 Sunset when leaving Alaska and Yukon on the Alaskan Marine Highway. |
Sunrise one morning on the ferry on our way to Seattle.
Back in Seattle, Usa
 Mark, Nicole, Lisa, Amanda, Carolyne and me at Farmers Market Place in Seattle. |
So were we then on our finally day on our "Klondike" trek. We came to the harbour in Bellingham early morning on september 18, and from there we just had about an hour drive south to Seattle. In Seattle we went straight to downtown to spend a few hours, mainly to do some shopping and then straight to the trek hotel. |
| We went among other places to Farmers Market Place to see and smell all the good food. |
 Nicole and Yumi at Farmers Market Place in seattle. |
 The group with Steve San in the middle at the farewell party (I am taking the photo). |
Later in the evening we had our farewell party in the hotel bar.
We had a few drinks and then we sat there talking for a while until people started to take off and we said our goodbyes, which is always so sad.......... |
The Klondike group on the ferry to Seattle, August 24 - September 18, 1998.
Conclusion.
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Coming to Alaska for the first time is really a great experience, it sure is that wild and
untamed that everyone thinks. And the northern parts of Yukon and British Columbia is very
much alike Alaska, almost the same kind of wilderness, wildlife and fauna. The colors you see
in that time of year (September) is just spectacular, that intensive red and yellow colors I have never
seen anywhere else. In my opinion the "Klondike" trek is a really good Trek if you would like to see some real wilderness before it's gone. But be prepare for both cold and wet weather, along with spartan facilities if you go on a trek like this one. To me that is part of the attraction, I just love it when it is a bit tuff. You also have to be prepared to spend a lot of time in the van, many times on dirtroads, you do cover some long distances. We calculated it to that we had driven approximately 4753 miles when we finished the trek. |
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I wish to thank those in the Klondike group who sent me some of the photos that are included
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Last Updated October 26, 2008 - 09:15 CET.