Alaska P 8

MATC ALASKAN TOUR 2007

16 JULY 2007 TO WHITEHORSE

What a long day this was! Up around 5:00 AM as the boat pulled into Juneau in the rain. Breakfast at 7 o’clock — as soon as the dining room opened. Repacked the car with most of the things we had in the cabin and straightened out the mess we had made finding things.

Pat Richardson, our Tour Guide, came aboard with her assistant, Terry, while we were in Juneau. We had a meeting in the ship’s bar to allow her to brief the group on the tour. I briefed the Model A group on how we would operate and Jim Baker briefed on the trip from Skagway to Whitehorse.

Meanwhile, the boat was steaming toward Haines. Unfortunately, the ferry dock at Haines was not clear, as another ferry had more cargo than normal, so we would have to kill time — about an hour — before we could dock. During our lunch, the goat tied up in Haines. Our departure there was one hour late as was our arrival in Skagway. The ship’s crew wanted all the old cars to unload and roll off the boat en mass, so we were the last to load on the elevators. When our car, which was next to last on the elevator reached the loading deck, we found all the other cars lined up and poised to offload. So, when the last “T” was behind me, the parade into Skagway began.

It must have been quite a sight for the people in town! There were three or four tour boats in port at the time and the streets were teeming with pedestrians gawking at our cars. We made our way to the only gas station in town and began filling up. The T’s broke off from our group, as they were to stay in Skagway for a day. Since I had a tow bar, I was to stay behind our group of 15 Model A’s, so after we all gassed up, we, with the Olsons, sat on the street for 30 minutes to allow the others to move out in small groups.

I found that my Garmin GPS had maps of the area and it pointed the way to Whitehorse on the one and only road for that destination. About a mile out of town, we began a climb of about ten miles to the top of the White Pass at slightly over 3,000 feet. The climb required shifting to “second-over” )second gear in overdrive) to climb efficiently. Maybe pure second a few times! However, it wasn’t long before we were at the base of the clouds covering the mountains and then the fun began! Visibility was about 10 feet or less most of the time and were it not for the guard rails, I would have been at a loss to have known my location on the road. On occasion, the guard rail disappeared where there were turnouts which added to the “fun.” I had the GPS telling me the elevation and was glad to see it hit 3,000. Not long thereafter we saw a sign indicating 3,295 feet, I think it was. Fortunately, the clouds were mostly on the western slopes and shortly after topping the pass, the fog lifted.

The road was good and we were able to drive at 50-55 MPH most of the time, slowing down only for a couple of cars poking along and when we had the need to climb a grade. Not long after topping the pass, Jo and I spotted a moose in the brush beside the road. He ran off and was out of sight by the time the Olsons got to the spot. We caught up with our group of A’s at Carcross, a small village about two-thirds the way to Whitehorse. We were within 35 miles of our destination, so a quick potty stop and the purchase of a few snacks for the road and we were off chasing our companions who had departed as we arrived.

In about 30 minutes we intersected and turned onto the Alaska Highway and twenty minutes later were rolling into Whitehorse. I hadn’t been here for fifty years and didn’t recognize a thing. As we rolled into the parking lot of the motel, our group was heading out to the nearest pizza parlor. We checked in and followed them. Entering the restaurant, I noted the time, 10:00 PM and the sun was still slightly above the horizon! We didn’t get to bed until close to midnight, but outside it looked like maybe 6:30 back home.

From Wrangell to Petersburg, the ship must pass through a very narrow passage

The Wrangell Narrows as seen from the Dining Room windows in the stern

In the two pictures above, tour members converse while waiting on the car deck to get the word to start unloading

The Olson and Smith cars parked at Carcross on the trip to Whitehorse. Note the clouds above the mountains. On the Ketchikan side of the mountains, these came down to almost sea level and were the source of a foggy mountain crossing.