Skagway AK

Yesterday we had a full day of activity here in Skagway. We started off by going to a film and lecture at the National Park office. They talked about the Chilcoot trail that the "stampeders" had to climb to get to the gold fields. Most of them got dropped at Skagway and still had to make it another 500 miles to Dawson Creek.. Thats like landing in San Diego and having to walk to San Francisco in steep mountains, snow up to 20 feet deep, and carrying 2 tons of food and supplies (a years worth of supplies)with temperatures at times 40 degrees below zero. The RCMP (mounties) stipulated that the prospectors had to have a years supply of food so they wouldn't all get to Dwson City and starve. The sad part was that when the majority got to Dawson City they found that all the gold bearing lands had been claimed and many full scale mines were already established. After all they had endured to get there many spent a few days at most and then went home.
Atnoon at the RV park the staff put on a little play about how "Soapy Smith" was gunned down by Frank Reid of the Vigilance Committee. Soapy Smith was the local outlaw running all the scams to cheat the few successful miners out of their gold.
In the afternoon we took a driving tour of Skagway, went to the foot of the Chilcoot Trail, visited the old graveyard, and a waterfall. Last night we went to a play "The Days of '98 Show" at the local Eagles hall.
It lasted until about 9:00. When we left the hall, which is in the middle of town, it was really spooky. It was still light and the sun was still shining on some mountain tips. The street was absolutely deserted. During the day there were thousands of people roaming the streets. Every day during the summer there are three or four cruise ships docked in Skagway with up to 5000 people each. The ships dock in the morning between 5 and 7 AM. At 8 or 9 PM they and all their passengers depart leaving the town deserted until the next day.
Today and tomorrow are free days with no scheduled activities.