Juneau Alaska - World Explorer Tours Go Off the Beaten Track
Beauty and historical significance lie off the main roads
Fourteen of us set out from Juneau in a de Havilland Twin Otter Vistaliner wheel-plane for a flightseeing excursion to Atlin, BC Soaring over navy blue glacial lakes, the Mendenhall Glacier and the Juneau Ice Fields, we flew into BC and were greeted by the spectacular site of the huge Llewellyn Glacier calving ice-bergs into the emerald coloured waters of Atlin Lake, the headwater of the Yukon River and largest natural lake in the province.
Soon we were landing in the town of Atlin, on the southern shore of the lake, and the most northwesterly settlement in BC Atlin was born during the 1898 gold rush and was once home to 10,000 goldseekers and outfitters. Now it’s populated by about 400 hardy characters who seem rather attached to this remote piece of paradise.
We piled onto a boat for a dinner cruise around the lake. The clear blue skies reflected on the blue-green waters of the lake, and we watched cormorants nesting on some of the small islands. As the sun began to slant over the mountains, there was a definite high-country crispness to the air. A spectacular sunset was followed by even more dramatic hues of copper, red and purple that reflected off the few banks of clouds. We enjoyed an excellent four course dinner, highlighted by fresh local King salmon barbecued whole.
Sated both by food and nature, we transferred to the Atlin Inn, and stayed in the Kirkwood Cottages, rustic and cosy log cabins nestled right by the lakeshore
Next morning, we explored the town. In 1896, gold was discovered in Dawson. Two years later, there was a discovery in Atlin and the goldseekers and workers who had been on their way to Dawson stayed here and created a boom that lasted into the early 20th century. Transportation links were established from Skagway, Dawson and Whitehorse. The White Pass Company built the Atlin Inn in 1917 to promote Atlin as a tourist destination.
At the height of WWI, tourists couldn’t go to Europe, so Atlin became something of a tourist mecca. The ship M.V. Tarahne was built to ferry tourists across the lake in style. Now, partially restored and docked on the lakeshore, it contains a small museum and hosts Sunday brunches and murder mystery evenings.
Today the town contains a wealth of historic buildings that are used as residences and stores. Missing thankfully, is the boutique and gift shop atmosphere that pervades more accessible historic towns that use their history to flog merchandise. Worth a wander is the Pioneer Cemetery with cryptic wooden headstone inscriptions giving a sense of what life must have been like here a hundred years ago - “Died from gunshot wounds, mistaken for a bear” and “Froze on the trail”.
Then there are the people. Varied in occupation and outlook, their common characteristics seem to be their independence and modern pioneer spirit in making this beautiful but isolated town work. At least one resident, a holistic healer who came to town in the 70s, believes that Atlin is a cosmic energy source - a kind of global acupuncture point. He built a pyramidal log building and set up a healing centre to channel the cosmic energy focused on Atlin. Many artists live and work here, and every year the town hosts a summer school for the arts attended by artists from far and wide.
The next leg of our adventure was a motorcoach tour through the district of the Upper Yukon River headwaters and to Carcross, Yukon Territories. We took a short city tour and stopped at the Visitors Center and Watsons General Store. This area, and particularly the historic Caribou Hotel, provided much of the setting for the movie, “Never Cry Wolf”, based on the book by Farley Mowatt.
We departed Carcross for a tour of the Klondike Highway past Nares Lake, Lake Tutshi and into Tormented Valley. Of course, at one highway stop, the bus driver felt it his solemn duty to scramble onto a barrier post and deliver an inspired Robert Service recitation. Robert Service recitations are simply part of what the locals do up here, and certainly after what we’d seen, his poetry is infinitely more meaningful in the land that inspired it.
We descended 3300 feet through tundra, sub-alpine and boreal rainforest to Skagway, Alaska, arriving at the ship with enough time to grab a quick lunch, explore the town and ponder the beauty and historical significance of our excursion that was certainly off the beaten track.
If you go: Contact your travel agent, cruise ship specialist or the company directly at: World Explorer Cruises, 555 Montgomery St., Suite 1400, San Francisco, California 94111-2544. Phone: (415) 393-1565 or (800) 854-3835 Fax (415) 391-1145. Webbies can check out the site at: www.WECruise.com
Author: Jeff Lukovich
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