Skagway is located in a narrow glaciated valley at the head of the Taiya Inlet, about 90 miles (143 km) northwest of Juneau. With a population just over 1,000 that doubles during the tourist season, the town sits on the northernmost point of the Inside Passage in southeast Alaska. In its heyday during the Klondike Gold Rush, Skagway was a bustling rough-and-tumble boomtown with over 80 bars to lubricate the prospectors. Now the town offers a sense of the old times for tourists, including a restored historic district, dog sled rides, and the revived White Pass & Yukon Route Railroad taking passengers through the mountains to Canada and back.
We take Glacier Point Wilderness Safari from Skagway which starts with an hour-long catamaran cruise through the Lynn Canal, North American's longest and deepest fjord. After arrival at Glacier Point Beach, we ride a restored school bus (that had to be brought in by barge) to the base camp where we are outfitted with life jackets and paddles and hike a quarter mile through the forest to our canoes for a trip across the lake to a point where we can hike toward the face of the glacier
On our return cruise on the catamaran through the fjord back to Skagway, we pass more beautiful snow-covered mountain views, waterfalls, and seals sunning themselves in the warm (comparatively), sunny weather.