We stayed two nights in the ghost town campground of Dyea. This place was home to 5000-7000 folks during the gold rush years of 1897-1898. Along with Skagway, it was the land gateway to the Klondike. Skagway made it due to its deep harbor and the new railroad and roadway connection. Dyea died out and turned to farmland for a while. They tried to build a pier, but with it being over a mile long and still not into deep water, that has also fallen to ruin.
The campground is nice though. Quiet and remote. We did some reading in the nice weather, took a long hike through the trails of the town and gave the dogs some exercise. Kathy and I took an afternoon stroll to the salmon stream and walked in its waters and chased and caught some of the salmon. We had a pretty good couple of days there.
We packed up on Sunday and headed back to Skagway to get a shower at the recreation center. For $10 a day you can get access to the facilities and the showers. It was nice to get cleaned up. We also stopped by the grocery store for some tortillas, creamer, and sodas and then had brunch at a place on the pier that was suggested by the rec center attendant. Kathy had some king crab legs and I enjoyed some fish and chips while chatting with some locals and tourists.
We drove back up the canyon through Whites Pass and crossed back into Canada without the inspection from customs. We may be back in Alaska one more time, but this was the last big visit. It is lived and will be missed.
I was able to contact the old friend we missed in Whitehorse and we met up at Miles Canyon there for a hike. It was a beautiful day and we hiked 3 miles to another ghost town from the early days along the Yukon River.
It was already 7:30 when we set out to gas up, and were able to visit the RV dump and water station as well. We found an awesome campground at Wolf creek right out of town and enjoyed the Canadian Regional park for the night.
Here are some additional photos from the past days.
https://www.overlandadventureexcursions.com/photos-albums/nggallery/album/20250823-24-dyea-and-skagway