Alaska Trails

(As Seen from the Back of a Horse)

Sitting in a little shed on the wharf beside the huge Princess Sun cruise ship, Eddie and I watched for the tour guide to appear and take us for a horseback ride back in the trails just outside Skagway, Alaska.

It was 2594 miles from home at West Hamlin, West Virginia, to Seattle, Washington. Then it was another thousand miles to Skagway. Now 3600 miles away from home, it is fulfilled.

It was a dream of mine to go to every state in the Union, since I had been in 48 states and Canada and Mexico before I was 21 years old because Mother and Daddy liked to travel. I was an only child and we spent every summer on a week or two vacation of traveling the good old USA year after year.

In 1981 my husband agreed to go to Hawaii, since the kids were growing up.

"If we’re going as a family, we had better go now," Eddie said, since Alanna was already in college and the boys were in high school.

Now Alaska had completed the goal and we were going for a horseback ride in the area just out back of Skagway.

Crystal, a young woman about 25 years old, appeared with a sign reading "Horseback Ride" and I got up to go over and see her. She directed us to a white van in the parking lot and soon it loaded full of cruise people.

It was drizzling rain. I was a little concerned about that, but Eddie said, "We’ve ridden in the rain before, we can do it again."

"Well, that’s right and it’s a good way to look at it," I agreed.

Crystal drove out of the little town consisting of 900 full time residents and explained that about 2000 more came up to spend the summer from May to October. The town was very small, about three or four streets wide and eight streets long.

Skagway was beautifully kept with brightly painted stores and totum poles, as it should be since four cruise ships might be there at once from early May until late September. Each ship contains from 750 to 3650 travelers and up to a thousand workers.

Skagway was the gateway to gold fields for those who came to Alaska with the hope of getting rich. It was the shortest but hardest way to the Klondike. Over a hundred years ago, the White Pass route through the Coast Mountains and the shorter but steeper Chilkoot trail was used by many stampeders. Many would-be miners perished on the treacherous Chilkoot Trail. By 1898, Skagway was Alaska’s largest town with a population of about 20,000. There were also 8,000 people living in Dyea.

I understand Skagway means "Home of the North Winds".

Our guides had heard another version. "Maiden relieving herself on rocks!"

"I guess it could be," I laughed.

"That’s the version I prefer," she said.

Now that could add color and create an entirely new line of thought.

We traveled out of town, across the bridge and around the mountain on a gravel road along the salt water inlet. There were only a few houses and soon we turned into a lane through the hemlock and spruce trees and down to a clearing where horses stood tied to hitching posts. They were already saddled and yellow rain coats covered the saddles to keep them dry.

Crystal said, "Just leave your stuff in the van. Nobody steals anything around here."

"Isn’t that wonderful," I thought as I wished the entire world could say that.

There were black riding helmets lined up by size on the picnic table. We all chose one of the required helmets and went over to be fitted for a long black raincoat.

Crystal introduced us to Lora and we were given a safety talk. She said things like if your horse runs off , and I have never seen that happen and it probably won’t, hold tight and "Never Scream."

Lora then asked if anyone had health problems like hip or knee replacements or diabetes. She asked us for a show of hands who had never ridden before. I was surprised to see a couple of men raised their hands. Other people told of their riding experience.

I told her that Eddie and I had Tennessee Walking horses and we had ridden them all over the country.

"We only have one Tennessee Walker," she said.

I don’t know who got the walker, but it wasn’t me or Eddie.

The women guides whispered as they assigned horses according to the needs of the rider and the traits or personalities of the mounts.

"I know some of you can get on a horse, but we prefer you use these stools for safety sake," Lora added. Step stools were brought out for us to get on the horses.

Ed and I can certainly get on a horse, but we didn’t mind a bit because we had got on from picnic tables, rocks, tree stumps and ditches in our years of riding our tall Walkers.

Power (named for Austin Powers) was my horse. He was a black gelding. I was told he was a guide horse sometimes and he always rode second or third in the string. Lora thought he might be a Morgan cross. We were to ride second.

Eddie and the big strong palomino mare Sela were just behind us. Lora said the mare was always a good ride, but she didn’t have good ground manners when they first got her. After working with her, she is now good riding and on the ground.

We stayed in line while the other riders were put in the proper order. Lora called for Crystal to bring her gloves and the medicine kit. Power moved too close to Spirit, Lora’s horse. Spirit didn’t mind at all.

Crystal brought Lora’s gloves and a back pack containing the medicine kit.

It was easy to see that Power had a mind of his own. If he wanted to track the lead horse, he did. If he didn’t, he took a different route. He demanded the reins be held loose or he tossed his head. It took some effort to make him not take the lead or not get too close to today’s guide horse.

Remembering the Smoky Mountain ride, I did not pat the horse on the neck because it makes your gloves stink. This time I had my daughter’s leather gloves on so I was especially careful.

"Good Boy," I kept telling him.

Eddie and I both knew that the horses would be gentle and only walk on the trail behind the guide. That is the type of horse I would furnish to people who would rent a horse.

Lora said, "There are no goats or deer over in this area. There is not enough grazing land to support them. We do have black and brown bear, wolf, coyote, grouse, snowshoe hare and red tail squirrel. We don’t call the brown bear a grizzly."

The lists the grizzlies to number 15,000 in Alaska.

"You might be surprised that horses and brown bear get along very well. We have ridden past bear only 10 feet away and they do not react."

I was pleased that we did not have the opportunity to see that in action. We did see a snow shoe hare darting though the edge of the tall trees. That was quite acceptable and also the grouse that scurried away from the trail into the deeper forest.

I was content to be able to look around the area and listen to the guide tell us about the trees, flowers, animals and history.

Lora said the tall upright trees were spruce and the ones with the tops bowed were hemlock. Settlers had brought in Blue Spruce and Douglas Fir and you could see some of them had multiplied and spread around the area.

All of the horses looked healthy and fat. I noticed they also were very well shod. Lora said the string of horses only worked six months of the year and were sent back further inland to spend the winter at rest.

Skagway was the first town we had stopped at that had a highway into Canada and back down to Washington State. Juneau and Ketchikan could only be reached by plane or ship.

This little bit of information only made Eddie want to drive back up in a truck camper and spend a summer seeing more of this State of Alaska! I was surprised at that since it would mean a 7,000 mile drive for me, since he is not able to see well enough to drive since the stroke two years ago.

"That probably won’t happen though, since I can’t help you drive," Ed said regretfully.

"We would have to find another couple to travel with and take our time."

Now we rode the black dirt trail though the tall timber.

"I never saw moss like that," I told Lora, the guide, "It looks like it is four or five inches thick."

"It is about eight inches thick and it covers everything," she added about the chartreuse colored moss.

"Is it really? Well, it is pretty."

Every now and then Lora would yell back something like, "How is Charley doing?" or Power, Sage, Sela or Curly or another of the ten horses. Everyone responded that all was well.

"We are only allowed five riders per guide. That’s why we have two guides for this group," she explained.

"What is that white stuff all over the ground?"

"That is lichen. That kind only grows in pure air."

"I could believe that. The air here is cool and crisp. It feels like pure air."

Continuing down the muddy road, we came to a couple of automobiles, which stopped to let us pass easily.

"That is Dyea (pronounced Dye E’). It was once a mining town of 8,000 people during the gold rush days. The houses only had store fronts and tents were erected behind it. When you opened the front door, you then entered a tent. It is only occasionally visible as piles of boards or pieces of barns falling back in the trees. There is very little evidence that such a town ever existed."

I shuttered at the thoughts of living in a tent in Alaska, yet it is so sad that an entire town vanished after the highway was built over White Pass.

As we rode out of the trees into a large field, Lora pointed out the flowers.

"That is yellow rattle. Those are yarrow. You can see the blue flags scattered all over are past their bloom. It is very pretty when they are all in bloom."

"When we get to the field, you will hear about a hundred dogs barking over where they have the dog sled rides. The horses won’t pay any attention to them. The dogs all bark when a team is harnessed and get ready to leave," Lora said.

This field between the hills is the end of the salt water inlet and Lora told us to all ride over to the eight foot wide clear stream and offer the horses water.

"Line up on the right of the horse in front of you."

After following that order, I did not see any horse drop their head to drink. Apparently they were not thirsty.

In the forty foot area where we were at the creek, there must have been a dozen or so very large and very dead pale remains of salmon along the shore that had washed up along the stream. They die after spawning. Bear and other animals come to feed on the fish. Fortunately we only saw bald eagles on scraggy remains of a lonely tree or bush near the water.

"We will stop here for a while and let the horses graze in this grass. The horses always do this and expect it. Sela and Curly don’t get along, so be sure and keep them away from each other."

"I suppose we don’t get off the horses," I asked.

"No. We stay on and let them eat a little bit and rest," Lora said.

Since Eddie and I are used to keeping his stallion away from other horses, we did our usual ride up to a more isolated area and loosened the reins. Our horses gradually eased over to a dip in the ground where the grass was taller.

The guide cautioned the group about the uneven ground, but we were not uncomfortable in the terrain since we were experienced in all types of riding. After grazing a while the guide instructed us to get back in line and Power didn’t want to leave the tall grass. I had to insist and nudge him to make him leave.

I took pictures every chance I got and Lora came over and offered to take our picture for us. I was very glad to have a couple of us on horseback in Alaska.

Retracing our steps, we headed back across the bridge and down the road.

On our return ride she pointed out some Devil’s Club in the forest land.

That was on a bush about four feet tall and it was in the shape of a 14 inch maple leaf. There were stickers or thorns along the stem and even on the underside of the leaves. I could see how it was aptly named. It looked evil.

The Horsetail Fern was more inviting. It was only about 10 inches tall and had wispy, hair like five inch shoots sticking out and up. It resembled a small white pine sprout. I would like to have some of them for my garden. Maybe I can check the internet and order one if it is not a pest.

When we approached the camp, Lora called, "We have valet parking. Don’t get off your horse. Ride up between the unloading docks. We will get the horse and then you get off holding to the railing. Hold steady for a little bit before walking down the steps holding the rail."

It worked beautifully and I took pictures of it in case we ever wanted to build one like it. I intended to get a dozen or so pictures with my horse and Eddie with his, but it just didn’t work out.

Everything went so quickly as we returned the rain coats and helmets to their place and gathered around the table.

"There is salmon pate` on the table and some crackers and packages of drinks or coffee. Help yourself while we tend to the horses," Crystal said. I had never had salmon pate`and I looked forward to it in the wilds of Alaska. It was very good and I will search for a recipe in order to enjoy it at home as it reminds me of my trail ride in the North Country.