We left Surprise Lake near Atlin, BC at 5:30 am. As we crossed the bridge going over the Surprise Lake Dam we figured out an older bridge had been left in the river for the beavers to use. 
Tonight at 1am we were taking our first ferry out of Haines. We had to be there by 11 pm. We knew it would be lot of driving but we thought we could make it to Whitehorse and Skagway before going to Haines. From Atlin we took Highway 7 (the Atlin road) north and then turned west on Highway 8 (the Tagish Road). From Carcross we went south on Highway 2 toward Skagway. Skagway is only about 60 miles south of Carcross, but the highway goes through the Yukon, and B.C. before reaching Skagway which is in Alaska. Bennett Lake was another beautiful lake. It reminded us of Atlin Lake. As we travelled south we passed the remnants of the old Venus Processing Mill used to sort and crush silver ore. Just a few miles farther was a good place to camp on a lake shore.
We now leave Yukon and go back into Alaska where we go past the Tutsi LakeThe Tormented Valley is an area gouged out by a glacier, leaving a basin filled with lots of lakes and granite rock, but little soil for trees to grow in. From here until you reach Skagway, the White Pass and Yukon Railway tracks, follow the highway hugging the mountain on the east side. We had no problems going through customs at the Canadian-Alaskan border. The highway goes over White Pass, best known as the route used by the prospectors headed for the Klondike goldfields.
We arrived in Skagway at 9;30 am. We walked around town for an hour browsing in souvenir shops. One shop owner, formerly from western Washington, told us that June and August were usually the best months for weather, but not so this year. They had gotten lots of rain in June and July had been better than usual. We had planned to take showers at the public dock, but changed our minds when the cruise ship passengers disenbarked. The town's character seemed to totally change the minute they arrived. By 11:00 am we decided to head out of town. We arrived at the Goldrush Cemetery just a few minutes after the tour buses did. Most of the tour buses in Skagway had a sign on the back that said 'Yellowstone,'' were a distict yellow and looked like a cross between an old-fashioned car and a limo. Dale was in a hurry to get ahead of the tour buses so we continued on toward the ghost town of Dyea. This gravel road goes past an estuary, hugs a mountain and becomes one-lane before entering a wooded area. We took the turnoff to the Slide cemetery and connecting community cemetery. 
Sixty victims from a slide along the Chilkoot Trail were buried in the Slide Cemetery. 
Many were from Tacoma, WA, one from Ballard, WA (we found this amusing since most people think of Ballard as Seattle rather than a seperate town). There were also victims from New York and Denmark. We went past a campground where some construction was going on. We weren't sure if they were adding more parking or more campsites. We drove to the ghost town of Dyea. This town tried to compete with Skagway to be the gateway to the goldfields, but lost. By the turn of the century it had been abandoned. There were suppose to be some old foundations and belongings left by the miners in the area, but all we saw was mud and a boardwalk. The trailhead for the Chilkot Goldrush Trail was nearby. We left here at noon, heading North for Whitehorse.
We stopped at Carcross at 1:30 pm, which is a small but interesting town. Lots of tiny homes and two equally small churches. We stopped at the Visitor's Center , the General Store and the Carcross Barracks Gift Shop, which were a couple of very old buildings that had been turned into souvenir shops. Two sales clerks were dressed as pioneer women and enjoyed playing the part. They showed us the 'man sitting on the john,' encouraged their customers to try out the jail and were quite amused with their 'talking tree.' It was an experience. We noticed it was getting kind of smoky outside and heard that there was a fire at Gladys Lake near Atlin. We left here at 2:30 pm and passed the Carcross Desert. The terrain around here is desert-like. It can get quite windy, keeping the sand moving and making it difficult for plants to grow.
We next passed by Emerald Lake which was a beautiful shade of blue-green. At 3:15 pm we stopped at Miles Canyon, not far from Whitehorse. The Yukon River flows through this narrow canyon. Dale and Jacob went across a footbridge above the canyon.We finally drove into Whitehorse which is the largest city in Yukon, We've always enjoyed this city. It's small by our standards but has everything one would need. We made a mad dash for the shops and our favorite deli. We bought clothes, posters and books. While at the Midnight Sun Gallery we overheard the local artist Jim Hobbs bringing in more of his art work for sale. We ate a late lunch at The Deli on 2nd and Hanson. This is a huge deli. You ask for salami and you have 3 or 4 choices. They even have two kinds of cervelat, and I have difficulties finding just one kind at home. We left Whitehorse around 5:00 pm heading the wrong way out of town, but we got to see some nice residential areas while finding the highway.
We finally found the Alaska Highway heading East. We drove around the tiny Indian village of Champagne. We continued on to Haines Junction for gas. This town had lots of services (general store, hotels, gas stations), but we never saw any homes. We turned south at the Haines Highway junction. 
From here it's a straight shot to Haines, 150 miles south. Once again today we started out in the Yukon, passed through B.C. before coming to the Canada-Alaskan border. We stopped briefly at Lake Kathleen which was a small lake with a dock, play area, running water and an enclosed picnic area. We drove around the small Indian village of Kluksu. From the highway they advertised 'Tea, Bannock and Storytelling for $2.50.' We didn't see anyone around but took some pictures of their drying sheds. A few miles south we stopped at Million Dollars Waterfalls. These falls had a lot of water tumbling down them. There was a boardwalk to reach them and 5 campsites in the area.
We reached the Canada/U.S. border at 9:30 pm. Dale had a hard time explaining where we had come from since this was the second time we had been in Alaska today and he was getting kind of rummy. The customs officer was patient with us and informed us we were now on Alaska time and would run into some constuction on oiur way down. 
We had forgotten about the time difference and were much relieved that we had an extra hour to spend in Haines. It was strange how almost where the border was, the terrain changed from tundra and glacier covered mountains to lush, green forest. The Chilkot Eagle Preserve is about a twenty mile stretch with a wide riverbed on the west side and mountains on the east side of the highway. We saw few eagles driving through here. The primetime to see them around here is Novermber-January.
We reached Haines at 9:30 pm (Alaskan time). The sun was just setting and the sky was clear. We drove around town. Lots of older homes, some had been turned into businesses and condos. The town looked pretty dead, but it was a Monday night. We drove to the ferry terminal about 5 miles out of town and the Chilkat State Park nearby. This was a nice campground with 33 sites. It was about half full. On our way back to the ferry we saw a black bear. At the ferry terminal they told us that they usually close that park during part of the month of August because the bears are such a problem. Most of our ferry trips, which we had prepaid, required us to be at the terminal two hours before scheduled departure. They pretty much ran on schedule. We boarded the Alaskan State Ferry at 11:00 pm and it left at 1:00 am for Juneau. Some passengers set up a tent on the solarium level. We decided to take sleeping bags and blankets and found a place to crash in one of the lounges.
600 miles today 3000 miles total