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Often our meetings take place around mealtime, and eating is something that we try not to miss. So our guide picked the place and we dined early at a spot only residents would know. It was empty when we arrived but packed by the time we left.
We left full of both food and information. We felt great, as we had another wonderful, responsive guide under our belts (which were a notch bigger than when we arrived!).
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This tour adds one more dimension to the float trip, and it is good to note that it can be modified to handle all ages, from young to old. You begin with a scenic coastal ride to Dyea, the famous Gold Rush town. You'll have the chance to enjoy a search for Bald Eagles as well as porpoises and seals playing in the water as your driver/guide initiates you in the lore of this area.
Before your float trip, you will follow the footsteps of the old gold miners with about a two mile, 1.5 hour hike on the lushly forested Chilkoot Trail. As no group is larger than 10 people, you will enjoy individual attention from someone who truly knows the area. To accommodate groups of varying abilities, we can separate those who may want a more level ground to tread. We can have an additional guide to take some on an easier walk through the interesting old Dyea townsite while the rest enjoy the hike on the Chilkoot Trail. The moderately strenuous hike goes uphill then downhilll over uneven terrain for about one mile. The last half of the hike is on mostly level ground. You'll find there is lots of stopping and talking, with drinks provided along the way.
After the one-way hike everyone meets with the raft for the float trip. The float trip requires absolutely no skill. You will don a life jacket and rubber boots and rain gear if necessary. Your relaxing 45 minute river float will be the prefect icing on a beautiful experience. Don't forget to have the guide take your picture with your camera.
When reserving this tour, please indicate how many would like the more challenging hike and how many would like the easier walk.
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You can put yourself in the shoes of an explorer as you will feel the separation from society while traveling in this intimate valley.
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Traveler Reviews
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| 7/9/2010 |
SKAGWAY...J Stewart |
| Hike and Float in Skagway: The weather was warm in Skagway, but the hike was still fun. Our guide was very knowledgeable about the trail and gave us lots of info throughout the trip. The float down the river is a nice way to end the hike. |
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| 6/22/2010 |
SKAGWAY...E Bickler |
| In Skagway, we went on a hike with a girl named Kate who was also well versed on the region and added funny stories about the area. From there, we went on a river raft float that was wonderful with a girl named Kelly. Again, very professional, safety conscious and knowledgable about Skagway. Also had a wonderful sense of humor. |
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| 5/20/2010 |
SKAGWAY...D Bolcko |
| It was a beautiful day, the weather was prerfect! I was promply met by my guide, driven to the sight where we met the rest of our group. Along the ride, history of the area was pointed out. When we gathered, safety tips were shared and we were on our way. As we hiked, there were stops, where points of interesting nature were observed, also providing a rest spot as we were hiking uphill. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) we didn't come upon any bears, but the waterfall provided entertainment and the eagles were minding their nest. After what seemed to be a oh so short hike (not because of the time, but because of the beauty and interest) we came to the shore where our raft and all the gear was waiting. We loaded the raft and went down river on a delightful trip. At the end of the trip a light snack was waiting, delightful conversation reviewing the trip and then back to town. |
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| 7/19/2009 |
SKAGWAY...Sam - ShoreTrips Staff |
| In one word - WOW! This was an eye-opening experience for me. I am not an experienced hiker and was a little intimidated by this trip. I have heard the stories of the Chilkoot trail and being a non-swimmer, the float portion was also not sitting well with me. Everyone in the office wanted me to do this though, so I took the plunge. Boy, am I glad I did. What a great excursion. I went out with a very small group 7 people (including myself) and our guide - Bob. Bob was full of information & fun and has been a hiking guide in Skagway for many years. The first part of the trail was a bit challenging. I remember getting to the start looking up and thinking to myself "you want me to walk up that!" I never thought I could - but it is amazing what you do when you put yourself up to it. The first mile of the hike is a lot of up and down with some challenging steps and required a bit of fancy hand and foot work. Bob really helped us along though as there were a couple of other new hikers in our group. He did a great job of setting a comfortable pace and giving us a lot of history of the trail and wildlife/plant life details along the way. These stops were fairly frequent, which gave us a chance to catch our breath and more importantly look around and experience the nature and views the trail had to offer. The second mile of the hike was much more flat and less-strenuous than the first mile. This lead us to the boat for the float portion of the trip. This was a bit shorter than the hike, but allowed you to see the distance and elevation you just hiked. There were peaceful sounds along with several eagles and eagle nests spotted on the boat ride. Overall this is one heck of an experience that I have been talking about since I got back. I would highly recommend it to people of any hiking ability from first-timers to advanced. Hiking just the first fraction of the Chilkoot trail makes me want to go back and hike the entire 30-some mile trail! |
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| 9/11/2008 |
SKAGWAY...Tweedel (Agent) |
The Hike and Float trip in Skagway was nothing less than FABULOUS. I would highly recommend it to anyone. You go along the footsteps of the gold miners for sure and the guides love their job and are so informative. The group was only eight people which is wonderful too. The wonderful ride to the trail to do the hike was great and very photogenic. Our guide stopped on the way there and on the way back when he saw something worth a photo as in the whales!!!
It was a small group of people which made it so personal. I saw bear droppings, bear paw prints, moose prints, exotic mushrooms, beautiful foliage with various trees and plants, which were explained in depth to us from our guid (he has such knowledge). I have amazing photos for memories. The hike was very nice and actually quite easy. The tour leader was amazing and very helpful. It was nature at its best with this great hike. He told us what to do if we saw a bear and we did! It was across the river however, but was huge with her baby bear if you can call the baby a baby. She quickly disappeared with her cub when she saw us looking at her. She was AMAZING to see and her size was extremely larger than I could have imagined. The float part was incredible. I saw a sea lion, lots of eagles, and a whale in the distance. The guide was once again, fabulous! This truly was another nature tour at its best being very scenic, beautiful and relaxing. On our return, the guides (two of them) went rushing down to the waters, where they tried to hand catch a 25 lb. salmon. WOW was it huge. They did not get it but it was such fun to watch. A nice treat of smoked salmon etc. awaited us which was delightful. I would gladly book this trip again and I do highly recommend it to any of my clients. I did not want it to end and could have done it again, right away. Another GREAT JOB BY SHORE TRIPS is all I can say. You are the best. |
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| 8/8/2007 |
SKAGWAY...M Fariss |
| On our whole tour, we just thought every day was the best and couldn't get any better. The hike and float trip with our guide, was the best!! He was such a knowledgeable guide and was so enthusiastic about his work. He told us he was rich--"Why, just look all around you at all this beauty. How could I not be the richest man alive?" What a refreshing outlook on life! We were impressed at how he helped us make the trails when they got a little steep, and how he could tell us about every kind of plant. And the snack of smoked salmon & crackers, and cookies were perfect!! It was a great trip. We're glad we found ShoreTrips and would recommend it to everyone!! |
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| 7/1/2007 |
SKAGWAY...Wolfe |
| We enjoyed port side pick up as well as a small group of a of 4 guests. The history of the gold rush continues to be fascinating to me, and this tour brought to light a bit more of the history from this time period. The trail was not the original path taken by the miners but one the park service put in at the same grade the miners climbed, caring their ton of goods. This was done so day hikers such as myself would get an understanding of the difficulty faced by these men. The grade was taken slow and easy. The knowledgeable guide pointed and explained interesting facts about near by trees, plants and bushes, making the hike very interesting. Juice and snacks were provided during our hike. The float trip was on gentle water taking us through spectacular Alaskan scenery. What a beautiful afternoon in nature, history and with a few like minded people. I highly recommend this tour. |
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| 6/25/2007 |
SKAGWAY...M Spicker |
| This trip we booked through ShoreTrips was great. Our girls (12 and 9) also had a blast. We enjoyed this one and the Hike we did at the glacier in Juneau was also amazing. The guides were excellent, friendly and very knowledgeable and accomodating (ie. offered at the beginning if it would be too difficult a hike for anyone then he could radio in and hook those that could not manage a less difficult hike (which was not necessary for anyone, but nice to ask). We learned a lot and had fun too. On both hikes the guides totally wanted to be helpful and informative and seemed to truly love their jobs. |
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| 6/12/2007 |
SKAGWAY...Breazeale |
| We had a great trip and a wonderful time. Our guide was fantastic. She went the extra mile to make sure we had an enjoyable time. To have only lived in Alaska one year, she was very knowledgeable about the plants, trees, eagles, mushrooms, bears, etc. We learned a lot while having fun. |
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| 8/8/2006 |
SKAGWAY...G. Stone |
I am glad you asked!!!!!!!! The Hike and float excursion was fantastic. We had the most awesome time and thank you for your advise to do it. Our tour guide was the most interesting and entertaining guide. My group of 7 all felt very comfortable and walked (or cruised) away from Skagway really feeling that we saw and learned alot. Thanks, it couldn't have been more enjoyable.
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| 7/3/2006 |
SKAGWAY...S. Palmer |
Our trip was great! Everything went very smoothly, we found Jenna and enjoyed our trip out to the starting point. She took pictures of us, we have a great family photo. We enjoyed the hike, didn't see any bears, but was ok with that. She explained lots of stuff, we really enjoyed her. The float part was beautiful, the scenery, weather was great, no complaints at all! We enjoyed the snacks too :-) I'll definitely recommend shoretrips to my friends and will use you again when I travel. Thanks.
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| 6/26/2006 |
SKAGWAY...B. Laue |
| We thoroughly enjoyed our excursion in Skagway. Our guide seemed to know a lot about the area and it was just our family so we felt we had a very personal guide. They were very prompt in meeting us on the dock and we had no trouble finding them. We booked this one at the last minute and we are so glad we did. Thank you. |
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| 9/14/2005 |
SKAGWAY...S. Adams |
The Hike and Float was fantastic. Jen our guide was fun and knowledgeable (and from WI so it was an added bonus). There were only 5 of us on the trip with 4 us of being from the Midwest so there were lots of common interests among us. We had a wonderful time and would recommend this tour to our clients. During the hike there were awesome views of a glacier and great stories of how the gold miners used the trail. Once on the float portion we were stunned by the beauty and thrilled with the number of bald eagles we spotted. Of course the highlight was the 2 brown bear catching salmon in the river as we floated by, close enough to get some great photos!
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| 8/17/2004 |
SKAGWAY...H. Abram and family |
We had absolutely the best time of our life with Jason. He picked us up on time and from that moment on we were immersed in a detailed adventure about his city of Skagway and the scenic road up to the river. Every question was completely answered, accurately and descriptively. He stopped along the trail to enlighten us about every aspect of wildlife, from forest growth patterns to the tiniest fungi; from eaglets to bears. The float trip was so remarkable that I never get tired of replaying my camcorder video over and over. The delicious smoked salmon, cheese and crackers was an unanticipated and much appreciated treat to wrap up our voyage. We were very fortunate to have such a personalized tour, rather than one booked through the cruiseline masses of buses and crowds. If we ever return to Alaska, we'll definitely use your company again.
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| 7/10/2003 |
SKAGWAY...L. Jin |
We enjoyed the excursion a lot! It was a nice combo given the total hiking miles and the time spent in between the hiking and rafting and it was definately worth the price compared to the one offered by our cruise. Our guides were very knowledgeable, friendly and easy going. We've learned a lot about Skagway and about the different types of plants and trees.
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