Hiking in Skagway

[tiggerman101]

My partner and I will be in Skagway on May 21. We are in port from 8-10 so we have plenty of time there. The two of us enjoy hiking very much although we are not in great shape. We do some hiking around our cabin in North Carolina. Last year we loved the hike to Middleham Falls while we were in Dominica.I have been checking out the trails and hikes around the area. There are so many of them that I thought I would see if any of you have experience with some of these and could provide any details on how they are.

 

For the hikes we would have to plan an excursion around, I have looked at the Laughton Glacier hike and the Sawtooth Mountain trails. As for trails around town I have be researching the Lower Dewey Lake trail system. I am very interested in the Upper Dewey Lake Hike, but can't seem to get a grasp on how strenuous and/or time consuming it might be.

 

Any ideas or input would be great and thanks in advance. We are open to other ideas. We would love to get out and explore some trails. We just want to get the most out of our time there.

[Yukon]

The Lower Dewey system (from Upper Reid Fals to Sturgill's Landing) is a great way to spend a few hours if you get the weather - with a few short exceptions, grades are reasonable. Upper Dewey is, in a word, STEEP - the view up top, though, is about what you get with a flightseeing trip ( http://www.explorenorth.com/library/roads/images/skag-upperdewey18.html ). While times vary dramatically depending on what sort of shape you're in, 6 hours to the lake and back will be about right for people used to mountain hiking. Yakutania Point is great for a short, very easy hike. A free map is available at the NPS center downtown.

[tiggerman101]

Thanks for the input. I am trying to decide if we should do the train in the AM and then spend the afternoon doing a hike around Lower Dewey or scrapping the train and doing one of the all day hikes to Laughton Glacier or the Sawtooth Range Hike. Does anyone have any input on those two or any other day hikes in Skagway?

[Gatorney]

Thanks for the input. I am trying to decide if we should do the train in the AM and then spend the afternoon doing a hike around Lower Dewey or scrapping the train and doing one of the all day hikes to Laughton Glacier or the Sawtooth Range Hike. Does anyone have any input on those two or any other day hikes in Skagway?

 

My husband and I will be in Skagway on the 19th and are doing the Laughton Glacier hike. I think I found some posts on here about it, if you do a search you should be able to find them. I think the general sense was that the guides keep you moving pretty quickly and the last bit up to the glacier is pretty steep, but you didn't need to be a complete "athlete" type to be able to handle the hike. I hope that is right, because I think my husband I are probably a lot like you and your partner! We like to go hiking around Gatlinburg and the Blue Ridge when we travel out that way, but we only go a few times a year and the Laughton hike is definitely equal to some of the longer hikes we have done.