NORTH...to Alaska.: Zipping through Skagway

This is a true case of 'what was I thinking'.

After arriving in Haines, Rob asks 'what tour are we booked on?'.

'Ziplining' I advise.

So off we trek to meet the guide. Haines is pretty but colder than I could have believed possible with a mighty wind roaring through. We hop onto a ferry to Skagway and choose to sit inside (unusual for us). At Skagway, three very nice young men from the Alaska Mountaineering Guides meet us. We are sheparded onto a school bus. The guides keep us amused with stories of the Klondike Gold Rush as we are on the Klondike Highway and only 20 miles from the Canadian border. We arrive at the place of torture.

So the nice young men kit us out (more hat hair) and off we go to do the rope course. I'm thinking 'rope course' like knot tying. Oh no. It's one of those extreme obstacle courses except it is amongst the tree tops.

I look at my nice young guide and ask him if he is on crack. He wants to cross a bridge missing half it's bearers, an indiana jones rope thing and a long plank. I'm like NO BLOODY WAY. He is very much "you can do it"

I want to push his smiling face off the perch. That would be murder so I decide to do it...that is only suicide and they cannot jail you for that. I get to the next tree top perch and am hugging the trunk shaking like a leaf. Rob follows me, looks at me and says "From now on, I am going to take more of an interest in the tours you book us on"

Rope course over, we make like mountain goats and climb the mountain so we can zip down.

After which, I told smiley guide to drop me in town as I needed two things...a pair of woollen socks and a beer.