Lower Dewey Lake: The Best Hike In Skagway On Your Cruise To Alaska
Dewey, an anthropomorphized triplet duck and a famous American psychologist. And, in this case, a crisp-watered and picturesque mountain lake situated above Skagway, an Alaskan former Gold Rush town and popular cruise destination. Today’s lecture will cover the Lower Dewey Lake Trail, easily accessible from your cruise ship pier and a beautiful way to spend a few hours while at port. But first, let’s momentarily return to one of the other Deweys, not the duck, the psychologist.
Why John Dewey Would Approve Of Our Visit To Dewey Lake In Skagway
John Dewey was a psychologist, philosopher, and education reformer. He believed in progressive education and the philosophy of pragmatism. Taken together, these are best understood today as “experiential education.” People learn best through a hands-on approach and, kids especially, should be encouraged to explore and interact with the environment around them.
Consistent with my own teaching pedagogy, this is why, in my former life as a college professor, I infused my courses and the wider program curriculum with experiential components – service learning, internships, field trips, and the like. Plus, that meant I’d spend less time preparing notoriously boring lectures and could spend more time planning cruises. Pragmatism for the win, win.
This is also why we’ve traveled extensively with our son since he first stretched his lungs to max capacity for the length of a cross-country flight at 2 months old followed by his first cruise at 11 months. And why I don’t feel a moment’s guilt at pulling him from school for the purpose of travel. If I get any push back from his teachers I just say, “take it up with John Dewey.”
And while I didn’t find any evidence that this lake we hiked to in Skagway was named after that Dewey, or the duck for that matter, I believe he would have approved of the rich natural laboratory afforded us there (and I can totally picture those duck triplets cannon balling into the lake). We covered math: “are we there yet?” “Well it’s 1 mile to the lake and we’ve traveled two steps past the trail head, so how many miles do we have left until we get there?” Reading: “what does that sign say?” “Practice bear safety.” Physical Education: “RUN!” Ethology: “STOP! Because to the brain of a bear, the only thing that runs is prey.” Phytochemistry: “I don’t feel so good.” “I guess those berries were poisonous after all.” And finally, photography: “take a picture of our butts!”
For the record, I didn’t use that particular shot to convince Ms. LaVeta of the educational value of our cruise.
Directions From The Cruise Pier To The Lower Dewey Lake Trail Head
Your ship will be docked at either the Ore Dock, the Broadway Dock, or the Railroad Dock, as indicated in the map below.
Make your way to 2nd Avenue/Congress Way. Keep walking until you see this sign:
The map below shows the full loop trail around Dewey Lake.
The Lower Dewey Lake Trail: If Mr. Cruise Can Do It, You Can Too
You’re probably intrigued and wondering at this point how long and difficult the hike to Dewey Lake is, but also thinking, “if that little boy did it, surely I can too.” Rewind and substitute “Mr. Cruise” for “that little boy” and you might be onto something. While my son “H,” who doubles as my teaching/travel assistant, inherited his father’s wide smile and perfect teeth, he dodged his fear and loathing of the outdoors and is both an eager and skilled hiker. Mr. Cruise, on the other hand, would rather read Into The Wild from the comfort of his stateroom with the shades drawn so he doesn’t even have to see outside.
He’s a good sport though, and didn’t confess his anxiety at the rain slickened switchbacks and bear warnings until back within the safety of his happy place, the casino.
Lower Dewey Lake Trail Details
Lower Dewey Lake Trail Distance: .9 miles from the trail head to the lake; an additional 2.5 miles around the lake. Time: 1 – 3 hours round trip, depending on pace, stops, and total distance. Difficulty Level: Moderate Elevation Gain: 500 feet (150 meters)
After you climb a short wooden staircase and pass under an impressively large water pipe that you’d risk arrest to waterslide down if your ride home wasn’t pulling out of port before your mom could make it from Utah with your bail because Mr. Cruise has grown impatient of your shenanigans, you’ll cross this wooden footbridge…
…before ascending several hundred feet to a bench and clearing where you can catch your breath and snap some selfies to text your friends stuck at school: “suckers!”
Continue on, up some fairly steep switchbacks until reaching a small reservoir just before Dewey Lake. Follow the signs for the “Lower Lake Loop.”
I recommend keeping to the right to walk along the flat trail in a counter-clockwise direction around the lake.
The east side of the lake will become rockier, but should be easily maneuvered if you survived the switchbacks. Complete a full loop around the lake if your Mr. Cruise is up for it, otherwise you can turn back after spending a few moments taking in the spectacular views promised to you in the 42 mailings a week you receive from cruise lines tempting you with glossy photos like these:
What To Pack For Your Hike On The Lower Dewey Lake Trail
Skagway receives frequent rain and, as you can see from our photos, it was raining for part of our hike to Dewey Lake. Make sure to bring a rain jacket and comfortable, waterproof hiking boots. Here are some top-rated recommendations that can be purchased on Amazon:
You’ll also want a light backpack stocked with water and snacks and a collapsable hiking stick if you have any balance or tripping concerns.
Once we got near the water, it was pretty buggy. And I’m not just talking about Mr. Cruise asking every 30 seconds, “can we turn around now?” I prefer bug repellent wipes as opposed to spray because they’re easier to pack and apply. You may not need them if you don’t plan to spend much time near the lake, but I’d throw them in your pack just in case.
Or pack extra concealer to hide unsightly red bumps in your formal night photos and expect your wife to lose her patience with your endless scratching and yell, “I hear salt water is a highly effective treatment for mosquito bites. You’re about to find out if you don’t stop that!”
If you’ve attended any of my prior lectures, you may have looked at the clock as it approached our scheduled start time and wondered if I was going to show up. Then the white board secured to the front wall started talking, “Bueller? Bueller?,” and you realized I was already there, with skin so pale as to blend in perfectly with my snow-colored backdrop. In fact, any time the Dean comes around looking to assign faculty to committees, I plaster myself against a white wall to evade detection.
All that is to say that I burn at the mere thought of sun and can’t count on a cloudy, drizzly day to keep me protected, because even if a single ray sneaks through, it will find me like a fly drawn to light. So I fight back, ZAP, with my daily application of SPF 30.
And because I wear it every day, I prefer something natural and organic. I’ve tried them all, but have settled comfortably with Juice Beauty (they aren’t paying me to say that, although if anyone knows someone there who’d be willing to, I mean, I wouldn’t turn it down). It’s light, not chalky, and very effective. Even if it starts out cloudy, I’d advise applying some Juice Beauty (or your favorite sunscreen) before setting out as conditions can change quickly and even on a cloudy day, it’s possible to burn.
Now if you’ve ever attended any of my teaching assistant H’s lectures (he often fills in for me when I’m “sick” or standing in line at Target for highly discounted post holiday candy), you know that if there’s a body of water of any size within a three mile radius of the cruise port, he’s in it. Scroll up to see a photo of him on this occasion, partially submerged in the small reservoir before we even reached our destination lake. And I’m generally not far behind. Check out our lecture on Ketchikan to see us swimming with the salmon, a most underrated excursion.
But if there’s one thing I’ve learned the hard way, it’s that our penchant for the water and addiction to electronic devices is an expensive mix. We once lost all pride, nearly our lives, but more importantly $2000 in phones and camera equipment to an overturned canoe. And since then, I never leave dry land without a dry bag and waterproof phone case for my valuables and the reminder I’ve received every day since then from Mr. Cruise to “rescue the kid before the camera.”
If you have someone in your hiking group like Mr. Cruise, who finds the signs reminding visitors to “practice bear safety” plastered all over Alaska profoundly unsettling, I recommend you do the following: run up ahead, hide in a tree that could feasibly double as a bear den, and jump out with a RAWR! as they pass.
And then you’ll want to familiarize yourself with my lecture on solo cruising as they vow to never travel with you again. Or, perhaps reassuring them that bear encounters are rare and equipping them with “bear bells” would be a gentler approach. They won’t believe you about the bear bells at first and will think you’re trying to alert Smokey that his dinner is ready, nicely fattened up for him after a week of buffet lunches. Go on to explain that if bears hear you coming, they will almost always keep their distance and that bears can become aggressive if they’re startled. Hence, the bells. We attach these to our shoes or backpacks any time we hike in bear country.
Final Thoughts On The Lower Dewey Lake Trail
This moderate trail only takes a few hours for most hikers and, even if you take it at a leisurely pace as we did, you should still have time for another excursion in Skagway if desired. Or there are several trails that extend on from Lower Dewey Lake if you’re looking for a full day hike to justify ordering four desserts in the MDR that night. Just be sure to give yourself extra time to make it to the ship in case I startle you from my tree and you have to slide back down the mountain on a broken ankle.
Or you could skip the hike all together, because you’re morally opposed to any form of exercise on vacation, and hit the Alaskan Fudge Company. I’ll admit, had I seen that fine establishment prior to the trail head, the title of this lecture would have been: The Best Fudge Flavor Of Alaska. Fools Gold or Frontier Frenzy? Stay tuned if you’re wondering and won’t have an opportunity to beat me to it – I’m scheduled to dock in Skagway again in August! And with that…
Class Dismissed.
Homework (10 points): Check out my other Alaska port posts here (including another option for Skagway). And don’t forget to subscribe to the blog (scroll up to the top right if on a computer or keep scrolling down if on a mobile device) and follow me on social media:
