Smugglers Cove Trail 🏔 How to get there from cruise port 🏔 Skagway hike during your Alaska cruise

Hi there!

So the Smugglers Cove Trail is one of the relatively easy Skagway hikes that you can do when you are in Skagway cruise port on your own.

There are different spots that your cruise ship may dock, and depending on where it does, you will have to walk a little more or less to get to the start of the Smugglers Cove Trail.

But, Smugglers Cove is one of the things you can do in Skagway on your own.

You’ll walk to the Skagway footbridge (views!), follow the signs to Yakutania Point and Smugglers Cove, and then along the way you will see a turnoff for Smugglers Cove!

 

 

I’m very glad I had downloaded offline maps ahead of time.

First, tmobile seems nonexistent in Alaska. So if you are in an area that you get data, you’ll be roaming. It’s still included as part of your plan if you have a standard plan, but if you use a lot of data (like watching tv shows in port 🤪) then it’s possible to use up your allotted high speed roaming data and it becomes slower.

Do I speak from experience?! 😆

Second, the day I did the Smugglers Cove Trail, I never once even connected to LTE data! It only showed “H.” I don’t know what that is, but I wasn’t able to get online with it.

So I had no internet access through my phone when I was in Skagway on that day.

I am pretty sure the previous time I was in Skagway I did have regular data, but I really don’t remember anymore. But the point is… prepare to be offline just in case!

So having no data in Skagway made me sooo glad that I had offline maps!

So before you leave for your cruise, I recommend downloading the app called mapsme. Once you download mapsme, you want to also specifically download the Alaska map.

Mapsme tends to be a great map app for hiking trails, and it worked out well for the Smugglers Cove Trail.

It’s what I used to help me navigate to the start of the trail to Yakutania Point and Smugglers Cove.

You can probably also download offline google maps and it will be able to get you to the start of the trail.

Either way, I recommend having some sort of offline maps for Skagway before you leave for your cruise!

And while you’re at it, you might as well download maps for your entire Alaska cruise route!

So what’s great about mapsme is that it also shows the hiking trail on the app too.

Not that you need the app once on the trail, because there are trail signs that make it easy to get to Smugglers Cove, but it’s still nice to have!

 

More below about getting to Smugglers Cove from the cruise port!

 

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How to get to Smugglers Cove Trail from Skagway cruise port

So basically, your starting point for the Smugglers Cove Trail is the Skagway footbridge.

So use the map of your choice to walk to the Skagway footbridge!

As I was walking towards it, it felt like I was going the wrong way because it kind of feels like you’re walking through an industrial area.

You’ll be walking along a fence in part.

 

 

But once you get past the fence, you’ll see the office for Alaska Seaplanes, and then you’ll round the corner, and there will be a parking lot.

 

 

And then just beyond that parking lot, you’ll see a bridge!

That’s the Skagway footbridge!

 

 

Right at the start of the bridge, there’s a trail map of the area.

 

 

And then you will walk across the bridge to start hiking to Smugglers Cove!

At first, Yakutania Point and Smugglers Cove will be in the same direction.

 

 

Then you will see a turnoff for Smugglers Cove.

 

 

And then you’ll continue through the forest until you get to Smugglers Cove!

 

 

I first went to Yakutania Point, before Smugglers Cove.

From just past the bridge, it took me a little less than 20 minute to hike to Yakutania Point, one way.

I was walking at a leisurely pace.

 

👇 It’s easy to go to Yakutania Point before you go to Smugglers Cove. I did like the views at Yakutania Point better than Smugglers Cove!

 

Then from Yakutania Point, you’ll backtrack to locate the turnoff from Smugglers Cove. That might be 10 minutes one way.

Then from the trail junction to Smugglers Cove took another 10 minutes or so.

Then, walking back the same way I came, I decided to go off on what looked to be a trail to the shoreline. (This means that you can also see this trail that goes down on your way to Smugglers Cove.)

This isn’t marked, but it’s called the “Hidden Cove” (as there was a sign about the Hidden Cove fire pit!), and it’s a nice quiet spot that you can rest on the rocks. (Although when I went there wasn’t much shade.)

It really did feel like a hidden spot!

Since I still had some time to waste before my late afternoon excursion, I spent a little bit of time here.

 

How long it will take you to get to the Skagway footbridge from the cruise port will depend on where you’re docked.

From the dock that’s furthest away, it might take 20 minutes one way to get to the bridge. That does not include the shuttle time, if you are docked where a land shuttle or water shuttle is necessary.

 

And that’s a bit about getting to Smugglers Cove from the cruise port!

I went to Smugglers Cove in May 2023. Your experience may vary! When I went, there was a little bit of construction going on.

 

See more of Skagway: So-very-Alaska things to do in Skagway

 

More Alaska cruise ports on your own:

• Juneau bus
• Ketchikan bus
• Things to do in Sitka

 

HAPPY HIKING IN SKAGWAY TO SMUGGLERS COVE!