After visiting Juneau we sailed back north to Skagway. Why not visit the ports of call in order from north to south? Maybe Viking varies the sequence slightly according to how many cruise ships will be in each port at a given time. This may have something to do with the availability of on-shore excursions, too. At any rate, Skagway was fun to visit, with the town having tried to retain much of its frontier character from the days of the Klondike Gold Rush. We spent most of our time riding the spectacular White Pass & Yukon Route narrow gauge railway to the top of White Pass and back. Here are some photos:
A powerful diesel locomotive pulled our narrow gauge train of vintage passenger cars from Skagway, at sea level, to a turn-around loop at the top of White Pass. We climbed to nearly 3000 feet above sea level in about 20 miles, roughly following the path of the Klondike Gold Rush prospectors as they hauled their gear from Skagway to the summit and then over into Canada for the trek to the gold fields. For the railroad, this was an average grade of better than 2.5%, so our climb was not very fast. This almost obliterated path just below the “Trail of ’98” sign is a remnant of the original prospector’s trail to the summit. Canada realized that many gold rush prospectors were arriving unprepared for a northwest Canada winter, and that they needed to do something to avoid having to rescue thousands of starving, freezing prospectors. The solution was to close the border; each prospector was required to have about 2000 pounds of supplies on hand (to demonstrate that they could support themselves) before they could enter the country. So they each had to carry that ton of supplies, load by load, from Skagway up to the border checkpoint. The market for a railway was obvious, although building it would be another matter.We had a mix of sun and clouds as we rode to the summit and back, but the beauty of the scenery could not be hidden. Cliffs, peaks, waterfalls, gorgeous gorges, tracts of coniferous forest, and even a few patches of snow above the timberline. And certainly rugged!Distant view of our track tracing its way along the mountainside. It took about two years to build the railway from Skagway over into Canada, and, except for a few years in the 1980s, the route has been in use ever since. This part of the route is known as the “high line” due to the steep cliffs above and below the track. You can see a wooden trestle bridge about 1/3 of the way from the left side of the photo; the next photo gives you a closer view.Here is the wooden trestle seen at great distance in the previous photo. This area gets a lot of snow in the winter, so for the first few decades the trains ran when not snowed in, and to serve the mines. The Alaskan Highway, built during World War II, connects with the far end of the railway, and during the war the trains ran year round with only an occasional interruption by avalanches. After the war, the railway went back to mostly summer operations, and eventually tourism took the place of freight service as the main business.This was once the highest iron trestle bridge in North America, with the track standing at least 200 feet above the river below. Eventually the engineers and surveyors opted for a different route, and the wooden part of the trestle fell into disrepair. Or you could say it literally fell. We were happy to see that we were not taking this part of the old route.View looking back at the old bridge, and the rushing water it crossed. Amazing that this railway was even built; it ranks up there with the Eiffel Tower, Panama Canal, and other international engineering accomplishments.Marker at the top of the pass, decorated with fireweed and some trees stunted by the severe winter weather. Our turnaround loop was perhaps a mile past this point, in Canada. The track from Skagway to the summit was mostly single track, but did include several long sidings to let trains pass. On the day we were there, I think we saw perhaps four other trains on the route, one of them pulled by an old steam locomotive. The track is well maintained and, as mentioned before, continues past the summit and turnaround loop to reach the towns of Fraser and Bennett in British Columbia and then Carcross and Whitehorse in Yukon Territory. The full length of the route is 110.4 miles.Think this is a replica of the cabin used by the Canadian authorities to enforce border security back in gold rush days. In addition to the US and Canadian flags, we see flags of Alaska, Yukon Territory, and British Columbia. The main track is in front of the cabin; at this point we are going off into the turnaround loop that will eventually send us back down the track to Skagway.Two happy tourists in the railway station back in Skagway. The town also hosts the Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Park, which is probably worth a visit if time allows (ours did not), and an assortment of saloons, shops, and frontier-style tourist attractions. But the White Pass & Yukon Route was the highlight of our day. Over the years we have been blessed to be able to ride the Cumbres & Toltec, Durango & Silverton, and Roaring Camp & Big Trees railroads (all narrow gauge), and the White Pass & Yukon holds its own against any of them!
