Skagway sits at the top of the northernmost point of the inside Passage in southeast Alaska. Over a hundred years ago, the White Pass route through the Coast Mountains was used by countless stampeders.
Skagway was known to thousands of hopeful gold rushers as the gateway to the gold fields. In August of 1896 gold was discovered on the Klondike River. The gold rush was a boon to Skagway - by 1898 it was Alaska's largest town with a population of about 20,000. But, when the gold yield dwindled in 1900, so did the population of Skagway. Today Skagway has less than 1,000 residents, but it retains the flavor of the gold rush era.
The gold rush lasted a few short years and during that time Skagway erupted into a state of chaos. Visitors called it "hell on earth" (not my description what the legend says). The most notorious criminal (we would probably say crime boss) was Soapy Smith. Today his body rests just a few miles outside of Skagway. He was killed in a famous shoot out/ambush on Juneau pier. Both 'shooters' died and is now a story they tell as you are riding the White Pass train.
The excursion I chose to go on in Skagway was the White Pass Railway. It was 27.1 miles one way just across into Canada. The White Pass fleet consists of 20 diesel-electric locomotives, restored and replica passenger coaches and 2 steam locomotives. The oldest car was built in 1883 and is on the line each day. One of the coaches was used in the movie "Diamond Jim Brady, and one carried Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip on a royal tour in 1959.
There is so much to tell; but I'm going to leave it at that. The pictures will, hopefully, help to fill in more details and to give you a bit of a look at what it was like to be there.
First view of Skagway.
As we were coming into the dock I saw these painted rocks. I thought how strange...
Then I saw there were bunches of painted rocks all along this mountain side.
Maybe this is Alaskan graffiti? Or a way of advertising? Didn't find out why.
We are on the train now, didn't take a picture of the train coming up to the dock, should have. This is an old train just sitting there. Don't know why.
There will be a lot of pictures of just scenery, I think it can speak for it's self. And most of the pictures were taken from inside the car, through the window, leaning over my friend. Just saying, they are what they are.
The next couple of pic's are taken while I'm standing outside, just had to see what that was like.
That's us going around the bend.
In this picture and the following one,if you were to enlarge it you would see the Skagway harbor.
Yep, outside again, looking down, that's what we are going over.
Two of my friends, it was fun to share this ride with them.
See that bridge way up there? Yep, going over it. I think they called it the oldest trestle bridge? Just a note here: The White Pass & Yukon Route climbs from sea level in Skagway to almost 3,000 feet at the Summit in just 20 miles and features steep grades of almost 3.9%. The tight curves of the WP called for a narrow gauge railroad. The rails are 3' apart on a 10' wide road bed. Scary but not, if that makes sense. I'm so glad I didn't miss this ride.
This guy was just sitting there, watching and waving as we went by. Alaska's equivalent of standing on the corner and people watching?
That steam/river down there was very far away.
Going into the first of two tunnels, I don't like tunnels.
Can you find the white mountain goat? There was a herd of them.
Nope, didn't go over that one. Apparently it was built but never finished.
Yep, second tunnel, it was longer.
We are now across the Canadian border. We wait here for another train to pass and then we start our trip back down.
The conductor had us stand up, take the back of our seats and swing it over so that we were now sitting facing the other direction from which we came, and the train had an engine on both ends, so we didn't turn around. So, we were now going backwards but not. Should have taken a picture. Got it? It took us a bit to figure it out. You can see the other train passing us. We were suppose to wave and make faces at the other people as they passed. Some did.
This coach can be rented out. It is fixed up like a cabin. That could be fun I suppose.
This is the cemetery where that Soapy Smith is buried and with the other guy.
Just some of the building in Skagway.
The front of this store is made out of twigs.
The painted rocks were everywhere on that mountain face. I liked the watch.
We are leaving. Goodbye Skagway, I really enjoyed visiting here.
From Thursday evening until Saturday evening we were at sea. Heading for Victoria, Canada. My friends and I spent the time eating, seeing a show, eating, playing games, visiting with new friends, eating, walking around the ship and exploring, eating.....okay, you get the idea. My next post will be small and will be my final one. Thanks for joining me on my journey!
Our destination on Wednesday was to Juneau. But before we arrived in Juneau, some of us got off the ship onto a 'fast-moving catamaran' (that was how they described it in the program). We 'walked the plank' from the big ship to the little boat. My excursion for this area was the Tracy Arm Fjord & Glaciers. This was my favorite of all. I took over 500 pictures, don't panic, I'm not including all of them.
In 1880 a one hundred mile belt of gold was discovered in Juneau. This was the first major Alaska gold discovery, but it would not be the last. Juneau became the capital of Alaska in 1900 when the government of the then-Alaska Territory was moved from Sitka. Mining remained a mainstay of Juneau's economy until 1944 when increased operating costs and manpower shortages associated with WWII forced the AJ Mine to close. By 1958, when Alaska became the 49th state, government had filled much of the economic void left by the end of the mining era. Okay, got that out of the way; now on to the pictures.
The first one is my 'first' iceberg. I did not expect them to be so blue.
What a better welcoming than an eagle on an iceberg? We did see other eagles sitting on icebergs, so guess it is what they do.
One of the first waterfalls in this area that we passed. Actually, we saw so many waterfalls on this whole cruise once we got into the inside passage. The color of the water is amazing too.
We are pulling away from the ship to go into the Tracy Arm Fjord.
My little buddy Dawn, was really good at getting a front seat....
Bye, bye.
Standing outside at the back of the boat.
Don't they look like they have a blue light under them.....I was totally in love with the icebergs. A disclaimer here, a lot of the pictures were taken from inside the catamaran; some from outside on the top. I did have to delete a lot of the pictures, but I am happy with what I did get.
First glimpse of Sawyer Glacier. There are two, they were one huge icefield/glacier many, many years ago.
I caught this calving; we saw 4, which we were told, is unusual to see that many.
We saw a lot of these fat critters. There were a few babies too.
We all got to hold a bergie bit. It was heavy; but I had to do it.
We got close enough to touch the waterfall. Well, some got to touch the waterfall. Me and my short arms did not get to touch it, I tried but did not want to fall in.
Again, the water is so beautiful. There were wild flowers growing on the side of the rocks, so pretty.
Beautiful double waterfall. We are getting up close and very personal.
See the young man standing outside on the left? He is a new guide and about to get the tradition joke played on him. He is to stand there and tell the captain when the boat is getting too close to the rock. He was smiling the whole time. Even when the captain drove the front of the boat completely under the waterfall, he was even still smiling after.
We even got to see a bear!!!!
We are coming into Juneau and are following our ship into the port.
The main street in Juneau. It actually was very warm on this day.
The following pictures are of us leaving Juneau. The pictures are fuzzy because we were pretty far away and the light wasn't the best. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. We did not stay docked at Juneau through the night. We were on our way to the next stop while we slept.
The next stop is at Skagway. It was probably my favorite town. But, that is for the next post. This was the most fun day and was hard to call the day done. Especially when it was still light out all night. We left our drapes open just for fun and that was a mistake. You don't sleep when it is still light. But, it was beautiful!!! Thanks for reading.
