Riding the Rails & Where Eagles Fly

Tuesday, May 19, 2009 – Day 19

We were up before 06:30 this morning as we had Tickets to Ride the White Pass and Yukon Route – The Scenic Railway of the World.  We walked the 10 blocks down to the railway station near the waterfront.  (I have included a map of Skagway with Red Pushpins, detailing some of the places mentioned. Click on the map to open a new window.) 

We were early so we wandered through some shops and took some pictures of the area.  Our Train was called shortly after 08:00,  The train ascends to the summit of the White Pass and actually passes back into Canada.  We were not allowed to get off as there was no customs office at this particular location, (basically the middle of nowhere.)  We were surrounded with snow and ice,  The train climbs from Sea Level to almost 3,000 feet in less than 20 miles, snaking along beside the mountain side. In some of the turns we could see both ends of the train at the same time. The scenery was pretty amazing as we passed through the Tongas National Forest and crossed a couple of old wooden bridges. We could see the highway that we used yesterday from across the valley about a 1/2 mile away. The trip lasted close to four hours and we saw some great scenery.  Although Janet and I, both agreed that the Durango & Silverton railway was a little better.

On our way back to the trailer we picked up some tickets for the afternoon led National Park Service Ranger Walk and did some shopping on Broadway. 

After a quick lunch we walked back downtown to catch the Ranger’s presentation.  He led us through the downtown area describing the significance of many of the historic buildings and giving us a brief history of of the gold rush and Skagway.  It was really well done.  We asked him after the tour how and where he got most of his information – he cited Pierre Burton’s books about the Klondike.

We needed a driving fix, after tramping around so we drove just out of town to visit the Gold Rush Cemetery, where many of the characters of Skagway’s colourful past are interred.  Unfortunately there were several tour buses already there so we decided to try this sight tomorrow.  Not wanting to let an opportunity to explore slip away we decided to visit the former town site of Dyea, which at one time competed with Skagway for dominance in the area.  This was really an unexpected gem.  We had great views of Skagway and the Lynn Canal from across the valley.  Further down the road, (it was actually little more than a single lane dirt path in places), we came to the trailhead of the Chilkoot Trail.  The same trail that many of the prospectors took to get to the Klondike.  Beside the trail is the Tyai River flowing to the ocean with hundreds of sea birds and eagles.  We must have seen at least 6 or 7 eagles in this one area. We actually were able to catch one taking flight from a river log.  That made our day.