A train track runs along the harbor frontage in Skagway, just below a rock face on which images have been painted remembering ships that have docked here over the years, all surrounding a large representation of a skull. Unlike our dockings in Ketchikan and Juneau, Skagway’s harbor is a few minutes walk from the small town laid out on the flat delta of the Skagway river where it comes down at the base of the mountains. The name of the town is translated from a Tlingit reference to “the northern winds.” We found out as the day wore on that the winds are a significant force.
Our train, the famous White Pass and Yukon Route, arrived on the track as promised with its old-fashioned cars named for lakes. We boarded our car, appropriately named the Lake Annie (recalling our Shih-Tzu, Annie) and began as ascent up the mountains to the White Pass, following the trail used by would-be miners in the Klondike gold rush of 1897. This narrow-guage railroad is part scenic festival and part thrill ride as the track hugs the side of the cliffs on one side and overlooks the plunging slopes below. In essence, the track climbs the sides of one of the deepest fiords in the world.
As the train climbed, we heard commentary about the history of the gold rush, as well as stories from Skagway’s storied past and information about the surrounding countryside. All along the way, waterfalls rush down the mountainsides into the gorge of the river. Some of them come from glaciers out of sight in the peaks above. This morning was foggy with the clouds sometimes hanging around the snow-covered peaks above us, sometimes lowering into our path.
We passed through tunnels, up through Dead Horse gorge where would-be miners once lost thousands of horses attempting to pack supplies over White Pass toward the Klondike. The effort to reach the gold was a frenzied one in which miners were required by Canadian Mounties to bring a ton of supplies with them, first up the mountains and over White Pass then another 500 miles or so down the Yukon River to the site of the gold find. In the two years of the rush, thousands tried, but only about 400 struck it rich before the bonanza played itself out.
All along the track, wildflowers abound at ground level and evergreens reach up from the slopes. Caribou moss is scattered along the slopes, its whitish color visible among the dark trees, looking like scattered sawdust at a distance. Thanks to a booklet available on the train, we were able to identify the purple flowers known as fireweed, beautiful deep blue of the Notka lupine and the feathery white Goatsbeard. With the speed of the train, we weren’t sure whether the yellow flowers were Alpine arnica or Shrubby cinquefoil, but we enjoyed the range of color, whatever their names.
The fir trees were full of cones of various shapes and sizes. The mountain ash trees were full of orange berries. Everywhere here there’s eye candy of one sort or another.
At the top of the pass, we left Alaska and entered British Columbia, so we were required to bring our passports and go through Canadian customs. In our case, a very polite and humorous Canadian customs officer came through the train checking our passports at the tiny settlement of Frasier. We were given the option to stamp our own passports at a little building housing restrooms. The stamp is chained to the wall on the porch and shows a graphic of climbers with packs going up a steep slope.
All through this high area are small lakes in different beautiful colors as influenced by the glacial rock flours. One lake, bisected by a sandbar, actually is two different colors in one spot, fed by two different glaciers.
We went by bus from Frasier to the Yukon Suspension Bridge which isn’t in the Yukon at all. A clever entrepreneur has created a tourist stop with the bridge, a gift shop and concession area, as well as several displays where photos can be made with pictures of Mounties or a statue of a brown bear as it appears to emerge from the woods in a mural behind. It is, however a place to take glorious pictures of a river tumbling through the gorge below and vistas of snow-topped mountains all around.
Our trip down the Al-Can highway by bus allowed more photos, this time captured at a few stops, including one at the “Welcome to Alaska” sign, a favorite for tourists. Every turn has its breathtaking views in these high mountain valleys, some carved by glaciers, some by rivers.
Wearied by our short night’s sleep and early waking, we were lulled to sleep on our return to the ship by yet another bountiful lunch (shocking, ey?). So, rather than explore little Skagway’s stores and celebration of Independence Day, we decided a nap was in order.
When we woke just at 5:00PM, the ship was preparing for departure and the captain suggested that we stay indoors, enjoying the view from the windows until we came out of the Taiya Inlet. The wind, he warned, would be fierce. In fact, as we cruised down the inlet, marveling at a number of spectacular waterfalls, whitecaps were visible along our path and after a few steps onto our balcony, we were “blown” back into the stateroom.
[Photos by Mike Lumpkin]
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