Sunday, September 6
Overnight we sailed into the Taiya Inlet, the largest and most southern fjord in the northern hemisphere, and arrived in Skagway, the northernmost port of the Inside Passage in southeast Alaska. That's a tricky bit of geography to start with!
It was an early start as the train ride on the White Pass Railroad was scheduled to leave at 8:15am, and fortunately the train line ran right beside where we were berthed so we didn't have far to go. There was low cloud hovering over the calm waters of the inlet, but there were gaps in the clouds and the sun was trying to break through to. We boarded our vintage carriage and sat near the heater to warm up and also to be near the door so we had quick access to the platform between carriages for better photos.
The Coral Princess in Skagway
On the train to White Pass
Although the train ride to White Pass Summit is only 20 miles or 32 kilometres, it climbs from sea level to about 3000 feet or 1000 meters. Construction commenced in May 1898, and the Summit was reached in February 1899. It only took 26 months to complete the 110 miles of narrow gauge railroad to Whitehorse in the Yukon Territory! Many of the workers were disillusioned gold seekers who failed to find their fortune in the Klondike gold rush in the late 1890s. In 1994 the White Pass & Yukon Route railroad was designated an International Historic Civil Engineering Landmark, alongside other engineering marvels like the Eiffel Tower, Statue of Liberty and the Panama Canal.
The price paid by these engineers and workers certainly made it easy for us to get to the Summit in about 1.5 hours and enjoy the spectacular scenery along the way. Highlights were the big loops and the rickety looking bridges - fortunately some newer ones have been built so we didn't have to cross the dodgy looking ones! The tunnels were good too, and required a lot of dynamite to get through the rocky mountain.
No, we didn't go over this bridge!
About to go through a tunnel
At the summit we did the "seat shuffle", as we swapped sides and reversed the seat backs so we were facing the other way for the journey back to Skagway. Meanwhile the engines were redirected on a side track to go from the front (going uphill) to the "downhill" front! The sun had broken through the clouds and we had a lighter view of the fantastic scenery on our way back.
After a quick lunch on the ship we headed into town to explore Skagway. It had a real frontier feel to it with the wooden boardwalks in front of the shops, most of which date back to the early 1900s. In fact the Klondike Gold Rush Historical Park covers a 6 block area of the town! One of the most unique (and oldest) buildings is the Arctic Brotherhood Hall which is the only remaining example of early Alaskan driftwood architecture.
Skagway street scene
Arctic Brotherhood building
We spent about an hour in the library catching up on emails, blogs etc before finishing our visit to Skagway with a drink at the Red Onion Saloon, a former brothel in the gold rush days, and it now contains a museum upstairs from the bar to inform you of its time as an exclusive bordello. As we returned to the ship the sun was shining on the mountains to cap off another great day in Alaska.
Goodbye Skagway
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