Skagway, Alaska (day 2)

 Another sunshine filled day in Alaska, with lots of activity and beautiful sights.  We started the day with a hike.  Two minutes’ walk from the camper and we were headed up a steep incline to a 4.5-mile hike through a rainforest and along a mountain lake.  The further we hiked, the more we left other people behind. 

We got back to the camper in time for a quick lunch and then walked 2 blocks into town to catch the White Pass Railroad train for a 40-mile excursion.  It was a very “touristy” thing to do, but what the heck, we are tourists. 

The narrow-gauge railroad was built in 1900 to replace the Chilcott Pass hike we learned about yesterday.  We were reminded that all the prospectors were required to bring enough supplies to last a year.  That was generally thought to be about 2000 pounds, which made it necessary to go up and down the pass many times to carry it up manually.  Imagine their relief to have a railroad to transport them to Whitehorse.  Of course, then they needed to build a raft to go 500 miles down the river to Dawson after that.  These were tough folks.

The rest of our day was not so rigorous.  We enjoyed the train excursion, saw some marvelous sights and heard entertaining stories of the Klondike.  Our biggest hardship was having to wait for “happy hour” and determine what we were going to have for dinner.

That wraps up Skagway for us.  We are on the way to Whitehorse and points north tomorrow.  We are heading into the interior for a week or so.

View of Skagway

Our exercise for the day

Lower Dewey Lake, above Skagway

What a view, what a place to build a railroad

Near the summit of White Pass, just inside the Canadian border

I am not going across that bridge - look closely