Whitepass Railroad to Skagway

Today was a perfect day to take trip down to Skagway.  A Bus picked us up at the campground at 8:30am and drove us to Fraser, BC.  The ride usually starts at Bennett but because of a huge rock slide across the road and tracks, we had to go to the next little town to board the train. Construction of the amazing White Pass Railroad path began in 1898. The railroad began construction in 1898 during the Klondike Gold Rush as a means of reaching the gold fields. With its completion in 1900, it became the primary route to the interior of the Yukon, supplanting the Chilkoot Trail and other routes. 

Towards the bottom of the picture is the remains of the original Whitepass Trail used in the 1800s by the men crossing the mountain in search of gold.

Famed Steel Cantilever  Bridge

This 215’ high structure was the tallest railroad bridge of is kind in the world when built in 1901.  It was designated as an International Historic Civil Engineering Landmark, a title shared with other famous structures such as the State of Liberty and Eiffel Tower.  This bridge spans the gorge that was known as Dead Horse Gulch where over 3,000 pack animals lost their lives.  Horses, purchased from glue factories in Seattle, were sold at the Skagway docks for ridiculously high prices.  The gold stampeders treated these horses so harshly and when they died, pushed them into the gulch.

Steel Cantilever Bridge

In 1922, George Buchanan, a wealthy coal baron from Detroit began sponsoring trips to Alaska for young boys,  At milepost 8.8, grateful “Buchanan Kids” surprised their benefactor by crossing the canyon and painting their slogan on the rocks face.  Every few years, volunteers from Skagway venture up to repaint this unique piece of history.

Sign at the RR station. In Slagway

Skagway RR Station

After arriving in Skagway, we ate lunch at the Bonanza Bar & Grill and walked through the stores and visited the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park.  We boarded our bus near the train station and rode all the way back to our campground, arriving around 6:00 PM.

We had a short stop in Carcross on the way back to Whitehorse, but the stores were already closed for the day.

Carcross “Desert"

This tiny square mile of Canadian sand was once considered the world's smallest desert. it’s actually not a desert at all. It’s a series of sand dunes that are kept dry by the rain shadow effects of the mountains in Yukon’s southern lakes region.