Speidel's Adventures: White Pass-Yukon RR & Skagway, Thursday, June 18

While in Whitehorse, we found out that we could make arrangements with a bus/train combo to get to Skagway & back to Whitehorse. So we boarded the bus to take us to Fraser to board the train to Skagway. Normally we would have boarded the train at Carcross, but some of the tracks had been destroyed by a major landslide in May and had not been repaired completely. So we had to ride further south to Fraser.

Here we are in front of this beautiful Emerald Lake. Gene Autry had built a small cabin on the edge of this lake but never lived in it. His estate later sold it. This lake had minerals in it to make it turn such pretty colors, but had no fish living in it.

This is the view of Carcross which is a short way off Rt 2. Route 2 runs from Skagway to Whitehorse. Carcross is a quaint little town with nothing much here but a post office, general store, and the railroad station.

Here is Jim in front of the railroad station where we would have been able to board the train for Skagway if it hadn't been for the damage from the slide.

This is Tutshie, pronounsed Too-Shy, Lake on the way from Carcross to Fraser. That wooden structure is the remains of an old silver mine.

Finally in Fraser, we board the train. This is the Conductor walking along.

This shows the railroad station at Fraser. It is on a lake also. The customs building is right across the street from this, as well as the Rt 2 road.

The Conductor is collecting tickets.

This is a view from the train as we head up White Pass. This is like another world with rocks everywhere and little ponds of water here and there.

This shows one of the little lakes or ponds as the train goes by, very near the summit.

This is the North West Mounted Police cabin at the summit where they checked the propectors to make sure they had enough provisions to make it one year. They had to have between 600-1000 pounds of provisions. Many miners got scurvy & were very sick.

This is another scene near the summit.

Here we are going down while traversing a steel bridge.

This shows an old steel cantilevered & wooden bridge they used to use on the railroad, but do not any longer because they made a tunnel through part of the mountain.

This is called Inspiration Point. I think it is very pretty!

Here is steel reinforcing the rr tracks. I hated to look down; Jim must have taken this photo! You can see where the train is going by the horizontal line on the mountain in the distance.

This shows the existing trestle & steel reinforced area which we just crossed in the train.

Here's a train's view of Skagway Harbor, with a cruise ship docked.

The train is now moved by diesel engines. This is one of the old steam engines which used to pull the train.

Here is a street scene in Skagway. Most of the shops are owned by the cruise lines. It is very "touristy" when the ships are in, and "dead" when they are not. One year-round resident said "In the winter, you live here with 700 of your best friends".

Jim is standing by a cruise ship in the Skagway Harbor. It was very windy & cold there that day when we arrived. I think it all came off the ocean. The Indians named this place Skagway for "big wind."

Lynda is giving the horse some carrots we had in our lunch. The horse is a special breed called a "Norweigian Fjord".

As we drove back to Whitehorse on the bus, we stopped to photograph this waterfall. There are many beautiful waterfalls coming from these mountains, all over Alaska & the Yukon.