Alaska Inner Passage Cruise, July 26 – August 2, 2023
Skagway greeted us again with jewelry stores, but we learned a little bit about shopping local and tried to patronize locally owned shops.
Volendam at the dock at Skagway, being repaired.
The Volendam on the left and another cruise ship in a beautiful setting in Skagway.
Mountains in beautiful Skagway
Downtown Skagway
We took the White Pass and Yukon Route Railway to Fraser, BC. Elaine and William were in separate groups because Elaine joined a bus tour back from Fraser, and William was in a bike group.
William on the train.
Most of the way there was one track, but here there was a second one. The tracks are a narrow gauge, befitting the terrain through which they pass.
Hikers got off the train at the old red caboose, which can be rented for camping.
The Skagway river viewed from the train. The rapids here were pretty mild, but the river elsewhere contains class 6 rapids, which Elaine’s guide said are not survivable.
The Skagway river is this distinctive color due to glacial silt.
Going around a horseshoe bend in the track, we can see the tail end of the train from William’s car. Elaine is back there somewhere.
Trestle coming up, and narrow, dark tunnel.
Old highway bridge, obviously no longer in use.
Another view of old highway bridge.
This is one of the trails that the “stampeders” took from Skagway to the gold fields in the Yukon. It is no longer passable.
It would take the stampeders two years to get to Yukon because of all of the supplies they had to carry. They would take their supplies to a drop off point and return for more and repeat. Some of their supplies were stolen, and then sold back to the stampeders later. The people who got rich in the gold rush were the ones who sold supplies, stolen and otherwise. The trail fell into disuse when the railway opened in 1898.
The Sawtooth mountains from the highway across the gorge from the railroad track.
The group that rode bikes back to Skagway.
Welcome to Alaska (from British Columbia).
More Sawtooth mountains.
William and his bicycle.
Bridal Veil falls.
Bridal Veil falls.
The Skagway river gorge from the highway.
Elaine and William each saw a moose on the way down the mountain, but neither of us were able to get a picture. So here’s a picture of a pretty rock face instead.
Train bridge from across the gorge.
William poses at Bridal Veil falls.
Bridal Veil falls.
Alex and Charley, William’s bicycle guides. They had walkie-talkies, and could communicate with each other – one at the front of our single-file procession, and the other at the rear.
Another railroad bridge viewed from across the gorge.
Beautiful view from the cruise ship as we left Skagway.
