Skagway

Skagway was a quaint little town. It had several streets, and numerous tourist shops. Skagway has a privately owned transit system that uses what might be described as vintage buses. These vehicles are late 1940's and are painted bright yellow. They are more like a limousine in that they have many doors and a trunk. People who dress up in period dress drive them and they give tours of the town. They are quite charming. Margot and I didn't actually take one of these tours, but the vehicles were all about, cruising around the town.

In Skagway, our shore excursion was on the White Pass & Yukon Rail railroad. The train trip took us from Skagway to the Canadian border via the White Pass. The White Pass was the route that many of the gold rushers took over the mountains to Canada. The railroad is a testament to American ingenuity and desire. The railroad was completed in 2 years and was built in the 1890's. There is very little level grade to the railroad. The vast majority of this rail is carved out of the side of a mountain. It ascends several thousand feet and starts are nearly sea level. The W.P. & Y.R used 5000 men to build the railroad almost completely by hand, using hand tools and explosives to carve the path into the side of the granite mountain. Amazingly enough, with this many men and the great speed at which this railroad was constructed, only 35 deaths occurred. (_ONLY_ 35 deaths…)The rail is narrow gauge, meaning that it is 3 feet wide as opposed to the standard 4.5 feet wide.

The train trip lasted about 2 hours. We had absolutely spectacular weather - partly cloudy, no rain, and the temperature was about 50 degrees at the base of the mountain. It got quite cold as we neared the top. I'd guess in the high 30's and the wind picked up quite a bit the more we ascended.

The locomotive was built by GE and it was diesel powered. The W.P. & Y.R. also has a pair of small Alcoa diesels and a steam locomotive. Neither the Alcoa's nor the steamer were around for close viewing. I did get to see the Alcoa's pulling another tour up the mountain from quite a distance away. Our train consisted of around a dozen coaches, all vintage in nature, but very well maintained.

	A W.P. & Y.R. caboose on display in town
	More W.P. & Y.R cars on display
	One of the original steam locomotives used by the W.P & Y.R. on display across the street from the station.
	Another view of the steamer
	One can see the horrible state of repair this steam engine is in.
	A view of part of the yard of the W.P. & Y.R.
	The #1 rotary snow plow of the W.P. & Y.R. It is one of two working narrow gauge steam powered rotarty snow plows in the northern hemisphere.
	Another view of the #1 rotary snow plow.
	The W.P. & Y.R.'s Alcoa diesel electric locomotive
	The W.P. & Y.R.'s GE diesel electric locomotive
	A curve in the tracks. Narrow gauge rail can turn much more tightly that standard gauge.

The scenery is absolutely spectacular. The views are just unbelievable. Waterfalls abound, along with lush greenery, and majestic mountains everywhere one would turn his head.

	A nice stream
	A view from the train. You can see the railroad cut into the side of the mountain.
	The W.P. & Y.R. making it's way through the beautiful scenery
	The (only) road to Skagway
	More lush scenery
	Winding our way along the forested mountain side

	A view from the train of the dock in Skagway. One can barely make out the cruise ships docked in port.



	Hemlock and fir reaching up to the snow capped mountains
	Pitchfork falls
	Dwarfed by the majestic mountains

	A view of one of many streams of water the W.P. & Y.R. must pass over.
	One of only a few places where trains can pass on the mountainess grade
	The mountains reach up to the sky where their majestic peaks are obscured by heavy clouds
	Winding our way along the mountainside
	The W.P. & Y.R. cross one of the larger trestles
	Winding our way along the mountainside
	A view of the steel cantilever trestle which is no longer in use. When it was in use it was the second highest in the world.
	Real railroad engineering! The W.P. & Y.R. carved into the mountainside, then built a trestle, then a tunnel, all in a few hundred feet!
	One of many ponds found in the White Pass
	Beautiful waterside scenery
	One of many waterfalls to be seen on the trip to the Canadian border

	Another pond. The ponds are sterile yet crystal clear. Which may seem odd, but when you realize that they are frozen solid for better than half the year, it's much easier to understand.
	Another view of the same pond
	A much larger pond
	An old water tower used by the steam locomotives
	More lush scenery
	Another water fall






	One of many vintage coaches employed by the W.P. & Y.R. Each coach is named after a lake.
	The W.P. & Y.R. self-powered tram.

As part of the excursion, we were taken back by motor coach, via a little tourist trap called Liarsville. There was a cute little stage show and afterwards they offered guests the ability to pan for gold. They made no bones about the fact that you would find gold, as they had placed it in the pans. They also pointed out that the gold was Canadian, as there is no gold in Skagway. So, as tourists, you got to pan for Canadian gold in a town in Alaska that had no gold. Rather humorous I thought.

After the stop in Liarsville, we were motor coached back to town and dropped off. Margot and I did a little shopping in the W.P. & Y.R. gift shop and then ate lunch at a local establishment - the Northern Lights Café. The food was very good - we got "Alaskan pizza". It was just like regular pizza, but it was made in Alaska - so I guess it tasted better that conventional pizza. They café had an enormous menu, with quite an ethnic variety. Quite a bit different from the greasy spoon we ate at in Ketchikan. After lunch we did a bunch of shopping before returning to the cruise ship. Margot bought 2 pair of earrings - one gold, one sapphire, a gold necklace and a gold bracelet. I bought mom a piece of LLADRO - an Eskimo child hugging a polar bear cub.

I mostly shot everything on Fuji Provia-F, but some was shot on Velvia. I used the 28-105 quite a bit, and I used the 100-400 some. I think Canon's 28-135 IS lens would have been the cats meow for this trip. I rarely need the long focal length. I didn't use the monopod on this excursion.

	Panning for gold at Liarsville
	Katie & Donnie panning for gold
	A beautiful little water fall at Liarsville
	A slightly different view of the water fall
	Another view of the water fall.

	The view from the dock at Skagway
	A helicopter coming in for a landing at Skagway
	Another view of the helicopter
	Yet, another view of the helicopter