Skagway & The White Pass and Yukon Railroad!!

Skagway ... a steep drive down a long hill!!

We left Carcross and headed to the U.S. Border.   The drive was certainly beautiful, when I took my eyes off the road long enough to look ...  This is Nares Lake in the misty morning with the sun coming up over the mountain.

The further along, the prettier it got.  The reflections in the lake were amazing, but we were in a hurry to get to Skagway.  Besides, there's no place for two big motorhomes to stop.

At the top of the pass, the lake was still frozen over.  It wasn't really cold and I'm pretty sure we were only at about 3500 feet elevation.  It's a wonder that it is still frozen.

After bypassing Canadian customs, we hit the US border, with Dan's favorite passport checker!!  Dan pulled into the right lane for trucks, and I followed, until two people came out and waved me through the car side.  Talk about narrow ... my mirrors missed by inches on both sides.  I SWEAR these guys take no-smile lessons.

Then we came to the 10% grade part!!  EEEEKKK ... actually, it wasn't bad at all.  I've gone down so many now that this didn't seem a problem at all.  Finally at the bottom, we pulled into the Corrington Family compound ... warehouse and RV parking for their work-campers.  We had two full hookups waiting for us, but they are rather short for our long vehicles.

One of the first stops we made was to the local Gold Rush Cemetery.  They have replaced and repainted all the headstones (head boards), so you have a good idea who's who!!  The town bully, Soapy Smith was buried here when he was shot by the town hero, Mr. Reid, who died 12 days later from his gunshot wound.  Check Dan's blog for the pictures.

The White Pass and Yukon Railroad!!!

Bright and early the next morning, thanks to Patty and Dan's good friend Maggie, Patty and I climbed on board the train for White Pass.  Diesels this trip, but it didn't spoil it one bit.  This is a long haul up a steep hill, crossing lots of trestles with steep drop-offs.  Never mind the train tilts towards the downhill side ... it won't fall off ... REALLY!!!

The huge dandelion crop is in full bloom as we headed up.  The railroad bed follows the Old White Pass Trail, and as you go along, you can see old shovels, picks, cans and even parts of stoves they left on their way across the snow.  A few bodies were left here and there also.

As well as a few trains.  There were three engines down the sides of the cliffs ... not sure if they were dumped by accident or on purpose.

The views were spectacular ... so much prettier in person!!!

This is the trestle just before entering the first tunnel.  Up close, it looks just as rickety and it does here!!

This original trestle and  cantilever bridge were used up until 1969 when the loads became too heavy.  Behind the bridge is a second tunnel to bypass the trestle.

Finally we hit the top of the pass.  It's pretty rugged.  Hard to imagine men, horses and dogs trying to get a ton of food and supplies up this pass, only to meet the Royal Canadian Mounted Police who charged them a customs fee for every item.

This is the actual pass they cross over.  This lake/glacier, over 200 feet deep in sections and 100 feet deep from end to end, made the crossing pretty miserable in the summer.

At this point, the front of the train became the back, as our two engines traded places.

Another look at the actual trail they traversed.  Thousand of men and animals lost their lives trying to get rich.  The smart ones, sold what they had left for passage money home.

This is the last sight they would see behind them as they headed up to Carcross and Bennett Lake, looking for a boat to take them the rest of the 500 miles to the Yukon.  

Next up ... hiking Skagway and an insiders tour of the Library ... which is the only place we have internet in order to get this posted!!!

It's Not All Good .....

The roads that is .....  We left Watson Lake headed to Caribou Crossing (Carcross) for our next nights stay.  There's quite a rush of construction to get the roads repaired before winter.  Yes it is VERY narrow and VERY long.  We had maybe one foot on either side of the rigs.  I just held my breath!!

Here's what everyone expects to see in Alaska ... gravel roads.  It was as bad as you are thinking it is!!! At 40 miles an hour, we moved WAY over when another vehicle came along trying to avoid glass chips.  They seem to think this is a freeway!!  So far so good for me  :) !!

The sights make up for it though!!  We passed a bear or two, but by the time I got up they had high tailed it for the woods!!

You never know what you will see along the road.  This small plane actually landed in the road and taxied up to this driveway ... thankfully NOT when we were driving this section.

The worst road construction yet, this section was several miles long.

I was actually quite a ways behind Dan and Patty, as you can see ... or as you "can't" see, it was pretty dusty.  

I was laughing at their jeep until I saw the back of mine!!!  Payback .......

Like I said, you never know what you will see on the highway.  This poor guy is barely moving his feet to keep himself headed uphill.  This doesn't look like fun to me!!!!

Another amazing view ... around every corner is another beautiful picture.

We finally landed in Carcross ... previously Caribou Crossing.  It's a quaint little town that stays open for the tour buses from Skagway.  I'll give you a personal tour .....

Here's the end of Bennett Lake where you would be if you were a stampeder headed for the Klondike. After floating through several lakes, you would end up on the Yukon river, headed for Dawson City.

This little Duchess train, along with her brother the Duke, ran passengers (mostly tourists) across a finger of land where they would catch another paddlewheeler.

This is the Matthew Watson General Store ... the oldest general store in the Yukon Territory, still in operation.  The tour buses from Skagway stop here, as does the White Pass and Yukon Railroad.  They weren't really happy about picture taking inside, but I'm sure they would have sold me a pair of moccasins for $130!!

Here's the WP&YRR station with it's stagecoach waiting for passengers.

This train was leaving at 12:30 for Skagway.  It's part of several Land and Sea Tours available through Holland America and other cruise lines.

Across from the train station is the Caribou Hotel.  

It is currently undergoing major reconstruction inside.  Hopefully it will look as it did in its glory days.

This swing bridge was installed to allow train traffic and steam ships.  It would swing one way to allow the ships to pass ... however, it was only used a couple of times before the railroad put the paddle wheelers out of business. 

Always a motorcycle shop in town ... 

There were so many original log cabins ... and I had a "sort of" directory, but in the end can't match any of the houses to the names.  Suffice to say they are amazing ... even if they are listing a little to one side.

One of the premier paddle wheelers was the Tutshi (Too shy).  Here it is in Carcross ... after many years, the locals started a restoration project with EVERYONE joining in.

Unfortunately, when almost complete, it caught fire and burned to the ground.  What a shame!!!  They salvaged what was left and installed this memorial.

Here's the way to Gold City ... most everyone came through this little channel with their supplies, headed to the promised land to get RICH RICH RICH!!!

A lot of people stopped along the way and set up businesses ... another way to get rich ... here's a sourdough bakery.  The apple cake was delicious ... and I'm sure the piece of carrot cake would have been at $5.00 each.  That's $60 a cake!!!  I think I could go into business here.  

This is the Sibilla ... one of the boats used on the lake.

This Catholic Church was built in early 1900 and still has services today.  Notice the supply of logs for heating.

Even the church had to have an outhouse!!  Although it does have electricity, this small outhouse on the right serves the church goers.

Next door to the church was the Pastor's house ... almost bigger than the church!!

This became known as the "Miss Mathews" house ... a teacher who rented it.

A business in front and a home in the back.  All the businesses had false fronts to make them appear larger.  Everyone has some kind of electricity and a birdhouse!!!

By now it's pouring down rain and I'm headed back to the rig.  I'm so excited that tomorrow we will be in Skagway ... I will OFFICIALLY be in ALASKA!!!!

Just some fun info ... Ice Cream $13.99 a half gallon

                                  RV Park   $26.20

                                  Ben and Jerrys  $6.79

                                  Honeydew melon  $12.99

Welcome to the Yukon!!!

It Was A Bear Of A Day!!!!!

Liard Hot Springs to Watson Lake!!

I asked Patty and Dan to please call ahead and make sure there were lots of animals along the highway -- and they did!!!  Finally, I got smart, and set up my good camera by my side.  I forewarned everyone that I would be stopping for photo ops.  Sure enough, right out of town, the bears were posing!!  This guy is keeping an eye on Dan while I shoot out my window.  They really weren't concerned much at all and just kept eating the dandelions.  Blackie here has a mouthful ...

There were 6 or 7 bear along the road.  This poor baby had a hole in his head ... must have lost the fight.

There were more bison laying along the road with lots of babies, but I couldn't hit the brakes fast enough.   Most were solitary males.  The fuzzy spots you see are the dozens of large bugs smashed on my windshield.  They have some rather large mosquitos here!!!

Not much farther up the road were these babies!!  Wild horses in Canada ... who knew??  This guy is probably a stud horse since he's the biggest .. he looks part draft horse with really large feet.  Obviously in excellent condition!

This Paint horse was pretty thin, as was the black and the white (not pictured).

Scenery is again beautiful ... the clouds here make for wonderful pictures.

We crossed over into Yukon Territory.  I've covered over 2600 miles so far!!

And finally we arrived in Watson Lake.  It's windy and cold, but WE HAVE INTERNET!!

Thank goodness there's several fuel stations.  I was almost to the generator red line ... the lowest it has EVER been and I was getting nervous.  The bad news was the $377.00 it cost to fill the tank.  I think it was $1.449 per litre.  You do the math, cuz I can never figure it out!!

Aside from being central to the Alaska Highway construction, Watson Lake is known for it's sign forest.  

In 1940-something, the first sign was placed on this post by a lonely serviceman working on the road.  As we arrived, they were taking the original signs down for painting before reinstalling them.

It's amazing the number of signs ... the count in 2012 was 75,000+  See anything familiar??

It was a GREAT BEAR of a day!!!!!