Skagway and the White Pass Rail

Today was an EARLY day but well worth it! We rode the historic White Pass all the way up to Carcross Canada. 

I booked this independently because our cruise line only offered the shorter version, and we wanted to see it all!

When I was a kid, I played the computer game “Yukon Trail” so I really wanted to see all of the places in the game.  (I wasn’t great at it, so I usually died in the Yukon River, and I never made it to the end.)

We boarded the train in Skagway, and went up over 2000 feet! It was a COLD morning (45) so it was pretty foggy. The scenery was still beautiful!

We crossed into Canada near Fraser, BC. 

The customs agents boarded the train and checked everyone’s passports, then we were on our way again.

We made a whistle stop at the Bennett ghost town. In the “Yukon Trail” game, you stopped here and had to wait out the winter and built a boat to float Lake Bennett and the Yukon River. That’s what the Stampeders had to do, too. 

In 1898, the Stampeders built a beautiful church that winter. It was also used as a social hall. When they all left in spring of 1899, the church was abandoned. It is still there today.

Our train ended at Carcross, Yukon Territory. We had 45 minutes in town before we got on the bus to head south.

 We made a few short stops on the way down. The first was at Emerald Lake.

Then we crossed back into the USA. We stopped at the “Welcome to Alaska” sign. Unfortunately the beautiful view was covered by the fog,

Finally we ended our ride at downtown Skagway. We did a little shopping and had a few drinks before heading back to the ship. 

Our ship was at the Broadway Dock, which was an easy walk from downtown. 

We also saw a cute Harbor Seal enjoying a salmon. 

It was another really fun day!