June 14, 2026 Skagway, Alaska Day #1

We were up in time to get the luggage out in the hall by 7:30 a.m. The temperature was 9°C, windy and cloud. The window was wet, but the rain had ended. We walked the block and a half to Tim Hortons for a light breakfast. There were other couples from the group there. The Wisconsin group of eight had also eaten breakfast there earlier.

Our group was in the motor coach ready to go by 8:25 a.m. Mavis, our driver, announced the 177 kilometre journey would take about 3.5 hours including photo and rest stops.

The mountains had clouds hanging on or above them. There was a photo stop at Emerald Lake, which has patches of green water. Next a quick photo from the coach to see the “Carcross Desert”, a small sandy area that does not fit the technical definition of a desert.

An hour after we departed Whitehorse, there was a 40 minutes rest stop at the village of Carcross. It was very quiet, ours was the only tour bus. Here in July 1900, the final spike in the narrow gauge White Pass & Yukon Route railway was struck. The railway construction began on May 27,1898. Michael Heney, had surveyed a route, but had no money. In April 1898 in Skagway, Heney met British financiers, the Close brothers, and struck a deal to fund the railway build. In July 1899 the hard part of the construction was finished when the crew arrived at Bennett Lake. They continued, now downhill, to build to Carcross and another crew had started construction for the Whitehorse to Carcross portion. At 5 p.m. on July 29, 1900 the “Golden Spike” was struck in Carcross to complete the 110 mile long narrow gauge railway. Over 3,500 men took 26 months to build the railway.

Carcross was originally named Caribou Crossing, but its mail would get mixed up with another Caribou Crossing in British Columbia, so they shortened their name. The population is about 200. Carcross is located between two lakes, Bennett Lake and Nares Lake. There is a nice square with shops and a café. There is a White Pass & Yukon Route station and a general store across from it. Just 50 metres way is a replica of the original Caribou Crossing Hotel, which was destroyed in a 1929 fire.

Shortly after leaving Carcross, our progress was slowed as we followed a line painting truck for 15 minutes. Three hours into the journey, near the official Canada and United States border, a fog descended reducing the visibility to about 100 meters for about five minutes.

Whitehorse is located in the boreal forest. About an hour after departing Carcross the terrain changes to tundra at the highest point of the drive, White Pass summit (1,003 metres above sea level). As we descend into Skagway the vegetation changes to rain forest.

About four kilometres from the U.S. Customs building, a group of five cyclists were coasting down the highway at the side of the road. Motorists are not supposed to pass cyclists, so our speed reduced to 30 km/h until they pulled over at a viewpoint. It was about two kilometres to the U.S. Customs building. The officers just looked at the passports of Mavis and Zelzen and list of passengers then waved us through the border crossing.

Just before 11 a.m. (Noon in Whitehorse) we arrived in Skagway. There a light drizzle as we joined the thousands of people wandering the main shopping area, Broadway. The drizzle got heavier and we chose the Bonanza Bar and Grill for a light lunch - Alaskan Chowder and Crab Quesadilla. We walked back to the hotel to wait for Zelzen to walk the group just three minutes to the White Pass & Yukon Route railway train station. Steps so far today 5,015

Captain William Moore, a former steamboat captain in British Columbia and Alaska, and his son, Ben, arrived in October 1887 and begin work on a cabin on his 160-acre homestead in the Skagway Valley. They also began building a wharf before leaving for the winter to return in the spring. Already part of several gold stampedes Moore believed that Skagway’s deep-water harbour and a trail through the White Pass, would become the gateway to gold fields some day. The men made occasional improvements to their homestead and the wharf adding a sawmill. William and Ben delivered mail and freight to the area as far as Juneau and Forty Mile, in the winter by dog team.

However, when the Klondike Gold Rush news caused tens of thousands of men to arrive and start a new community, the homestead rights of the Moores were ignored by the new comers. Later the Moores sued and were awarded the property and wharf where they had made improvements and a settlement of 25% of the value of the rest of the land that had been forcibly taken from them. Part of that property, Ben’s cabin and house at Fifth and Spring Street, belong to the Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Park. The buildings have been restored and are open to the public. Captain Moore sold the wharf and other property to the White Pass & Yukon Route in 1907 and moved away. He is considered the founder of Skagway.

A diesel engine lead a line of a dozen passenger cars. Groups of people were being escorted to assigned carriages. We had the whole back carriage for our group, only half filling it. It was called Lake Lewes and its number was 268. Passengers were allowed to stand on the narrow platform of our train car, but not allowed to go to the next carriage. Each car has a cast iron stove to heat it. At White Pass summit the temperature was just 4°C.

Leaving Skagway the train passed the White Pass & Yukon Route Maintenance yard. Close by, across the tracks, is the old cemetery. The first of many bridges was over the Skagway River. The tour guide for the train mentioned that each car had a complimentary supply of boxed water for anyone who wished some water. Shortly the train slowed more for people to photograph Skagway Harbour far below. The Klondike Highway is visible on the opposite side of the river as is the town incinerator which replaces the need for a garbage dump. The land around the tracks is the Tongass Forest and granite cliffs, which were blasted to make the tracks corridor. Next in view, was the United States Customs office, which we had passed by in the morning. At mile 10.4 there was a sign “Black Rock”. At this point doing construction, during a landslide, swept two workers over a cliff and a massive boulder fell on top of two men killing them. Micheal Heney was the construction foreman and decided it was too dangerous to retrieve the men’s bodies, but created a marker to denote the place where they fell.

At 14 mile, there was a converted railcar with one side removed called Denver Glacier Station, where hikers can wait after a hike for the train to take them back to Skagway, or leave the train to begin their 4.5 mile hike to the glacier. Nearby was the Denver Caboose Cabin. Both are only accessible by train and are on Railroad property. The caboose is a “dry” cabin, no electricity or water. There is an outhouse. Hikers staying overnight are expected to bring everything for their stay with them including stove oil, flashlight, toilet paper fire extinguisher and fire starter.

Along the way there were waterfalls for many sizes falling down the slopes. We were lucky that the clouds had risen for our view of Sawtooth Peaks, which were shrouded in cloud in the morning. There was the deep valley at Slippery Rocks. At Inspiration Point there was another view of the Skagway harbour. Near the White Pass summit remnants of the old White Pass Trail are still visible. We passed the 217 foot tall cantilever bridge built in 1901 and retired in 1969 and now partially collapsed.

There are two tunnels carved into the granite rock. Mile 20.4 from Skagway marks the border between Alaska and British Columbia. Summit Lake still had some thin ice floating on it. At one hour and 35 minutes the train followed a loop to direct it back to Skagway. Zelzen met our train carriage at the station and guided the group the one block back to the hotel and gave us the news that our rooms were ready. She distributed the keys and the program for tomorrow. The only agenda item was an optional cocktail gathering at 4 p.m.

Our carryon was tagged as we left the motor coach, so that we could retrieve it from the hotel luggage storage room, after the train journey, and finding our luggage by our door, we shook off the water from our jackets and started working of storing the photos and writing more of the blog which had been started during the trip from Whitehorse.

Due to the irregular rain showers we had a nice dinner in the Chilkoot Dining Room on the main floor. A crab cake and Halibut encrusted with pecan pieces plus steamed broccoli and citrus risotto for Claire and Blackened Chicken Alfredo for Larry. The rain had paused. We got our jackets and walked to the docks where the Disney Magic, Carnival Miracle and the Island Princess were moored. They were all scheduled to leave at 8 p.m. We hurried back to the hotel as rain began again, but did stop at the popcorn store and tried to decide which flavour to choose.

We snacked on the popcorn during the evening.

Total steps 8,595