In Which Miss Hoppington Rides the Rails

The trail is still there, over a hundred years later!

All aboard, my friends!

After my fun but rather wet and cold kayak ride, I was quite happy to get on a warm train for the ride back to Skagway. We said good bye to Canada and headed down the White Pass trail via the White Pass Railway. The White Pass trail was one of two trails from Skagway to the Yukon during the Klondike Gold Rush. The other was Chilkoot Pass, which was much steeper and harder. Not that White Pass was really any easier. Sadly, so many horses died, some called it Dead Horse trail.

Almost 100,000 people came to Alaska to find gold and a lot of them came through Skagway. So many people came that, even though it hasn't been used for a very long time, you can still see the old White Pass trail. It follows rushing streams and slowly trickles back to Skagway. I'm very glad I didn't have to walk and could ride the train instead.

Still a little damp but getting warmer.

We saw a lot of things on our way back. There was a very old train trestle bridge that we rode past; it used to be the tallest bridge in the world. The train used to go over it but it's not safe anymore.

We also rode past creeks and trees and mountains. And a caboose you can stay in. The Park Service owns it and rents it to hikers as a cabin. We stopped near it to pick up some hikers.

The White Pass railway used to be the most northern of railways. It is also the longest narrow gauge railway in North America, longer than the Cumbres & Toltec in New Mexico or the Durango & Silverton in Colorado. Miss L. said she got to ride the Durango & Silverton when she was younger.

But even with being the longest narrow gauge, before we knew it, we were pulling back into Skagway. It was so much fun riding the train. I know there are other trains I could ride. I'll have to track them down so I can tell you about them.

Crossing back over the pass in to Alaska.

Choo choo!

Hedda