Over the next few days I drove from southwest Utah along my favorite circuit across to Death Valley National Park, down to Mojave National Preserve and back up to Las Vegas. Since I’ve covered this route in many previous trip reports, I’m going to fast forward a few days to Juneau, Alaska where I spent a fantastic day flying up to Skagway, Alaska and taking a ride aboard one of the most scenic narrow gauge railroads in North America – the White Pass & Yukon Railroad.
By May the long days leading up to the summer solstice provided a beautiful descent and arrival into Juneau. As we flew past downtown Juneau and then circled around to land to the east, I had my camera ready…
Alpenglow highlights coastal mountains
Evening arrival in Juneau
A BEAUTIFUL DAY ABOARD THE WHITE PASS & YUKON RAILROAD
May 12, 2015
SeaPort Airlines Juneau to Skagway 1000a – 1050a Cessna 208 Coach Class
WP&YR Skagway to White Pass r/t 1245p – 430p
SeaPort Airlines Skagway to Juneau 800p – 845p Cessna 208 Coach Class
The White Pass & Yukon Route
Photo courtesy of Yukon & White Pass Railroad
Ever since I stood and admired this train at the Whitehorse Station on a blustery morning back in the summer of 1979, I knew I’d have to take a ride upon it someday. I didn’t think thirty-six years would pass before I finally got around to doing so, but there you have it.
I spent last night in the Juneau airport, in the process saving over $100.00 that could better be used towards the purchase of my flights up to Skagway and back. Though historically the Juneau to Skagway route was served by – amongst others -Alaska Airlines with DeHavilland DHC-6 Twin Otters back in the late 1960s and early 1970s, today it is served by Portland, Oregon based SeaPort Airlines, an interesting operation that offers scheduled flights to a limited but geographically diverse collection of cities all around the country. Check out their route map and schedules
HERE.
In researching this link now some months later, I see they no longer serve Southeast Alaska. In any event, I was happy to add SeaPort Airlines to my collection of airlines flown, which now numbers 178. Of those, only two flights have come aboard airlines (Aerovias DAP and SeaPort) that operate nothing larger than a Cessna 208.
Unfortunately the full service restaurant at Juneau International has ceased operations, so breakfast this morning was a cup of coffee and a pre-packaged sweet roll. The airport gift shop provided a copy of this morning’s Juneau Empire to help pass the time until my 10:00am departure.
My plane awaits
Skagway lies 90 miles north of Juneau at the far end of the Lynn Canal. I’ve taken the ferry through here many times and it is truly an area of spectacular natural beauty. I was really looking forward to this morning’s flight, especially since we’d been blessed with a gorgeous sunny day.
Boarding was called about ten minutes before departure. There were only about six of us on this morning’s flight and given the size of the aircraft, a Cessna 208, all of us got window seats. The small narrow seats were not particularly comfortable but with a flight time of just 40 minutes and the wonderful scenery to distract us enroute, I figured I’d make do just fine.
Our pilot was a young fellow who didn’t look a day over 25 but he clearly knew his way around the cockpit and after pushing a few buttons, turning a few dials and pulling a few levers he soon had us climbing smoothly away Juneau and headed north right over the middle of the Lynn Canal. As ever, I had my trusty Canon SX-160 out and ready…
Climbing away from Juneau
The first of many glaciers
Yet another good looking glacier
Lining up for descent into Skagway Airport
Note the two cruise ships off to the right side
As you can see from the above photo, it’s a short walk from the airport to most anywhere in Downtown Skagway. I had a couple hours before my train was scheduled to depart, so I grabbed my daypack and headed on over to the Red Onion Saloon for a bite to eat.
The summer cruise season starts in early May and as we made our approach into the airport I could see three big ships in port. All of my previous visits to Skagway had come in the fall or winter when the town’s off-season population is a mere fraction of what I experienced today. During the summer season, Skagway’s hotels, restaurants and shops import at least two or three hundred seasonal employees, while each cruise ship was capable of disgorging 2000 or more. The streets and businesses were all quite busy.
Looking north up State Street
Looking south down State Street
Bellying up to the bar at the Red Onion
It was a two block walk from the Red Onion over to the train depot. Along the way I stopped to admire the old
rotary snowplow on display outside the depot. A sign indicated that this unit had been built in 1898 and had last seen regular use in 1965. Typically it would be pushed along by one or two helper engines while its10 spinning blades sent snow flying out to the side of the tracks by centrifugal force. Snow accumulations could occasionally get as deep as 12 feet.
WP&YR Rotary Snowplow
Clearly the train is the number one visitor attraction in Skagway. As such, the railroad operates a variety of excursions, some of them scheduled while others are private charters affiliated with specific cruises. The longest trip goes from
Skagway up to Lake Bennett in the Yukon Territory. It’s a one way trip with a bus ride back – or vice versa. It takes 8 hours but unfortunately the service wouldn’t start until later in May.
The most popular excursion is the
White Pass Summit Excursion, a three and a half hour roundtrip from Skagway up to the top of White Pass that operates daily from early May through late September. This early in the season, this was the only trip available so I plunked down $119.00 for a seat on the 12:45pm departure.
One other offering is the
Fraser Meadows Steam Excursion travels six miles beyond the White Pass Summit to Fraser Meadows. Steam locomotives rather than diesel engines are used and the trip is offered from late May through early September.
It was about ten minutes prior to departure when a uniformed railroad employee gathered up all of the passengers waiting for the 12:45pm departure and led us on a 200 yard walk to a remote platform away from the main depot. Apparently our train was coming directly from loading cruise ship passengers dockside and rather than have it back into the main depot, it was easier to just walk us out to the mainline.
Soon the whistle of the engine could be heard down the valley and the rise in excitement amidst the waiting crowd became almost tangible. In a world where travel has become so routine and generally unexceptional, it was fun to be amidst a group of people who were so outwardly enthusiastic about the upcoming journey.
Here comes the train!
When I’d arrived at the depot to collect my ticket, I was handed a boarding pass indicating that I’d been assigned to a specific car. Seating was otherwise open. As the engines powered by us on the platform, I could see that our train included about fifteen cars. The cars are all named after lakes and rivers in Alaska, the Yukon and British Columbia. I read that they average 49 years old but unless the cars on this train were replicas, I thought they looked a lot older than that.
Despite the fairly sizeable crowd on the platform, there was plenty of room inside my car. The seating was padded straight backed bench style seats similar to what you’d see on a school bus.
From sea level at Skagway the train climbs 2,865 feet over a distance of about 20 miles to the Summit of the White Pass. Departing Skagway we rolled along the valley floor for two or three miles, running intermittently through lush forest or out in the open along the Skagway River. Spring came early to Alaska this year with the result that the leaves were already a beautiful vibrant green. Soon we began to climb…
Climbing up over bridge 7B
An impressive wooden trestle bridge
Mountain scenery enroute
A flower strewn siding upon which was parked
This steam locomotive out for a pre-season test run
The route features steep grades of up to 3.9%, cliff-hanging turns of 16 degrees, two tunnels and numerous bridges and trestles.
Crossing the upper Skagway River on bridge 14A
The bridges are all numbered relative to where they are on the milepost
Looking back on bridge 14A
The vestibules between cars were quite popular today
Another train climbs up below us
The trip is fully narrated. The guide drew our attention to Inspiration Point at mile 16.9. It offers a nice view looking back toward Skagway and Taiya Inlet. The elevation here is 2,475 feet.
Inspiration Point
I was a little late getting my camera ready
This 215-foot-long cantilever bridge at mile 18 was the tallest of its kind when it opened in 1901. It served the railroad until 1969 when heavier ore trains required a new, stronger bridge to be built.
Old Bridge Number 18
Only two miles farther up the tracks is the 2,865’ high summit of White Pass. The summit is on the border between Alaska and British Columbia. The five flags are from United States, Alaska, British Columbia, the Yukon Territory and Canada.
Approaching the summit of White Pass
It looks like a Bev Doolittle painting out the windows
The summit of White Pass
We spent about 15 minutes on the summit, during which time the crew disconnected the engines from the front of the train and reattached them to the rear of the train. Due to the lack of a platform, the snow and the possibility of someone wandering illegally into Canada, nobody was allowed off the train at White Pass. Instead, we took photos and flipped our seats so that they’d be facing forward for the return trip.
Leaving White Pass
The long descent down to Skagway
Whoa!
Return view of bridge 18
The tight curves of the White Pass required a narrow gauge railroad. That means the rails were three feet apart on a 10 foot wide road bed, though in some areas there were ledges that seemed a bit narrower…
Steep drop offs and narrow ledges
Back to the lowlands ~ An interesting exposure of the car interior
Arriving back in Skagway at 4:30pm and faced with a three and a half layover until my return flight to Juneau, I joined a couple of fellow train riders from Germany for beers over at the Red Onion. They had purchased a car in Seattle and were on their way up to Alaska for a month. They had detoured off the Alaska Highway at Haines Junction and driven 160 miles down to Haines where they’d caught the Alaska Marine Highway ferry for the short but scenic ride up Skagway. After a couple of Alaskan Pale Ales, they were off – this time to drive over White Pass and on into Whitehorse for the night.
I had a brief flashback to the last time I drove over White Pass. It was in November of 2005 and I was one of only a half dozen or so drivers that made it over that day. As you can see from the pictures below, the conditions were less than ideal…
Slick conditions and limited visibility on White Pass
Driving White Pass in the winter
Getting back to the present however, here it was a beautiful spring afternoon in one of Alaska’s most picturesque towns. The old Victorian buildings, the wooden sidewalks, the mountains rising right from the edge of town, the warm blue skies – it was all so very nice and I could easily envision coming back here for a longer visit next time.
In the meantime, I still had plenty of time to enjoy dinner at the attractive restaurant/bar affiliated with the local Westmark Hotel. I passed the time with a club sandwich while watching playoff basketball on the television. By 7:30pm I was back at the Skagway Airport, ready for my return flight back down to Juneau.