For a brief time today we were in the U.S. as we took a side trip via bus and rail to Skagway, Alaska. The weather wasn't perfect, but the Yukon had its three days of summer last week and it is beginning to turn colder, especially when a storm blows in off the Pacific, as it did today.
Skagway, Alaska, was once the starting point for more than 40,000 gold-rush stampeders headed to the Yukon in search of gold. Once the stampeders arrived in Skagway, they each had to haul 1,000 lbs. of food 47 miles up and over White Pass and then on to Dawson City. This is the famous Trail of '98 Gold Rush route.
We boarded a bus in the campground to travel 50 miles to Fraser, British Columbia, along the Klondike Highway. We made a stop along the way at Emerald Lake, said to be the most photograph lake in the Yukon.
The beautiful blue-green color of Emerald Lake is created by sunlight reflecting off a white layer of "marl" on the lake bed.
All spring and summer as we have travelled through the national parks we have visited overlooks where tour busses disgorge groups of sightseers. Today we were one of the group!
Our second stop was at the First Nations town of Carcross - once called Caribou Crossing. This sculpture was constructed from "found" materials.
Historic downtown Carcross.
While we were waiting to re-board the bus the water truck came along bringing processed water from a plant at Lake Bennett, located across the road.
We talked to the driver who told us he makes his rounds twice a day to fill this 2,000 gallon tank next to the Visitor Center and tourist shops. We asked about well water, but he said that there are too many minerals in the water that comes from the wells. He also delivers to 100 homes where he fill 350 gallon tanks.
The South Klondike Highway from Carcross, Yukon to Fraser, British Columbia
The lakes along the highway are long and deep, and very, very cold. This is called a "tormented valley".
In Fraser, B.C. we boarded the narrow gage White Pass & Yukon Railroad train to take us to Skagway, Alaska.
Our group in a rail car.
Our seats were comfortable and we had our own little stove in the back corner, just inside the back platform.
Across from the stove was this quaint bathroom.
Our route from Fraser, B.C. to Skagway - across the White Pass and down along the Skagway river.
View from the train just out of Fraser heading for the U.S. border.
Not very hospitable, but beautiful.
A miners cabin along the tracks.
The five flags of the territories that influenced the area - the U.S., Alaska, British Columbia, Yukon and Canada.
Obelisk marking the international border.
Coming down the White Pass with Skagway in the distance.
Our train - this picture is taken from our railcar platform.
Purple fireweed along the route and...
blanketing the hillside.
The Skagway River - a class #6 whitewater river.
Once in Skagway we had two and one half hours to explore the town. We stopped in the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park Headquarters and they told us today was Children in the Park Day and that Tlingit dancers were performing at 1 p.m.
We stopped by to enjoy the performance and...
note the colorful native dress.
Downtown Skagway with a cruise ship docked at the end of Broadway.
Many Gold Rush-era buildings now house local businesses.
Termed a browser's paradise, when a cruise ship, taking the Inside Passage, docks in Skagway - and sometimes up to five ships a day stop - more than 9000 tourists - 10 times the town's resident population - march off the ships and turn Broadway into something of an anthill. It's the modern-day version of the Klondike Gold Rush and the reason why Skagway has more jewelry shops per capita than any place in Alaska.
Commemorating the stampeders.
Two cruise ships docked at the end of Broadway.
Skagway is also call the "Garden City of Alaska".
The 129-ton rotary snowplow with circular blades that could carve through deep snow drifts often as high as 12 feet.
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