Alaskan Sea-Duction: Skagway and the Train

Kay does come up with some good ideas. This one was a great one. She told me on our way to Juneau, why take the boat all that way? We my pride took over. I responded to beat our friends Ron and Kathy as the farthest north we have taken our boats! Ron was on his way to Skagway from Juneau last year when about half-way up Lynn Channel, he blew a connecting shaft on one of his motors. I wanted to beat him as a little friendly friend completion.

In the end, Kay's idea of leaving the boat in Juneau and taking the ferry to Skagway was a good sensible idea. The weather and mostly the wind is unpredictable and it would take over 11 hours to get there in our boat.

We boarded the fast ferry Fairweather and was in Skagway in 2.5 hours. Wow that was nice. When we rounded the corner a few miles from this Klondike town, it was small, really small. You can walk from end of town to the other in maybe 15 minutes or less. We stayed the night at the West Mark. The train was scheduled to leave the station at noon.

The next day, the 4th of July, our day started with 3 cruise ships in town and a small town parade with bagpipes and Royal Mounted Canadian Police. We boarded our train for the trip to White Pass. Here is the link:

https://wpyr.com/

The trip to White Pass was little over 2 hours. The old steam locomotive chugged its way up the pass. She was digging into the tracks with steam and black smoke coming out of the stack! This was a dream come true since I was about 6 years old to ride a steam train. Wow. It was a wonderful ride.

We ate dinner at the Red Onion which was a brothel back in the day. It was crowded. In fact, the main street through town, Broadway, was closed down on either side of town, so the cruise ship tourists could walk the town.

The Ferry back to Juneau was 7 hours on the Columbia. This ferry was almost like a cruise ship. Big and slow. We got a cabin, so we could get a little sleep on the way. Right. The cabin had a shower/bathroom and a bunk bed. Awful mattresses. No sleep here. As we made our way back to Juneau it was almost dark. By the time we docked, it was 3:15 and it was light outside.

We have traveled 1562 miles since leaving our winter dock on the Columbia. We made our goal and got an idea where we want to visit again and spend next summer in some specific areas. Feels a little bittersweet. We will be heading south tomorrow.

Warning! Picture heavy.....