Skagway is such a quaint little town with it’s wooden side-walks and beautifully maintained heritage buildings it reminds one of the
old western movies. Emblazoned on the
back of the old style railway coaches is “White Pass - Yukon Route”. Could you resist?
If you answered yes then I am a romantic cause I couldn’t. I just had to find
out what this was all about and Ronnie was just as curious as me.
The train follows the original White Pass route which is
illegal to hike (You’re liable to have your ass pinched while you’re thrown in
jail) It is legal however to hike the upper portion of the pass and the new
route. In fact on our way back down we passed a group of hikers who had been
dropped off by choppers (Helicopters- for the bikers:).
This rail trail or route excursion is a 41 mile round trip
to the summit, the Canadian Border and back down to Lynn Canal (A misnomer
actually as canals are manmade but this is actually a Fiord which is actually
formed naturally by snow and glacier ice runoff). The summit is 2,865 feet above Lynn Canal and the
railway to the border is 20.4 miles, crosses a number of bridges and goes
through two tunnels – 32 men died while building this stretch of railway. It is
of course quicker coming down:)
Is it dangerous or nerve wracking?.....take the ride!:-)
Personally I think it’s more nerve wracking to go into a jewellery store with a
woman, especially one’s wife!
 | |
| Every Carriage has the name of a different Alaskan Lake |
No comments:
Post a Comment