White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad

We left Airship in the marina this morning and headed for the train station.

I called yesterday to make a reservation for the 8:15am ride up to the White Pass summit, but the ticket seller talked me into the steam train excursion that went a bit further out to Fraser Meadows, BC, and…well, steam train!! (This particular steam train excursion leaves at 8am on just 7 Mondays over the summer…and today was one of those Mondays.) We’re so glad we stayed and did this. The chances of getting to Skagway again with weather this perfect, well, I don’t know what they are but it seems like it could be kinda rare. 🙂

Here comes our train!

We rode in Car No. 216, one of the earliest cars built. The White Pass and Yukon Route railroad was constructed between September and December 1898. [See the “History” page on their website for more details.]

The original Klondike Trail of 1898:

They don’t allow anyone to hike this trail anymore because this area is all a protected park now, but there are spots where you can still see the narrow remains.

The old trestle bridge that we did not take:

White Pass Summit:

The United States/Canada border:

Up in subalpine land:

Remains of an old snow drift fence:

The views are just spectacular.

You can see all the way back to Skagway in this shot:

A map of the railroad route:

I really wanted (and expected to find) this t-shirt in the gift shop, but apparently they don’t make a shirt like this, which is really a shame, don’t you think?