Riding the Rails from Skagway to White Summit Pass

Day 5 of my Alaska trip found us in Skagway. We took a train trip on “The Railway Built of Gold.” Why is it called that? Well, a brief history lesson…

The discovery of gold in 1896 in the Klondike triggered a stampede of people hoping to get rich. Some thought the gold nuggets lay on the ground, ready to be picked up. An estimated 100,000 headed for the Klondike in such haste they earned the name, “The Stampeders.”

To reach the Klondike, Stampeders had two choices, the steeper Chilkoot Trail, or the longer, but less steep White Pass. (Trust me, the “less steep” part is relative!)

Many chose White Pass thinking pack animals could be used and make the trip easier. They were wrong. The trip was too arduous and the horses were generally in the hands of inexperienced owners. Before it was over 3,000 horses died. (Watch the slideshow for one of Dead Horse Gulch.)

In this era of railroading, it was natural to think of building a railroad over the pass, but it was a daunting task. Blasting through granite, plus dealing with the steep slopes and deep snow, made it almost impossible.

But they did it.

Because of the tight turns, a narrow gauge railway was built. The rails are just 3’ apart on a 10’ wide road bed, which also helped lower construction costs. Over 450 tons of explosives were used, mostly black powder.

The ten million dollar project was the product of British financing, American engineering and Canadian contracting. Tens of thousands of men worked, sometimes in shifts as short as an hour due to the extreme cold, to complete 110 miles of track with cliff hanging turns of 16 degrees, with two tunnels and numerous bridges and trestles.

The railway climbs from sea level at Skagway to almost 3,000 feet at the summit in just 20 miles and has grades of almost 3.9%. This is the northernmost railroad in the Western Hemisphere.

The White Pass & Yukon Route was designated an international Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1994. This honor is shared by only 36 civil engineering creations, such as the Eiffel Tower, Statue of Liberty and the Panama Canal.

That’s the highlights of this railway’s rich history. It’s interesting to read about, and thrilling to ride. You can’t really relate to just how steep the railway is until you’re riding along and looking waaaaayyyyyyy down. A 10’ roadbed doesn’t seem very wide when a fall would be so far!

The scenery is dazzling, with evergreens, mountains, snow and rivers. Bridal Veil Falls tumbles down a mountain far way, the bridges and trestles are awesome, and there’s even visible remnants of the trail used by the Stampeders.

At the top, a little building is still there that was used by the mounted police. They turned back any Stampeder that didn’t have a ton of supplies, the amount deemed necessary to keep a man going for a year.

There was just a lot to see and learn about. It was a thrilling ride!

Whale And Wildlife Watching Quest

Probably the best day on our ramble through Alaska was the shore excursion to watch whales. Okay, it seems a little strange to call it a shore excursion when we went right back out to sea, but we did switch modes of transportation and got off the big ship and onto a much smaller waterjet-powered catamaran.

We started by disembarking at Juneau, and boarding a bus to head for Auke Bay. Our bus driver was chatty and full of all kinds of information about Alaska. He would have made a good advocate for the Chamber of Commerce. When he talked about the climate, which isn’t the glacial cold you’d expect due to the fact it’s a temperate rainforest along the shoreline, it made the area sound like a great place to live.

He mentioned the money every citizen gets each year from the revenue off the oil fields in Alaska. He mentioned all the wildlife to be found. He had good things to say about the area… until he mentioned some of the costs of living. Aye yi yi! So much is so expensive because it has to be shipped – housing, food, gas… the prices are exorbitant! Guess I’ll stay in the south instead of moving to the far north.

The catamaran we traveled on had two decks. The bottom and part of the top were enclosed, but for the really good pictures, you needed to be out on the open deck. Of course, it was COLD out there. I said it doesn’t get as cold as you’d expect, but that doesn’t mean it’s not downright chilly out on the water in September!

I went inside from time to time to check on Dad and get warm, but most of the time I was out there taking pictures of the wildlife and scenery. And such sights!

We had barely left the dock until we had Orca Whales on both sides of the boat. The guide said it’s not as common to see them, so I guess we got lucky. Further out we saw lots of humpback whales, sometimes half a dozen at a time. It was AMAZING.

The only thing that could have made it better would have been a whale or two breaching, and even “more better” would have been getting a picture of it!

We also saw a lot of seals and eagles and other birds. And the scenery was breathtaking almost everywhere you looked.

 

If you’re ever in Alaska, take every chance you get to check out the wildlife, and of course, the scenery too. It’s positively awe-inspiring.

I’d head north again today if I could!

Cruising Glacier Bay In Alaska

Awe-inspiring. Stunning. Wondrous. Magnificent. There aren’t enough adjectives to describe Glacier Bay.

Did you know Glacier Bay is a national park? Further, it is a World Heritage Site, “the principal recognition given to natural and cultural areas of universal significance.” It can only be reached by boat or plane. When a cruise ship enters Glacier Bay they take on at least one Park Ranger, who gives a running commentary on what there is to see.

Obviously, there are glaciers. Since these touch water, they are all “Tidewater Glaciers.” The park includes around 12 that calve into the bay. Unfortunately, though we sat in front of a couple of them for half an hour or so, we didn’t get to see that spectacular phenomenon.

We saw birds and seals,

but otherwise, it was a landscape on a grandiose scale.

The mountains of the Fairweather Range are huge.

It’s hard to get a perspective on how truly monumental they are. We got a clue when we got close to one glacier, saw a cruise ship that was still a mile away from the glacier and it looked dwarfed, and were told we were still 7 miles away.

Wow.
As you can see, it was a big ship. It just looked small next to the glacier.

Glacier Bay is truly natural beauty on an awe-inspiring scale.

A Whale Of A Good Time!

Tuesday we went on a Whale Watching and Wildlife Quest. In a word, it was AWESOME.

We barely got out to see until there were Orca Whales diving around the boat. (Of course, we know Orca Whales are really dolphins, so why are they called whales?) The naturalist on board the boat declared they didn’t usually see Orcas, so we were quite fortunate.

Further out to sea, we saw humpback whales. LOTS of humpback whales.
There is a big difference between low and high tide, generally 15-25 feet. This activity stirs up the nutrients in the water. Also, there is a narrow channel that further compresses the food in one place, so the whales like to congregate there.
The only disappointment was none of the whales actually came up out of the water. We just saw a lot of backs and flukes.

We also saw an island positively covered with Stellar Seals on one end. Making lots of noise! On the same island, there were 2 eagles perched, one on a sign, and one on top of the hill.

It was so cool to see all these animals, and the scenery was breathtaking. Mountains and snow and glaciers and clear blue skies. Phenomenal.

It was hard to choose which pictures to use – all you had to do was snap the shutter and you were bound to get some beautiful photos. But most of them will have to wait. Internet service is mucho expensive on board and it takes a long time to load photos.

So more to come… but probably not until I’m home again!

Hay, Hay, Hay!

We’ve been trying for some time to find a good source of hay this year. With the drought conditions here this summer, the price of hay is going through the barn roof. Some places we called wanted $8-9 per bale! Thankfully, we don’t need near as much as we used last year, since we sold the biggest part of the animals.

It’s been difficult to even find any hay to purchase at whatever price, though the big round bales are easier to come by. However, we don’t have the equipment to handle those, and certainly not enough muscle power to move such a huge thing. I don’t like to use them with our sheep anyway. I personally know of two people who have lost sheep due to the huge bale collapsing down on the sheep while they were eating.

The smaller bales work much better here. I can break them into even smaller flakes to scatter around in several places. There has to be lots of piles available, or the goats commandeer all the hay and the sheep don’t get any.

We finally found a place with the smaller square bales at prices that wouldn’t require the loss of an arm or leg to pay for it. I don’t really know why they’re called square bales when actually they’re rectangular, but they’re not round, and I guess ‘square’ is quicker to say.

At any rate, yesterday The Farmer went and picked up our hay for the winter. It took a couple of loads, and a lot of listening. The guy is bought it from is a TALKER. He’s always interesting, but don’t go there expecting a quick get-away!

That’s one less task done in preparation for fall and winter!

Thanks Farmer!