Showdown in Little Town
Alaska Trip Journal Entry 4
With docking procedures complete, we were able to make our way to the first town since weighing anchor in Seward. I didn’t really do much the night before, just hung out and played my Nintendo DS, so I was up and chipper quite early. Ate breakfast and got ready for an all day adventure.
Skagway was wonderfully small. It took us a little bit, maybe 15 minutes, to walk to the town itself from port. The town, or should I say, the part of town that most tourists would meander kept its original styling. Modernized elements were integrated of course, but the buildings were as close to authentic as possible. Out past the tourist portion of town I saw modernized looking houses and the like. Within the tourist portion were cars and trucks driving by. But a novelty kept were carriages being pulled by horses and women drivers in gowns and bonnets.
We took a brief stock of the town before purchasing tickets to ride a train along the White Pass & Yukon Route. Rickety train, high cliffs and a scare of passing over a dilapidated bridge were among the more exciting portions of the ride. View of the forests along the mountainside as well as ivory capped mountains in the distance made for wonderful scenic views.
A few waterfalls were seen but not many and scarcer wildlife. A black bear, reported by some workers at a post, hobbled along the railroad but soon as the train approached (about maybe half a mile or so away) the bear started to make way for the cover of the forest nearby. When the train arrived at the area where the black bear was reported, there were no signs of it. Dead Horse Gulch, although completely overgrown, was still a spot of sadness when it was explained that over 3,000 pack horses and mules were left there to die when fatigue from the weather and being overburdened washed over them.
The end of our adventure saw us at the border to Canada. We looked at a monument erected at the spot as well as watch snow melt as the train was switched around. Our return to Skagway was pretty uneventful but jittery as the train operators had to ensure we didn’t speed down the mountainsides. Back in town we spent some time shopping. Time had come where we had to return to the ship.
While nothing incredibly interesting happens during the transit to our stops, I must admit dinner had always been wonderful and the shows that were played were very entertaining.
All times are in Hawaii Standard. View all of the Alaska Trip Journal Entries
