Skagway...The origin of the Skag?

The inside passage gets really wide, I am talking miles wide as it reaches the end of the Lynn
Canal in the northern areas of South East Alaska. The little town of Haines, made famous by the Porcupine gold mines and the Discovery Channel's weekly adventures in Gold Rush. Here the high school kid made the choice to become a gold rush mine owner over going to college. Haines is was  and the northern outpost of the army in World War II it is complete with the officers homes all looking the same and standing straight and tall in front of the parade grounds. But wait, this blog entry is about Skagway, the old time mining town across the miles of the Lynn Canal and just a little north.

Both Skagway and Haines are on the mainland of Alaska. They are the only cities in South Eastern Alaska that are connected by roads to the Alaskan Highway and the only ones that are not on islands.

Skagway and the White Pass and its Chilkoot trail is the place that Jack London uses as the setting for the novel White Fang. It is the landing spot that most of the Alaskan miners used to get to the Klondike mines. From Skagway, the miners had to haul their belongings up this steep narrow pathway to the Lake and proceed 430 miles by boat and other means to the Klondike gold mines.

The first 15 miles of trail up to the 2885 foot summit are paralleled by the White Pass train. A common excursion is a trip on this train. The venture takes the visitor up the pass along with about 12 to 14 other sightseeing railroad cars at one time. A commentary is provided over the PA as tales of Soapy Smith, the ultimate swindler are noted and his grave site is passed. The emergence of the trail is clearly identified as the train route constructed after the gold rush makes its way to the top. Passengers jam for the ends of the train to take photos and to minimize the distortion that the big glass windows produce on photography. It is an old time recreation and well worth the 90plus dollars apiece that this adventure costs. As the train crosses over into Canadian Territory, no stopping and getting off the train is permitted. Bathroom facilities are provided on the train. The train has some ventures with steam but most are diesel powered trains. Coming down is pretty exciting so I will leave that adventure to those that want to experience it themselves.

The White Pass pickup for the train is right at the dock whereas the town itself is about a half a mile away from the dock. Getting to the town itself may be done in the greatest of luxury with female buggy drivers in 1898 clothing ready to provide taxi service my horse.

The ship slides into a dock right up against the rocky cliff. The final cruise of many captains is documented by appropriate graffiti the celebrate the cruise ship captains last trip up there and the year that was completed. 

The town has 970 residents except during tourist season. 400 cruise lines visit this little town each summer. A free 45 minute walking tour of the historic district is provided by the National Park Service 5 times each day. The town is full of brothel museums and saloons that are waiting for the tourist dollar. I found a Time magazine that was pretty current at the newspaper/bookstore. As it is connected to the Alaskan Highway, 96 miles away, it becomes a small RV niche for those with RVs and a connection for them to get out of the center of British Columbia and get to the connection to the Pacific Ocean without using a ferry.As far as I could see, there didn't seem to be any whale watching marine oriented fishing trips or any thing along those lines offered. Some friends of mine rented a car and independently drove the route that the train took. There might be some savings there if you have to get up the canyon and don't want to use the train. My advice, save some money so that you can do the train. There are some amazing views along the way. We even saw some white Alaskan goats on a far away hill as we traveled up one time.

Haines is the step sister of the Skagway pair. By fast water boat it is 45 minutes each way. That is very doable. There is infact a boat rail package that you can buy for 175 that would include a trip on the fast boat over to haines an a trip on the train to the top of the White Pass.  Haines is a more realistic city. It has a bakery and grocery store and a number of "wilderness" excursions. Its biggest claim to fame is the bald eagle sanctuary. There are a few doo doo traps like the hammer museum. The sheldon museum in town is pretty cool. The docents there are primarily school teachers. The first year we went to Haines we could see the mechanics of a working salmon cannery. They were canning dog biscuits because it wasn't certified for salmon people consume. The last time were were there the cannery was not available for tour. There are some really cool atrists that work in Haines. The officers quarters are cool to see. They remind me of the houses at the Presido of San Francisco. Helicopter and seaplane adventures may be engaged here too.

You will like Haines or Skagway or both. Be adventuresome.. get off the ship!