Skagway -- Gold Fever and the Yukon!

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Geo: 59.4583, -135.314

For our third morning in a row, we next docked at Skagway, which was our furthest point north within the Inside Passage. Skagway is tiny – less than 700 year-round residents – and only exists because of the Klondike gold rush in the 1890's. The "city" sits at the bottom of the deep White Pass, which provided the easiest (VERY relevant term) access to the Yukon gold fields high above and north of here. A railroad was built in record time to ferry hopeful prospects up, and for a while Skagway had more than 30,000 residents. That died very quickly once the gold rush ended, and the city was all but deserted until Pearl Harbor, after which the U.S. Army arrived overnight – unannounced – seized control of the railroad (which required extensive repairs) and used Skagway as their staging point to get supplies up to support the building of the Alaska-Canada highway. Oh, and Skagway's other claim to “fame” is being Sarah Palin's birthplace.

Here we followed advice and arranged a car rental. Using a very detailed, locally produced guide we drove up the pass highway and crossed into Canada, visiting both British Columbia and ultimately the Yukon. The weather was extremely variable but the scenery beyond description. K still rates this as her favorite day of the vacation. I'll include some pictures, but they simply don't convey the beauty OR the scope. There are few population centers here until you reach Dawson City, and we did not go that far north. We did visit the tiny native village of Carcross, got our passports stamped, and saw the world's tiniest desert – which measures less than one-square mile.

On our way back into town, after we cleared U.S. Customs, we visited a Klondike gold panning center. They had a great tour and then Anna got to try her hand at gold panning. After a lesson from a gen-u-ine prospector, you pan and they weigh and value anything you turn up. Believe it or not, Anna wound up with $19 dollars worth of gold, which she now has proudly displayed in a necklace. As for favorite things, Anna still says this visit was her's.

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Photos

Arriving in Skagway
The White Pass Railway runs directly to the pier, as it did when it met hopeful prospectors in the 1890's

Our Ship From Above Skagway
This was taken after we picked up our car, and were headed out of town.

A Cool Bridge
It is only anchored on one side, and is designed to "float" in case of an earthquake.

World's Smallest Desert
Less than one-square mile

Tiny Post Office in Carcross
We had our passports stamped here.