THE ALASKAN ADVENTURE Day 68 &69 July 22 & 23, 2009 Skagway, AK White Pass Train & Ferry to Juneau

We woke up on Wednesday to a very blustery day. The wind was howling as it does most days in Skagway, but not this hard. It was the type of day where you just wanted to curl up with a good book or lay back and watch a movie. Well that is exactly what Kathy did or maybe it wasn’t weather. Maybe a bear incident recovering day. Who knows, she isn’t telling.

I decided to take the White Summit Pass Railway trip even though it wasn’t the best day for it. It was overcast and when we got high enough a lot of the viewpoints disappeared behind clouds.

However most of the train ride was pretty spectacular as we followed the White Pass Trail right to the summit and the border of Canada and the US. It was hard getting a lot of pictures as the train was constantly moving and no matter how much I asked they wouldn’t back up for me. I guess I’ve lost my charm.

The White Pass like the Chilkoot Trail was a nightmare and I just can’t imagine making that climb as many as 40 times. In the winter no less. You can see from the train where the old trail snaked through the mountains and it was only a couple of feet wide in some places. If you stepped off the trail for any reason it could be hours before you could get back into line because it so busy.

I walked around town for a short while after the train returned and then headed back to the camper. We had supper, played some crib and called it a night.

Thursday was moving day. We had reservations on the 11.15AM ferry and had to be there 2 hours prior. The trip was pretty uneventful as the waters were calm and there weren’t any animal sightings that we could identify. So we just sat back and enjoyed the scenery as it slid past. Occasionally one of us would jump up to run outside a get a picture.

The ferry ride was 7 ½ hours which included the stop in Haines and we arrived in Juneau around 7:30PM, got a few groceries and headed to the RV park. Checked in and called it a night.