The White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad and Jewell Gardens Summer Solstice Party

Taking the round trip excursion to the summit of White Pass on the historic WPYR railroad will probably be the highlight of this trip for Fran. This narrow guage railway has been named one of the Engineering Wonders of the World (along with the Panama Canal, Eiffel Tower and Statue of Liberty) due to its construction in 1898 up the treacherous White Pass; rising almost 3,000 feet in just 20 miles. It was built to take goldrush stampeders up the pass, saving them a grueling climb, but the goldrush was pretty well over by the time it was completed. However, it continued to serve an important purpose by connecting the town of Skagway (and its deepwater port) to the city of Whitehorse. In fact, the highway into Skagway was only completed in the 1980’s so this railroad was the only option other than by sea, to reach Skagway. Now it is used primarily for tourist excursions in the historic railcars. We saw some fantastic views which I hope you’ll be able to get a taste of from my pictures. We are just starting out in this shot which shows the train and the Skagway River which we follow all the way up to Summit Lake. The river is quite rough with Class VI rapids in one section.

This next shot is looking back toward Skagway harbour. You can see a cruise ship at dock. It was really amazing how quickly we climbed!

There was another train a little ways ahead of us which this picture shows crossing a trestle bridge and heading into the first tunnel.

Here we are going into the first tunnel.

This shot shows a portion of the original White Pass trail which was barely two feet wide and took the lives of some 3,000 pack animals (resulting in it being nick-named ‘Dead Horse Trail’). The hazards of the trail were a key factor leading to the construction of the railroad.

We had heard that Jewell Gardens, just outside town, was having a BBQ with free admission that evening so we rode our bikes over. It was pretty chilly and we may have been the only tourists there, so after eating and having a look around, we pedaled back to the motorhome. There was going to be a live band playing later on and I guess it is THE party of the summer for the locals. There were quite a few flowers in bloom at Jewell Gardens and the largest rhubarb plants I have ever seen. The miniature trains display was very well done.

We also rode our bikes around town in the morning. It’s a nice size and very flat so the bikes are working out well. This statue shows a native packer showing a stampeder the route.

This building is probably the most photographed in town. It is the ‘Arctic Brotherhood’ building and is covered with driftwood.