Skagway
The White Pass railway
The one shore excursion we booked: a vintage narrow-gauge climb out of Skagway, up a gold rush and into the clouds.
Skagway's headliner
White Pass Scenic Railway
The little narrow-gauge railroad that climbed a gold rush into the clouds.
Of everything we picked for this trip, this is the one Dad circled first. From the depot right in downtown Skagway, a string of vintage parlor cars hooks onto a narrow-gauge train and starts to climb. In about 20 miles we go from sea level to the White Pass summit at 2,865 feet, hugging cliffs, crossing trestles, and ducking through tunnels carved straight into the coastal mountains.
The grade is steep, almost 3.9% in places, so the whole way up feels like the train is leaning into the mountain. Out the windows it is waterfalls, deep gorges, and old wooden bridges, and if you look closely you can still see the original Klondike "Trail of '98" worn into the rock, the path the stampeders and their horses struggled up more than a century ago. At the summit the train loops around and we ride the same dramatic route back down.
We picked this one because it is equal parts scenery and history, and you do it all from a comfortable seat with a guide telling the story. No hiking, no rush, just the three of us watching one of the great engineering feats of the north roll by the window.
Worth knowing
- The Summit round trip covers about 40 miles, climbing from tidewater in Skagway to the 2,865-foot White Pass summit and back.
- It is a true 3-foot narrow-gauge railroad, with grades as steep as almost 3.9% on the way to the top.
- Construction began in 1898 during the Klondike Gold Rush; the line reached the summit in February 1899 and was completed to Whitehorse in 1900.
- Crews used about 450 tons of explosives and the labor of tens of thousands of men to blast the route through granite mountains in roughly 26 months.
- In 1994 it was named an International Historic Civil Engineering Landmark, an honor it shares with the Eiffel Tower, the Statue of Liberty, and the Panama Canal.
- The route passes Bridal Veil Falls, Inspiration Point, and Dead Horse Gulch, named for the roughly 3,000 horses lost on the brutal stampeders' trail it parallels.
- The summit sits right on the US/Canada border, where the North West Mounted Police once collected duties in some of the harshest weather on the continent.
Good to know for our day
- No passport needed for this one. The summit round trip turns around at the border and never disembarks in Canada, so we can leave the passports on the ship.
- Sit on the left going up. Most of the big views (the falls, the gorge, the old trail) open up on the left out of Skagway, and the seatbacks flip for the ride down so the scenery comes back around.
- Bring a layer. The summit is often cooler and cloudier than the dock, even in July, and the open platforms between cars are breezy.
- Step outside for photos. The outdoor platforms are where you can lean out and catch the train curving along the cliffs, the trestles, and the engine ahead.
- Timing works in our favor. The 11:45a departure has us back at the depot around 2:30p, leaving the afternoon free to wander downtown Skagway before we sail.