White Pass Railway and the Yukon

After arriving in Skagway we departed for the Yukon territory on a coach along the South Klondike Highway.  We had lots of interesting stops and photo ops at beautiful lakes, waterfalls and mountain vistas.   The scenery was spectacular especially the autumn foliage and the snow capped mountains.  Along the way, we saw deer and mountain goats.

The stampeders (as the prospectors were called) on their way to the gold rush would have climbed the steep Chilkoot trail until eventually the White Pass Railway was constructed.

We had lunch at Caribou Crossing where we also visited the museum, met the local mountie and visited the dog training camp and met all the huskies.

We spent time looking round the small settlement of Carcross and saw some interesting remnants of trains and boats.

The best part of the day was the train trip back to Skagway on the White Pass Railway and we marvelled at how this narrow gauge railway was constructed over such steep gradients.

The vegetation beside the track was incredible especially the white caribou moss and the bright red bunch berries.

Today we passed through boreal forest, arctic tundra with its frozen perma frost and the beautiful trees, ferns, mosses and sedges as we descended on the railway.

By the time we returned to Skagway, it was raining and we only had a brief look at this tiny town.