We left Airship in the marina at Skagway this morning and headed for the train station.
I called yesterday to make a reservation for the 8:15am ride up to the White Pass summit, but the ticket seller talked me into the steam train excursion that went a bit further out to Fraser Meadows, BC, and…well, steam train!! (This particular steam train excursion leaves at 8am on just 7 Mondays over the summer…and today was one of those Mondays.) We’re so glad we stayed and did this. The chances of getting to Skagway again with weather this perfect, well, I don’t know what they are but it seems like it could be kinda rare. 
Here comes our train!
We rode in Car No. 216, one of the earliest cars built. The White Pass and Yukon Route railroad was constructed between September and December 1898. [See the “History” page on their website for more details.]
The original Klondike Trail of 1898:
They don’t allow anyone to hike this trail anymore because this area is all a protected park now, but there are spots where you can still see the narrow remains.
The old trestle bridge that we did not take:
White Pass Summit:
The United States/Canada border:
Up in subalpine land:
Remains of an old snow drift fence:
The views are just spectacular.
You can see all the way back to Skagway in this shot:
A map of the railroad route:
I really wanted (and expected to find) this t-shirt in the gift shop, but apparently they don’t make a shirt like this, which is really a shame, don’t you think?
The logo looks so great on the black train car…how could they NOT have designed a shirt to match?