Sunday 15th June Whitehorse - Skagway Excursion

Up at 6.30am and we departed at 7.45 heading for Skagway. We stopped at Emerald Lake which is located in Yoho National Park. It is the largest of Yoho's 61 lakes and ponds. The lake is enclosed by mountains of the President Range, as well as Mount Burgess and Wapta Mountain. Trees found here are Western Red Cedar, Western Yew, Western Hemlock and Western White Pine. Due to its high altitude, the lake is frozen from November until June. The vivid turquoise color of the water is caused by powdered limestone.

We continued onto the abandoned town of Bennett, British Columbia, historically referred to as Bennett Lake and the town of Carcross, Yukon which is on the shores of Bennett Lake. During the Klondike Gold Rush, Bennett Lake was where the gold seekers who had crossed the Coast Mountains from Skagway or Dyea, carrying their goods over the Chilkoot Trail or the White Pass, purchased or built rafts to float down the Yukon River to the gold fields at Dawson City. A large tent city sprang up on its shores offering all the services of a major city. In late May 1898 the North West Mounted Police counted 850 boats under construction to help transport thousands of goldfield bound travellers. It was further estimated that another 1200 boats were built in these areas over the next few weeks.

We headed for Fraser Station which is in British Columbia and located on the Klondike highway. Les played "I Hear the Train A Coming" on the bus. A Canada Border Services Agency port of entry is located here, along with a Yukon territorial government highway maintenance camp and a privately owned micro hydro project that provides power. Housing in the area is rented out for customs employees and highway workers.

Historically Fraser is a railroad station on the White Pass and Yukon Route railway. We boarded the train carriage - Lake Goat 386. The conductors were dressed in vintage costume and there was even a rail worker dressed like the "Fat Controller" from Thomas the Tank. The iron trail was carved through some of the North's most rugged terrain in 1898. Built during the Klondike Gold Rush, this engineering wonder is a Historic Civil Engineering Landmark. Considered an impossible feat, the railway was completed in 26 months by blasting through the mountains with 450 tons of explosives. The 110 mile railroad was officially completed when a final golden spike was hammered into place on July 29, 1900 in Carcross. The fully restored cars, pulled by vintage diesel locomotives, climb nearly 3000 feet over 20 miles of steep grades and around cliff hanging turns. We retraced the original route to the White Pass Summit, passing Bridal Veil Falls, Inspiration Point and Dead Horse Gulch. There were breathtaking panoramas of mountains, glaciers, gorges, waterfalls, rapids, tunnels, trestles and historic sites such as the Trail of `98 worn into the rocks, a permanent tribute to the thousands of souls who passed this way in search of fortune in the dead of winter while heading for the Klondike.

On arrival in Skagway we had the afternoon to ourselves. Skagway is also part of the setting for Jack London's book, The Call of the Wild. This historical Gold Town had wooden sidewalks, charming false front buildings and colourful saloons. Pete and I walked around the town and sent postcards.

We boarded our bus at 3pm and headed to the Goldrush Cemetary. Here were the graves of Soapie Smith (a swindler and con artist) and Frank Reed. On July 8 1898 Frank Reid was guarding the approach to Sylvesters Wharf where the vigilantes were meeting to restore law and order, shot Soapy Smith who failed to stop when challenged. Frank Reed died twelve days later from a gun shot wound he received that night. Frank Reid has the largest monument as an expression of gratitude of the town for freeing them from Soapy's control. The cemetery is a bit eerie. It was old, haphazard, monuments falling down, tree roots forming stairs to the next level and the wind blowing through the trees with soft rustling murmurs. We followed a path that meandered through the cemetery to Lower Reid Falls which were very pretty. Back onto the bus and were heading back to Whitehorse. We passed over a half suspension bridge which was built this way to survive earthquakes. We continued through the Tormented Valley so named by the bonsai like twisted dwarfed pines that struggle in the nutrient deprived upland tables . Another Black Bear just over the border......

Our next stop was Carcross Desert, the smallest desert in the world only 1 square kilometre. This desert is actually a series of northern sand dunes. The area's climate is too humid to be considered a true desert. The sand was formed during the last glacial period, when large glacial lakes formed and deposited silt. When the lakes dried, the dunes were left behind. Today, sand comes mainly from nearby Bennett Lake, carried by wind. The dunes contain a wide variety of plants, including unusual varieties such as Baikal sedge and Yukon Lupine.

Heading to Whitehorse we spotted two Dall Sheep on a mountain top. Les took us to a Salmon Ladder in Whitehorse because no one could understand how the salmon could jump up so high.

Back to our hotel and and we had dinner at the restuarant attached to our hotel with our tour group. It was a fun night.