With a population of about 1,000 (down to 400 in the winter) and one jewellery shop per person (OK, slight exaggeration) there was not a lot to see in Skagway. But the narrow gauge railway and it's gold rush history more than made up for the town itself which is probably unkindly described as an outpost.
It was cold and damp early in the day but as one guy on our trip said - "I would be disappointed if the weather was any different as he wanted to ensure he had the full Alaskan experience". The rail trip was fascinating and you could not help but think how tough the people were who either built the rail line out of solid rock, or who traversed this country to get to the elusive gold fields - and we saw it in the warmest time of the year! At the top of the plateau we were quickly checked by Canadian Customs, having re-entered Canada some 20 kms earlier. They do not have a customs station at the border as there is no flat ground upon which to build it, and avalanches are a risk! Once off the train (which conveniently had washrooms and heaters) we took a bus ride along the highway to the start of our push bike ride back to Skagway. Once we had a safety brief and a quick bike familiarisation our group of 10 took off down the mountain - 22 kms downhill except for a few hundred metres in the middle. With speeds reaching about 25mph this was totally out of Kim's cycling comfort zone but she managed okay given the rain, cold and bike spray:-)
Of course we also had to go through USA Customs to get back into Alaska. This was a hoot with our group of cyclists pulling up in a line at the red stop light while our guide got the OK for us to re-enter the USA. It'll be the only bike ride we're likely to go on where we have to take passports!
The rain stopped as we descended with other cruise goers marvelling at our tenacity! One for the cycling resume!