Many, many western genre films have been made, some filmed in Alaska pretending to be somewhere else but very few have ever been in set in Alaska. I was very surprised to hear that Donna had never heard of Skagway in Alaska. Ever since I first watched James Stewart in the western film 'The Far Country' the name of Skagway has been etched on my brain as some mythical place linked with a 'Gold Rush'. Never did I expect to be there. The summer of 1896, Skookum Jim and his friends found gold in the Klondike. Word of the discovery didn't reach Seattle and San Francisco until 1897 and then the stampede started. One of the routes to get to the Klondike was by sea to Skagway, then overland to the Yukon river, then by boat or raft to Dawson City. In 1898 100,000 stampeders arrived in Skagway (only 30,000 made it to the Klondike). Prior to the goldrush, Skagway had one resident and a couple of log cabins. In no time at all the goldrush transformed it into a town with 80 saloons and shootings a daily occurrence. Skagway became home to gold diggers, scoundrels, card sharps, good time girls, entrepreneurs and business men. By the time the stampeders of '98 reached the Klondike al the claims were staked out, some went straight home whilst others mined for others for a wage. This didn't mean the end of Skagway, in 1898 work started on a railway to Whitehorse. Provisions and supplies would still be needed for all those who had claims and would go on digging for some years. The railway brought tourists as well and as early as 1930 it became a cruise holiday destination. It had some lean years but thanks to a guy called Martin Itjen Skagway stayed on the tourist map. We arrived in Skagway, Donna loved it immediately, I was overwhelmed to be there after having watched 'The Far Country' so many times over the years and never dreaming that I would be there. Skagway is a lot like Barkerville and Dawson city in terms of architecture. It belongs in a time lost long ago. Some of the buildings are original but many are new but built to retain the 1890's look. The noticeable difference though is that Skagway is very polished and most of the yesteryear buildings are catering for the desires of cruise ship passengers. There were 3 ships berthed when we arrived, one holding up to 3000 tourists. In the evening they all sailed elsewhere and the following day 4 more cruise ships arrived. These modern day floating hotels seem to have secured Skagway's prosperity, for the summer anyway. Come end of September all these shops, bars and restaurants close until the next years cruising season starts. Despite the polished appearance and hordes of tourists we loved Skagway. We had tried to book tickets for the 'White Pass Yukon Railway' advertised as 'Scenic railway of the world' but their website showed it as sold out. This was a real disappointment but we would still visit Skagway and there are some good hikes from here. We only had 2 nights booked (one full day) as time is running out for us to get to Alberta then Yellowstone in Montana before it starts to get really cold. We planned a full day hike up to upper Dewey lake, we had an afternoon to see Skagway first. We called in at the railway office on the off chance of a cancellation allowing us to ride the train. Despite what the website said there were plenty of seats available - hurray. We bought tickets for the Afternoon train the following day. Our hike plans were amended to Lower Dewey lake not upper which we could still complete and be back in time for the train. There was no need to drive as the trail started close to our campsite and decided to quickly pop into Skagway first which was also just minutes away, in hope of getting some photos with the streets being a little bit quieter. The streets were almost deserted. We found things we had missed the day before, and Skagway took a hold on us. Before we knew it, there wasn't going to be time for a hike at all. We were told by a ranger to enjoy the quiet time as from lunch time it would be heaving. We managed to get places on a free tour of 'Soapy' Jeff Smith's parlour. An original saloon owned by one of Skagway's biggest conmen. The morning whistled by as we took in all of Skagways sights and sounds and we just squeezed in some lunch before departing for the train station. Nineteen times in this post I have mentioned 'Skagway' (20 now), that's probably because it meant so much to be there, a place whose image has been created for me by Hollywood, a place I never really knew still existed until I started researching our North American route. Of course, its not the same as 1898 but I wasn't disappointed with what we found and was delighted that Donna loved it equally. The train journey, that will get a post of its own - coming soon.