Today we left Whitehorse to get to Skagway, Alaska – by train! The scenic train route between Carcross and Skagway was reopened 1988 just for tourism. Originally, it was built 1900 to help prospectors (people searching for gold) to get to Whitehorse from the coast (Skagway). Before that in 1898 during the gold rush, prospectors had to walk to Bennett and then buy (often build) a boat to get down to Whitehorse and further down the Yukon to Dawson. The hike from Skagway to Bennett (over White Pass or along the Chilkoot trail) was especially hard as everyone had to bring supplies of 1 ton per person by law to be self sustaining for at least a year. So everyone had to hike this route several times or bring horses in order to get all the supplies to Bennett.
This was the main driver for the Yukon Route & White Pass Railroad to be built more than 100 years ago. And today we took this historic train route including replica wagons (but with diesel engines). Nowadays, the train only runs from Carcross, the route Carcross – Whitehorse is not being serviced anymore.
A bus brought us to Carcross where we had 4 hours to kill. Just enough to checkout the amazing Carcross Desert and Bennett Lake!
When the train arrived and turned around we were surprised to have a whole waggon almost just for ourselves. Complementary food and water was served and we left Carcross to start our journey along Lake Bennett. It was fascinating driving a train through pure wilderness! No other man-made structures whatsoever! From time to time, train personnel would narrate a thing about the history and the sights along the route. (More about the history of the railroad: https://wpyr.com/history/)
Our first stop was Bennett – the former village, were thousands of prospectors would use as base camp to gather their supplies from various supply hikes, build or buy boats and then head off to Carcross, Whitehorse and Dawson. At peak times, this was a camp / village with around 20’000 people! What remained today is the church, a couple of rusted, 100 year old trash and the train station. It’s still just reachable by train and foot.
Then we continued our journey to Fraser and later over the White Pass, were we crossed the Canadian / USA border and got into Alaska for the first time! After a couple of tunnels and spectacular bridges, we ended up in Skagway. This touristy town is located at a fjord with around 1-4 cruise ships anchored and unloading tourists. It still has a look like in the old times – a western gold rush town! Just today, every second shop is about selling gems and jewellery to tourists.
