earendel's "North to Alaska" trip - Day 6
Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2008 1:24 pm
Our luggage did make it to the hotel so we actually got to wear stuff that no one else had seen yet. This good fortune would follow us the rest of the trip, including our return home. There will, however, be more luggage discussion later.
Day 6 was our trip from Skagway, AK, to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. Our mode of transportation for the first part of the trip was to be a narrow gauge vintage scenic train trip through the White Pass, one of the routes taken by the stampeders trying to reach the Yukon gold fields (the other being the Chilikoot Pass). To get to the train station (two blocks from the hotel) we had to ride a tour bus - the tour director wanted to make sure that everyone made it to the station.
Historically the White Pass was supposed to be the easier of the two routes (as evidenced by the fact that it was eventually the site for the rail line that we traveled on). The Chilikoot Pass was steeper and, in the winter, had approximately 1500 steps carved into the ice. No matter which route the would-be fortune seekers took, they had to transport a ton (literally - 2000 pounds) of goods with them. This was required by the Northwest Mounted Police, who guarded the border between Alaska Territory and the Yukon. Wanting to avoid the spectre of starvation they levied the requirement and even had scales to weigh the cargo. Native Americans hired themselves as porters to help move the goods up the pass - according to our tour guide for this portion of the trip it took one man 40 trips to haul the goods up the Chilikoot Pass. It was possible to use horses or other pack animals to move through the White Pass but conditions were hardly better and one section of the trail became known as Dead Horse Gulch because so many horses fell off and died (or broke down and were pushed over the edge).
The train ride was nice enough, though for "vintage" read "cramped" and for "scenic" read "uncomfortable"). The train swayed quite a bit and the bench seats were narrow, making sitting a challenge at times.
The train ride terminated at Lake Bennett, one of two lakes that marked the next stage of the gold rush. Here the miners had to either try and cross the frozen lake (if it was winter) or build some sort of boat to convey themselves and their supplies to the other end. The town of Caribou Crossing (now known as Carcross because the Canadian postal system had so many other "Caribou" names) was the end of the line. In the depot we were served a "stampeders' lunch" consisting of a hearty stew, fresh-baked bread, pie and coffee (or water - other drinks were available but cost extra). Regrettably they weren't served in period dishes, but aside from that the food was pretty good. The servers assured us that the meat in the stew was beef, not moose, caribou, or other critter.
From Carcross we went by bus to Whitehorse, passing through what the tour guide called "cold desert" terrain (this despite several lakes and rivers, whose sources are not rainfall but glacial melt). The rivers were a milky gray color, the result of "glacial flour" or finely-ground rock and dirt that were suspended in the water.
We reached Whitehorse around 6PM. Since we didn't purchase a meal plan we were on our own for dinner so we assayed the hotel dining room. Again the food was relatively expensive. I ordered baby back ribs. They were meaty enough but suffered from the same problem that cruise ship food does - the chefs just don't "get" real barbeque. The sauce was a nasty concoction of ketchup and sugar (or so it seemed to me). elwing's trout, OTOH, was outstanding. Moral of the story - don't "bet against the house" when eating at a specialty restaurant.
Our evening concluded with a viewing of a show called "Fabulous Follies", which was supposed to be something like the shows put on during the gold rush days, complete with saloon girls in swirly ruffled skirts dancing the Can-can and some vaudeville-style sketches that were humorous, if not downright funny.
Day 6 was our trip from Skagway, AK, to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. Our mode of transportation for the first part of the trip was to be a narrow gauge vintage scenic train trip through the White Pass, one of the routes taken by the stampeders trying to reach the Yukon gold fields (the other being the Chilikoot Pass). To get to the train station (two blocks from the hotel) we had to ride a tour bus - the tour director wanted to make sure that everyone made it to the station.
Historically the White Pass was supposed to be the easier of the two routes (as evidenced by the fact that it was eventually the site for the rail line that we traveled on). The Chilikoot Pass was steeper and, in the winter, had approximately 1500 steps carved into the ice. No matter which route the would-be fortune seekers took, they had to transport a ton (literally - 2000 pounds) of goods with them. This was required by the Northwest Mounted Police, who guarded the border between Alaska Territory and the Yukon. Wanting to avoid the spectre of starvation they levied the requirement and even had scales to weigh the cargo. Native Americans hired themselves as porters to help move the goods up the pass - according to our tour guide for this portion of the trip it took one man 40 trips to haul the goods up the Chilikoot Pass. It was possible to use horses or other pack animals to move through the White Pass but conditions were hardly better and one section of the trail became known as Dead Horse Gulch because so many horses fell off and died (or broke down and were pushed over the edge).
The train ride was nice enough, though for "vintage" read "cramped" and for "scenic" read "uncomfortable"). The train swayed quite a bit and the bench seats were narrow, making sitting a challenge at times.
The train ride terminated at Lake Bennett, one of two lakes that marked the next stage of the gold rush. Here the miners had to either try and cross the frozen lake (if it was winter) or build some sort of boat to convey themselves and their supplies to the other end. The town of Caribou Crossing (now known as Carcross because the Canadian postal system had so many other "Caribou" names) was the end of the line. In the depot we were served a "stampeders' lunch" consisting of a hearty stew, fresh-baked bread, pie and coffee (or water - other drinks were available but cost extra). Regrettably they weren't served in period dishes, but aside from that the food was pretty good. The servers assured us that the meat in the stew was beef, not moose, caribou, or other critter.
From Carcross we went by bus to Whitehorse, passing through what the tour guide called "cold desert" terrain (this despite several lakes and rivers, whose sources are not rainfall but glacial melt). The rivers were a milky gray color, the result of "glacial flour" or finely-ground rock and dirt that were suspended in the water.
We reached Whitehorse around 6PM. Since we didn't purchase a meal plan we were on our own for dinner so we assayed the hotel dining room. Again the food was relatively expensive. I ordered baby back ribs. They were meaty enough but suffered from the same problem that cruise ship food does - the chefs just don't "get" real barbeque. The sauce was a nasty concoction of ketchup and sugar (or so it seemed to me). elwing's trout, OTOH, was outstanding. Moral of the story - don't "bet against the house" when eating at a specialty restaurant.
Our evening concluded with a viewing of a show called "Fabulous Follies", which was supposed to be something like the shows put on during the gold rush days, complete with saloon girls in swirly ruffled skirts dancing the Can-can and some vaudeville-style sketches that were humorous, if not downright funny.
