Day 13, August 6

It was cold and windy, but still beautiful.

I missed the Welcome to Canada sign on the northbound letg.
My B&B, The Whitehouse.
George W. was tied up in a press conference, but Laura served coffee.

The White Pass and Yukon Route,

built to support the gold rush at Dawson City.

Completely updated equipment.

This is the White Pass Trail established in 1898. Not to be confused with the Chilkoot Trail, this would accommodate pack animals and was less demanding. It was a toll trail and it is reported that operators collected $1,000 a day. Better than working a dinky claim, eh?

This was the trestle of the original infrastructure.

Lucky for us, they replaced it with this one.

I made the return trip from Whitehorse to Skagway on a cold and windy day. I brought my best winter gloves for just such a day and left them at the B&B in Skagway. So much for good planning. The day turned out to be decent. I took another ride on another narrow gauge railroad from sea level to almost 3000 feet, the summit of White Pass. The scenery, procedures, and equipment were quite different from the railroad in New Mexico.
The B&B dates back to 1902 and much of the original flavor has been preserved. However, it has been completely updated and is ultra modern and comfortable. I don’t stay in B&Bs often so I don’t know how $135 compares, but with Motel 6, it is a little spendy.
Today, there is no sun. The clouds are so low they block the mountains on either side of the valley here in Skagway. I am just hoping the rain holds off until I get on the ferry this afternoon. The ferry ride should be interesting as I met four fellow cyclists on the train who have been touring Alaska for the past sixteen days. They will ride back to Bellingham on The Columbia with me.