John's Photo Gallery

Skagway

Skagway and the White Pass Railway were the high point of the trip. Gene Blair told us that this was the one shore excursion that we must not miss, and he was right. We probably took more shots of this area than all the other pictures on the trip.

Sharon and John started the day by going for a "short" walk into town. It turned out that the walk was a lot further than we ever imagined, so we were exhausted by the time we returned. The following pics are what we saw along the way. The first one shows the salmon that were on their way back up the river to spawn. The quantity of fish desperately trying to get past the obstacles and each other is truly amazing.

The big appeal of Skagway is the White Pass Railway. The shots above were taken in the morning before we boarded the train. The shots below follow the trip up the grade, somewhat chronologically. The route of this train is what each miner actually did on foot carrying 1200 pounds of supplies in the winter. It's unbelieveable what those people went through in search of gold. The views were breathtaking, and comparable to the Grand Canyon in scale and majesty.

Looking back towards the waterfront The Cemetary
Looking forward across the bridge Looking back to a train following us
Wynn
Approaching an unused railroad bridge Looking back on the bridge as we passed it
Looking dowen the stream along which the miners walked
Canada/US Border Parallel tracks as we end the journey at the top of the mountains
Photographer at rest Sharon, Carol and Wynn

Going back down was a bit faster. They had everyone switch between the left and right sides so that everybody got to see every view. The weather had cooperated on this excursion (much better than Ketchican), so our spirits were high as we headed back to the ship.