Once again we are on the Alcan Highway headed toward White Horse. We stopped at Burrwash Landing by the Kulane Lake, which still had a thin sheet of ice and a cold wind was blowing. Here I heard the story of Robert Service the Poet of the Yukon. I especially have grown found of his poem called “The Cremation of Sam McGee”

Here is a sampler:

Our coach passed by the Kulane Mountain range on the right and followed the banks of the Kulane Lake on the left. Couple more stops by the roadside, spotting some Dahl Sheep and Moose. Eventually we turned east at Haines Junction, not a memorable place, as I actually don’t remember anything about it. So I looked it up on the Internet and yep, there is not much mention of it, except that it has about 500 residents. We made it to White Horses the capital of the Yukon Territory, and the population is a whopping 23,000! Now we are talking big town!
Whitehorse is named after the historic rapids on the Yukon River, which resembled the flowing manes of charging white horses. How artistic! Unfortunately the river got tamed and so were the wild horses. Now I could only picture it…. Nice little town and quite civilized with many restaurants, shops, clean streets, nice path by the river and a paddle steamboat. We had dinner at the Cellar, with the ever-present salmon and a glass of “zinfi” as Colette referred our libations.
In Whitehorse I got my first unpleasant mishap of the trip. It turned out that I lost or just left my credit card at our last stop at the Bear Creek Lodge. But thanks to Colleen’s investigative talents, all is well; the proprietors of the café found the purse and will be mailing it to my home with the next mail pick up (hopefully this month).

Today is our last day on the “Coach”. After a sumptuous breakfast of french toast and coffee, we took off for Fraizer to board the narrow gauge railroad to Skagway. Our first stop is Miles Canyon which once again used have some real wild rapids but due to man’s intervention no more. So, we win some; we lose some. We stopped at a fascinating little town called Carcross, which originally was called Caribou Cross but there were just too many of those, so it was shortened to Carcross. I liked the color of the buildings and the architecture. However the doggies looked rather menacing and Colette and I opted not to proceed with our exploration of the shores of Lake Benet. At Fraizer we said goodbye to our guides Amanda and Colleen and boarded the White Pass scenic railroad cars. We were advised to sit on the right side if we dared to look down the steep walls of the canyon that the RR skirted. The trip was most scenic the fog on the top of the pass added to the eeriness of the landscape with stunted trees, lichens snow and ice. Quite a site! On our way down, the fog lifted and we were in for spectacular vistas of the steep canyon and the “Class VI rapids” of the Skagway River. We passed by the infamous “Dead Horse Trail”, which was named after the appalling history of the 1898 stampeders mistreating and killing more than three thousand packhorses. Human avarice has no boundaries! I shudder at the thought of what those animals and men must have gone through for greed, or adventure, or a dream? But lets leave history for now. As our train got into Skagway, we were still reeling from the fantastic ride to which we were treated. We all agreed this was one of the most scenic rail tours we ever have taken. Indeed it was!

Skagway is a bustling little port, mostly with tourists and the businesses that are supported by them. There were two ships in town and one the SS Rhyndam, was ours. We boarded the magnificent ship and settled in our spacious cabin “state room”, as it is referred to in the brochures. We have all the conveniences of home, and even a close view of the water as our cabin is located next to the last deck and very conveniently smack in the center, which is the most stabile part of the ship. We had lunch on the boat and then took off for a tour of Skagway. Skagway (originally spelled Skaguay) is the Tlingit name meaning "the place where the north wind blows. " The “Historic Tour” was a bit played up but then again every town has a story. Skagway’s started with the 1898 gold rush to the Klondike and the legendary tales of fortune seekers, lawlessness, and the notorious Soapy Smith. Being cold and hungry is not something unfamiliar to me, so I can empathize with those determined, desperate men who sought their fortune and perished in this inhospitable place. After our somewhat wet tour we returned to the ship and enjoyed our first dinner in the elegant main dining room. The food was excellent and lots of it! My choice as usual was broiled salmon and some sumptuous chocolate dessert. Dieting is futile as we were tempted beyond our wildest dreams.