Alaskan cruise: Skagway

Our next stop was Skagway. It has a population of about 900 people. It was an old gold rush town. They have a railroad that was built in 1897 that is the gateway to the Yukon and Klondike gold rush fields. Apparently before this railroad was built, miners would have to hike up to the fields. I can't even imagine that because some of these gulches and cliffs were so steep! Anyway, it was incredible. The scenery was some of the most beautiful I have ever seen.

Here's our train!

Going over some of these bridges was kind of scary. You couldn't even see the track below...just a sheer drop-off.

After our train ride, we had lunch at the Red Onion Saloon. This saloon girl reminded me of my aunt Amy (the one on the left). Not because she was a saloon girl, but just that she looked like her. This banjo band was also pretty awesome.

After lunch, we took a hike to Dewey Lake. The trailhead was only a few blocks from our port and then it went straight up a mountain. Seriously, it was really steep.

But it was really beautiful. At one point, we had to cross this stream. I'm glad I didn't fall in...that would have been cold!

I saw this really interesting flower.

We attempted to hike around the lake, but ran out of time so we had to turn back. It was really beautiful though.

Here is Matt on the trail. I was trying to show how steep it was, but you can't really tell from this picture.

The town of Skagway pretty much consisted of about 3 blocks.

This was a snowblower train car that they used to use to clear off the track. I thought it was really cool.

And here is Matt with some gold miners. Apparently Skagway is one of the only gold rush towns to still exist.

We also saw some missionaries there. I was wondering what they do in a town of 900 people. (Notice we are wearing significantly less layers than in the previous ports...it finally warmed up a bit and stopped raining for a few hours while we were in Skagway.)