Day 5 started out as another beautiful, sunny day in Skagway, Alasaka. You can see the Norwegian Sun docked on the left, with the Star Princess behind and the MS Statendam in the center. Skagway is a very, very, very small town, with a year-round population of 400 that swells to 800 during cruise season. From May 1st to September 30th, Skagway hosts 800,000 cruise visitors... you heard correctly, 800,000!
The highlight of our stop in Skagway was a trip on the historic White Pass Railroad. This railroad was built from Skagway to into the Yukon to take all of the hopeful miners to the Gold Rush of 1898. You truly have to ride this train to appreciate the achievement it was to build this railroad where they did!
We briefly crossed the USA/Canada border (in order to shunt engines), before heading back to Skagway. You are about 20 miles from Skagway at this point. The RCMP used to man a post here to confirm that each miner passing had the required 2,000 lbs (yes, 1 ton!) of supplies deemed necessary for survival in the gold fields.
While they shunted engines, we had this very cold, and very beautiful, view of a trackside lake (there were several). Despite the fact it was May 11th, the temperature was below zero here.
The Norwegian Sun at anchor in Skagway harbour, with the mountains rising behind. We arrived back at the ship after our train ride and a walking tour of Skagway just as the first raindrops fell, an omen of the final two days of our cruise.
Day 5 started out as another beautiful, sunny day in Skagway, Alasaka. You can see the Norwegian Sun docked on the left, with the Star Princess behind and the MS Statendam in the center. Skagway is a very, very, very small town, with a year-round population of 400 that swells to 800 during cruise season. From May 1st to September 30th, Skagway hosts 800,000 cruise visitors... you heard correctly, 800,000!
The highlight of our stop in Skagway was a trip on the historic White Pass Railroad. This railroad was built from Skagway to into the Yukon to take all of the hopeful miners to the Gold Rush of 1898. You truly have to ride this train to appreciate the achievement it was to build this railroad where they did!
We briefly crossed the USA/Canada border (in order to shunt engines), before heading back to Skagway. You are about 20 miles from Skagway at this point. The RCMP used to man a post here to confirm that each miner passing had the required 2,000 lbs (yes, 1 ton!) of supplies deemed necessary for survival in the gold fields.
While they shunted engines, we had this very cold, and very beautiful, view of a trackside lake (there were several). Despite the fact it was May 11th, the temperature was below zero here.
The Norwegian Sun at anchor in Skagway harbour, with the mountains rising behind. We arrived back at the ship after our train ride and a walking tour of Skagway just as the first raindrops fell, an omen of the final two days of our cruise.
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