Skagway, Alaska – The big thing in Skagway–besides (but related to) the Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Site–is the White Pass & Yukon Route Scenic Train. WPYR is an all-day train ride from Skagway to Dawson, on the historic railroad that once carried prospectors and fortune-seekers. There is also a half-day version, which goes as far as White Pass, then turns around. The scenery is spectacular and the train is historic; nonetheless, it sounds like a lot of sitting still on a train car. So I opted for a train-to-trail option, using the train’s “hiker service”.
Train to Trail
I rode the scenic railway for the first 14 miles to Glacier station, then hopped off at the trailhead for Laughton Glacier trail. The train ride was definitely scenic, with views of the rushing Yukon River, forest-lined slopes, and shimmering Bridal Veil Falls.
But the hike was incredible. The first half of the route follows the raging Skagway River through spruce and hemlock forest. Then the trail emerges above the tree line into the open alpine landscape, with 360-views of mountains and valleys strewn with wildflowers. I couldn’t put away my camera.
Laughton Glacier
The trail continues along Laughton Creek to its source, which is the eponymous glacier. This impressive glacier hangs between the 3000ft walls of the Sawtooth Range. It was incredible to walk right up to the glacier face, with ice chunks floating in the creek and a fantastic ice-hewn archway. There is a lot of dirt and debris on the glacier, so it looks like rock from afar. But up close, you can see the iridescent blue, shining beneath the grime. Some of my fellow hikers even managed to fill their bottles with glacial ice water (and they also got a glacial foot bath in the process).
The Downside
My only complaint about this fabulous outing is the train schedule. The drop-off at the trailhead was at 9am, with pick-ups at 11am or 4pm. The hike would normally take about three hours. So you can speed-run the trail, skip going all the way to the face of the glacier, and turn around at the viewpoint, to make it back for the earlier train. Or you can take your sweet time (as I did), and still end up waiting around for two hours at the end.
It wasn’t just me. There were about a dozen of us hanging around, waiting for the later train. And then it started to rain. We all piled into this old train car–now a trailside shelter–to wait it out. So I ended up doing a lot of sitting still on a train car after all.
It wasn’t the happiest two hours of my trip, but it was a minor detractor. This was still one of my best days in Alaska. Still… get your act together WPYR! It doesn’t take a train scientist to figure out that this schedule needs to be tweaked.