Happy Birthday, Dennis!
The itinerary of today's excursion was to get on a bus and travel from our cruise ship in Skagway, Alaska, through British Columbia, and to the town of Carcross in the Yukon Territory. We were then to board the scenic White Pass Railroad back to Skagway. It follows one of the trails that stampeders used during the Klondike Gold Rush.
But what was supposed to be a eight-hour tour ended up being much more!
Our drive up in the rain and fog was interesting, even though some of the valleys were sort of socked in. I could not imagine hauling the one-year, ton of goods and provisions, as required by the Canadian authorities, in order to continue to the 1896 gold fields. The scenery and landscape was dramatic and rugged.
We got on the train after a short stop to look around the town of Carcross, which was a shortening of the name Cariboo Crossing. It is a sparse Carcross/Tagish First Nation town. About 300 people live in the town and surrounding area.
The train cars were nice although a bit cramped. We were staying along the shore of Bennett Lake. The staff gave us boxed lunches as we looked out on the wilderness. After about an hour the train ground to an abrupt stop. The conductor was not pleased with the condition of the track and did not want to proceed.
So we backed up a half mile to a section of double track and the engine came around to the other end of the cars. We were pulled back along Lake Bennett to Carcross again. This was our second visit of the day.
The tour company rapidly arranged for buses to drive us back along the single highway connecting us to the coast. Four large buses headed down the Klondike Highway towards Skagway. We were making pretty good time down through the mountains when we had to brake again! This time, a huge landslide covered the road. Boulders and water were still crashing down from the mountainside as we approached.
A photo found on the Anchorage Daily News article on July 25, 2024.
So, we had to turn around again and found a pull-off a safe distance away.
Our young bus driver was in contact with the excursion company by radio. We met up with the other three buses and headed back to Carcross. This was our third time in the Yukon Territory today! There was no way to travel by rail or road to Skagway. We were essentially cut off from getting back to our ship.
Of course, lots of people were involved in helping to decide our course of action. First, we thought we might get hotels in Whitehorse and then have to fly to our next port in Ketchikan. That would have meant missing Glacier Bay National Park, a highlight of an Alaskan cruise for many. There were really not many options.
It was finally decided that we could drive north towards Whitehorse, the capital of Yukon, and then drive westwards on a segment of the Alaskan Highway to Haines Junction in order to head south again. On a map, the distance between Skagway and Haines looks close but we could only travel on roads and not as a crow flies. We were to travel around 470 km (290 miles). Our ship would wait for us off the port at Haines, Alaska and we would eventually tender to our ship which would be waiting for us.
Rather than taking all four large buses, we consolidated into just three with twenty Princess cruise passengers joining the hundred or so Holland America guests. It was around 9:10 pm when we pulled away from Carcross.
It took around an hour to get to the Whitehorse area. The bus company had arranged for people to buy food to deliver to us. The initial stop was a miscommunication but when we were closer to the city of Whitehorse we pulled into a petrol station area and found our food. The company must've ordered from some fast food places and grocery stores in the city. Boxes near our bus had small bags of potato chip, granola bars, cookies and chocolate bars. There were water bottles and juice boxes. Some of our bags had sandwiches made by a local Ricky's. Survival instincts made passengers grab and horde but that really wasn't the fault of our tour company.
Our group continued onwards. We drove and drove. Daylight was long at this time of year because we were about 61°N latitude. However, finally, by one or two o'clock in the morning, it got pretty dark and was still raining hard. I respected the driving skills of our driver, especially considering the trip was so much longer than originally anticipated.
The three buses full of tired passengers were waved through the Canadian border post but we had to provide passports as we entered Alaska. I read that special telephone calls had been made in order to have the posts manned as they normally close at 11 pm. It took a bit of time to process 120 passports, and we did later hear that two were accidently left behind. I haven't a clue as to the outcome of the situation for those folks.
We were still 40 miles away from our waiting ship.
At last, we drove through Haines and headed towards the dock. It was a pleasure to see our ship sitting off shore and the tender boats waiting for us. They had blankets on the rescue boats as it was nippy and still damp. The time was then 4:10 am.
Everyone on the ship knew of our impending arrival and Holland America staff opened one restaurant station on the Lido deck for us to have a full meal. The beer and wine was gratis. It felt nice to go back to our rooms and the Princess passengers were given accommodations too. They will have to do Glacier Bay with us and get back on their ship when we meet up in Ketchikan on Thursday.
Finally, we are now ready for a little sleep at 5:30 am! We are still hearing that we'll be having a normal day at Glacier Bay but that our hours will be shifted to a wee bit later.
Yawn.