| We left Skagway heading
north east for Whitehorse. The railroad clings to the other side if the
White Pass. The gradients are very steep and the train is travelling very
slowly. Note the waterfall. |  |
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The near horizontal line on the far side of the valley is the railway. |
| Not that the road isn't
spectacular in its own right. Note the suspension bridge. |  |
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Looking back towards Skagway as we climb to the top of White Pass. |
| The road is good but
twists and turns as it climbs. |  |
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The cycle companies bring bikes and people to the top of the pass and they
then cycle the 15 miles downhill back to town. |
| Up on the top are lakes
and streams but it looks more like a moonscape. |  |
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It goes on for quite a way. We had tyre concerns in Skagway since I thought
a tread was separating. The nearest place to Skagway for getting a tyre
changed is Whitehorse, 110 miles away. |
| It gets pretty bleak up
here. The trees seem a bit one sided as the wind and snow affect the tree
growth. |  |
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It really is a spectacular road for the 20 miles to the Canadian border. |
| This is the border where
most of the trains stop. The coaches are to take people onward for a tour in
the Yukon or back to Skagway. The Canadian immigration officer seemed quite
harrassed. I think she was on her own. |  |
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This is a tourist attraction - a suspension bridge. We didn't go. $18 seemed
a bit excessive. |
| Some of the lakes are
huge. We are heading towards Carcross. |  |
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A colourful mountain as we travel. |
| Is there no end to the
tourist attractions? Green Jeep Tours! |  |
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It took over half an hour to travel the edge of this lake. This is the Windy
Arm of Tagish Lake. |
| This is Bove Island,
named after an Italian navy lieutenant. It was named by Frederick Schwatka
in 1883 when he surveyed the area. He made little attempt to find out what
the native Tlingit and Tagish people called places. |  |
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Carcross is a tiny settlement along the railway. The Duchess was an early
locomotive on the WPYR. It was fired by trash. |
| The railway comes into
town by this bridge. It has followed the parallel river and the Bennett
Lake. |  |
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Just outside Carcross are the Carcross Dunes which are the result of glacial
action depositing sediments. The sand comes from Lake Watson and forms a
rare habitat in the north west. |
| One of the popular photo
opportunities on the Carcross to Whitehorse road is Emerald Lake. The
colouring is quite striking. |  |
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So we arrive at Whitehose and spot this outside the transportation museum
just by the airport. |
We stopped in Whitehorse to have some tyre and vibration problems
investigated. I had thought we were stripping a tread. The tyre experts
rebalanced all of the wheels some of which had become quite bad. One wheel
needed 8oz lead to balance it. They also advised that two tyres were in bad
shape. They didn't like my spares and so we ended up with two new tyres on the
front. At least we were back to properly rated tyres.
We also stopped for a quick oil change. We should do 3000 miles between
changes. Last time I put good synthetic oil in but after 4500 miles and with
2000 to go with no services, I thought we should have the change. We then
travelled on 100 miles to Teslin where we have stayed before. More troubles were
to follow. |