Tag Archives: Skagway

Posts from Base Camp

Around the World!

Leave a comment

(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

As the travel industry continues to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, many people are getting close to their pre-pandemic travel levels. I don’t think I’ll ever have another travel year like 2014, but 2026 is still shaping up to be something special.

Saloon in Skagway, Alaska (2003)

I’ve recently learned that I will need to combine two special trips next year. After flying to Europe for a competition, I will then continue east to Australia (via Asia) for another competition immediately afterwards. And then the shortest route home from Australia is to travel east again to Canada. In short, I’ll be undertaking that rarest of travel experiences: a true around-the world trip!

Jefferson Smith’s Parlor, in downtown Skagway, Alaska (2003)

Not only will I travel around the entire globe, I will be on the road for longer than I have ever been in the past. And in addition to taking in two continents and several countries that I’ve never previously visited, my trip will also cover considerable territory in both the northern and southern hemispheres…where the seasons are reversed!

Hiking in the Dewey Lakes area, just above Skagway, Alaska (2003)

As you can imagine, this will require a lot of preparation. I may end up buying an around-the-world ticket, rather than a series of one-way tickets. But I’ll have to cost out both of those options before making a final decision. The financial stakes are pretty high! But even mundane matters, such as what to pack, will also require a lot of research. Among other things, I’ll need to figure out a global laundry strategy!

Uspenski Cathedral in Helsinki (2012)

On a less serious note, this upcoming trip also made me think about how far I’ve travelled in each compass direction. In 2026, I don’t think I’ll make it farther north than my trip beyond the Arctic Circle on the remote island of Grímsey, Iceland. There is a chance that I’ll make it further south than Puerto Montt, Chile, but that will depend on the exact route I take home from Australia.

Monument to Finnish composer Jean Sibelius (Helsinki, 2012)

However, my 2026 trip will make the two other compass directions irrelevant for me. If I travel so far east that I end up home again, then I could hardly claim to have an easternmost destination anymore. And I think it would also be meaningless to say that I still had a westernmost destination.

View from the top of the Olympic Stadium in Helsinki (2012)

Looking east, the farthest I’ve been so far is Helsinki, Finland…even though I always thought Tallinn, Estonia, was just a little farther east! And the farthest west I’ve been so far is Skagway, Alaska. To commemorate their upcoming loss of status, all of the photos in today’s post are from Alaska and Finland – the photo at the very top is the Helsinki Cathedral.

Helsinki’s waterfront (2012)

I will share more details on my around-the-world adventure as the preparations progress. And I’m sure 2026 will have some other surprises too…

Posts from Base Camp

Travel Flashback: Yukon and Alaska (2003)

Leave a comment

(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

In the summer of 2003, we visited a friend from Hinton, Alberta, who had recently moved to Whitehorse, Yukon. It was my first, and so far only, visit to this northern Canadian territory.

The Yukon River, near Whitehorse, Yukon. It’s big, of course.

The strongest impression I had from the Yukon was the space. It wasn’t completely isolated (the Alaska Highway passes through Whitehorse), but I never had the feeling of being crowded either. The streets were wide and everything just seemed…big. Despite not being on a sea, ocean, or even a lake, even the boats were big (see the SS Klondike photo at the top of this post).

Our train on the White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad, on the way to Skagway, Alaska.

The most “touristy” part of our trip (and thus the most photographed) was our journey on the White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad to Skagway, Alaska. This railway originally ran from Whitehorse to Skagway, and it was the main route to the Yukon interior during the Klondike Gold Rush. The railway closed in 1982, but then reopened again in 1988 as a summer heritage railway.

Bleak terrain on the White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad,

During our visit, the first part of our trip was by bus: only the portion from Bennett (B.C.) to Skagway was operational. It now runs from Carcross (Yukon) to Skagway, and there are plans to have it once again run the entire length from Whitehorse to Skagway. There were some anxious moments en route…this is not easy terrain! But we made it to Skagway safe and sound. In fact, the line ends right on the docks where cruise ships stop in Skagway.

Hiking in the Dewey Lakes area, just above Skagway, Alaska.

Skagway is a small town, with only about 1,200 residents. You’re never far from nature, so it is easy to find appropriate hiking trails close to town. As we didn’t have a lot of specialized equipment, we limited ourselves to the Dewey Lakes area.

Hiking in the Dewey Lakes area, just above Skagway, Alaska.

Even though this was close to town, we really felt like we were “off the beaten track”. In some ways, the terrain (and tricky footing) was similar to our hiking adventure on Vancouver Island in 2023.

A saloon in downtown Skagway, Alaska.

Back in town, the local tourist industry really plays up the gold rush days. And with good reason: those were Skagway’s glory days, when the population was around 12,000! We found an old-fashioned saloon, and many other buildings that haven’t really changed in more than a century.

Jefferson Smith’s Parlor, in downtown Skagway, Alaska.

Given the small population, and the popularity of summer cruises along the Alaska coastline, Skagway is really transformed when a ship arrives. The inlet that ends at Skagway is quite narrow, but we still saw some fairly large ships sailing into port.

Between the docks and downtown Skagway, Alaska.

After a couple of nights in Skagway, we returned to Whitehorse. However, our “return” tickets on the White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad were actually for a bus on the return leg of our journey. I presume that this is to maximize the benefits from the short summer tourist season.

Exploring the coastline on the Taiya Inlet at Skagway, Alaska.

I think our two nights in Skagway were just right for us at the time. One full day of hiking and exploring the town felt appropriate. Since few of the cruise passengers actually stay overnight here, the evenings were very quite and peaceful.

I went through a phase where I would dramatically scale steep rocks.

Coming up – another international adventure!