White Pass Train in Alaska Excursion?

[SFO Peter]

Recommendations please. Taking Amsterdam from Seattle to Alaska round trip Aug 10, 2012 and was thinking of a scenic day train ride but it seems the White Pass Train only leaves from Skagway (we will be in Juneau). Any advice on White Pass tour or similar train ride will be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[superoma]

This one is listed for Anchorage.Since we are in port from 7 am to 11 pm you would have time to do it.

 

Glacier Discovery Grandview Train - Intransit Approximately 10 Hours

 

Leave Anchorage by train following the shoreline of Turnagain Arm, where beluga whales feed on small fish and salmon heading to spawning grounds. This area is part of the Chugach National Forest the second largest national forest in the US. Eagles cruise the shoreline looking for an easy meal and Dall sheep come down from the peaks of the Chugach Mountains. You'll pass Girdwood, 40 miles from Anchorage; then the train leaves the main line for the 12-mile trip into the port of Whittier, passing through two tunnels. Whittier is the gateway to Prince William Sound and its magnificent glaciers. The train returns to the main line to continue the trip south down the Placer Valley, leaving the highway behind and heading into an area only accessible by train. You'll stop at Spencer Glacier, among habitat populated by bear, moose, coyotes and wolves. Swans pause here on their migration and yellowlegs and arctic terns also make their home here, just a few hours out of Anchorage and completely off the road system. From Spencer, the train climbs toward Grandview through a series of short tunnels. At 1,063 feet elevation, among the Kenai Mountains and lush green alpine meadows, you will find Grandview in all its scenic beauty. Braided waterfalls choked with glacial runoff and snowmelt plummet from the cliff-tops. Spencer and Grandview passengers will board a deluxe motor coach for the transfer back to Anchorage from the Portage stop.

[superoma]

Recommendations please. Taking Amsterdam from Seattle to Alaska round trip Aug 10, 2012 and was thinking of a scenic day train ride but it seems the White Pass Train only leaves from Skagway (we will be in Juneau). Any advice on White Pass tour or similar train ride will be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

Hi Peter and welcome to cruise critic. Please go to the roll call page and join our roll call. We are a small group right now and would love the company. Here is a link that will take you to the roll call

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1463746

[PathfinderEss]

Recommendations please. Taking Amsterdam from Seattle to Alaska round trip Aug 10, 2012 and was thinking of a scenic day train ride but it seems the White Pass Train only leaves from Skagway (we will be in Juneau). Any advice on White Pass tour or similar train ride will be greatly appreciated. Thanks

As you don't stop in Skagway guess the White Pass Train ride is out. Juneau is where you take flight trips up to the glaciers. I don't know of any train rides out of Juneau but I could be mistaken.

[SwissMyst]

The White Pass railway trip makes the Yukon Gold Rush come alive - excellent book to understand more about this arduous adventure before you go is "The Last Great Gold Rush - A Klondike Reader". ((ISBN 0-9687091)

 

Plus a visit before hand to the NatlParks Visitor Center in downtown Skagway to see the videos of this time will let you see and hear the ghosts of those miners as you climb those same hills and see where their wagon ruts cut into the rocks and where their winter cabins offered little respite from the elements as they slogged their way by foot and water craft to struck it rich in the Yukon -- but did not.

 

Of the variations of this trip, I think taking the train both up and back instead of the bus one way with a "show" in-between is the better option - so you have time to visit the downtown visitors center too.

[superoma]

Of the variations of this trip, I think taking the train both up and back instead of the bus one way with a "show" in-between is the better option - so you have time to visit the downtown visitors center too.

 

Actually neither one will be an option since the 14 day amsterdam does not stop in Skagway. i wish it did - we have friends that live there and have visited with them each time when we have stopped previously.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Recommendations please. Taking Amsterdam from Seattle to Alaska round trip Aug 10, 2012 and was thinking of a scenic day train ride but it seems the White Pass Train only leaves from Skagway (we will be in Juneau). Any advice on White Pass tour or similar train ride will be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

Sorry -- but there us no way you can do the Yulon/White Pass train from Juneau.

Jueanu doesn't offer anything like that excursion -- no train rides.

[trvlcrzy]

DH and I have done the Skagway train and the Anchorage to Seward train. While there is no comparison between the two -- completely different experiences (Skagway feels like a trip to the past, while the Anchorage-Seward train is modern) -- both offer stunning views.

 

I, too, am disappointed that that 14-day itinerary doesn't stop in Skagway.

 

We have signed up for an excursion to Spencer Glacier involving a train. That will be something else to consider, but I'm pretty sure it's the modern train, not similar to Skagway's narrow gauge experience.