Skagway Train Trip

So Lance and Mary came to visit us here in good old Juneau, and as per classic Juneau, it rained most of the time. LOL. We did get some decent weather but for the most part it is now fall up here, the rains have returned and the trees are beginning to loose their leaves. While they were here we did some pretty classic tourist things, ie lots of fish and chips. Halibut is so good when its deep fried! Also while they were here we went on a trip to Skagway. This is just north about 150 miles in the back of a glacial cut fjord. As a child we went there a few times, rode the train and even hiked the Chilkoot trail with my scout troop. This trip was to do some window shopping and for a train ride. Woohoo, Choo Choo!!! I love trains! Sarah and her folks had never been to Skagway so it was exciting for them to see a different area. I am continuously amazed how much the land changes in such a short distance. The types of trees, ground cover (or lack there of) and the general geology is so vastly different from our soggy moss covered forests of huge evergreen trees. The weather in general was decent, high overcast, but no rain, so that was good. Temps averaged around 55 and got chillier in the passes. I have a  friend of mine who said the very next week those same passes got dusted with their first snow of the year, here it comes! So anyways, going to post up some pics of the train ride and such and will explain along the way. All aboard that are going aboard!

Mountain view from the ferry of Eagle (left) and Herbert (right) glaciers on the north end of Juneau

Lance and I hanging outside, enjoying a nice break in the weather and the views

I love the mist moving through the peaks, seriously rugged country up there

One of hundreds of waterfalls along the way, this one is really large though, some drops of 100ft. or more

It really amazes me this place we live, like a national park everywhere I look

Eldrid Rock Lighthouse, quite the establishment in the middle of nowhere

Sarah in front of the largest snow blower ever! It is now decommissioned, but it used to right the tracks and clear the snow, drifts of 20 ft or more!

The snow blower in its entirety

The family in front of a classic icon of Skagway. Pretty sure my folks have pics of me and my sister in the same place. lol

Looking down through the trestle as we pass over it. Exciting

 One of my favorite shots, shows the steep elevation of the area and some awesome geology.

 This is shot from a moving platform at full telephoto, so not so clear, but not too bad

 An old trestle no longer used, sure glad its in really bad shape

The trail of  '98, look carefully and you can see the gold seekers foot trail in the ravine.

 The border. We were not allowed to leave the train and this is where the engine was disconnected and put on the other end of the train and down we went.

 View down into the ravine under the old not used trestle!

 This is the replacement trestle and a nice view point to catch the train and the mountains in the background

As always I was intrigued by the local geology and found these rocks of particular interest. It looks natural to a point but some later views showed that possibly they dug into this for mines, also not a bad place to set up camp!

Sorry for duplicate

So there has been some issues with this post, things double, don't show up and delete one and everything is gone, so this is the best I could get it, couldn't remove the double sheep shot, it is supposed to be a different one, also formatting is totally out of my control, so anyhoo here it is. Figured enough trying to fix it, just post it.
The trip was awesome, love the area and the train ride. Really glad we got to experience it and was great to travel with Lance and Mary. We at our fill of Fish and Chips while they were here and Lance and I had  venison burgers  made from the dear I helped haul out last fall with a friend of mine in Sitka. Tasty!!

So anyways, there ya go, good trip for all and a safe return.