Day 5-Skagway

Sally & Friend at Musher Camp

Today we made the last port city stop on our 7-day cruise. The town of Skagway was our kick-off point for a train ride up the mountain as well as a visit to a Sled Dog Musher Camp for an authentic sled dog team ride.

In the morning, we boarded the White Pass & Yukon Railroad right at the ship dock. We sat in comfortable coach cars with great views for this 3 hour, 40 mile roundtrip to the summit of White Pass - a 2865 foot elevation. On the way we were provided with a narration of the various highlights in the history of the railroad and this area.

After lunch, we boarded a bus and began our journey to the Alaska Sled Dog Adventures Mushing Camp. The bus ride took about 45 minutes and at one point we had to transfer to a smaller van to cross an old bridge and then arrive at the starting point for our sled dog ride.

We were loaded into a six-passenger sled on wheels with a single musher and sixteen sleg dogs up front. On command we took off and traveled on a dirt road through the forest for an exciting taste of what those Iditarod drivers face in much more severe conditions for days on end.

The camp we visited has almost 300 dogs in residence, many of whom have run in the famous 1000 mile race best known in the mushing world. Each dog has his/her own dog house and lives year-round outdoors cared for by their musher.