It's a marvel of engineering and a marvel to look at -- The White Pass Railway connecting Skagway, Alaska, to the Yukon border at Lake Bennett. By Patrick Kane

The train trip through the sky

“Too bad the fog is rolling in,” says a tall, slender backpacker about to board the famed White Pass and Yukon Route railway. “We won’t get to see the incredible view along the way.”

He’s right, but only sort of. When swaddled in mist, the ride on the WP&YR – the “scenic railway of the world” – is an otherworldly experience. We’ve joined it on its backhaul, from Lake Bennett, B.C., down to Skagway, Alaska. The thing is an engineering miracle: 177 kilometers of narrow-gauge tracks, switchbacking 1,000 vertical metres down the coastal mountains to the sea.

The line, unimaginable before the Klondike gorldrush, was conceived to give stampeders an easier, quicker route to the goldfields. Construction began in 1898. Twenty-six months, 450 tonnes of explosives, and $10 million later, it was complete. It’s now an International Historic Civil Engineering Landmark – a designation it shares with structures like the Washington Monument, Eifel Tower and Statue of Liberty.

Hugging rugged peaks and travelling impossibly steep grades, it’s one of the most jaw-dropping excursions in the world. Except, of course, during rainy season, when it’s less mind-blowing but more surreal: like railroading through the clouds.

-Patrick Kane

A Train Trip on The White Pass from Up Here Magazine on Vimeo.

The following photo essay appears in the June issue of Up Here, in the new Scrapbook section