The tiny town of Skagway is situated in the northern reaches of the southeast Alaskan panhandle. The name is derived from a Tlingit word that roughly means "a very windy place" or "where the same air is never breathed twice".

Skagway is surrounded by snow and ice capped mountains and nestled in a small, glacially-carved valley, where the Skagway River flows into Lynn Canal, a deep saltwater fjord. The town was born from the Klondike goldrush in the late 1890s. Skagway and the nearby town of Dyea were the starting points for two treacherous mountain routes… the Chilkoot Trail and the White Pass Trail. These trails led to the goldfields in Canada's Yukon Territory.

Today, the goldrush continues for those who profit from the tremendous tourist economy. During the summer, it is not uncommon to see six cruise ships "tied up to downtown" with floods of visitors browsing the shops and enjoying the history and natural splendors of the area.

The Skagway Vicinity images shown here were taken within Skagway, AK and nearby parts of Canada. The other photos on these pages were taken at various locations throughout Alaska and Canada, including Denali National Park and Preserve, Yoho National Park in Alberta, northern British Columbia, and the Yukon Territory.

   "Listen! the wind is rising,
     and the air is wild with leaves..."

-Humbert Wolfe