Having disembarked off our cruise ship early to have an early morning walk around Skagway, we found our meeting point of the tour (Popcorn Emporium). This, in itself, was also an interesting business, with interesting flavour combinations for popcorn.
But as for the tour, we had a reasonable large group (20 people) and the bus presentation was clean and safe. The first part of the tour was a general drive around the Skagway township, before we drove north to the mountains. When we crossed the main river, which had the train depot yard for the train that does a similar path to the mountains, the air quickly becomes cooler, as we ascended the mountain road.
We make a quick stop to take in the view of the valley (which heads back to Skagway), which is so densely populated with spruce trees, which gives the context of the ill-preparedness of the people that come looking for their "ton of gold" in Alaska. The Tour guide gives an excellent description of the Klondike Gold discovery and the "gold fever" that it generated globally amongst men after the depression years. Those that came clearly were not prepared for the conditions they would have to endure. As we continued up the mountain, we get to the border between the US and Canada, and the basically arrive at WhitePass, where the road stops. The mountains and the pass are just covered in snow, it's pretty awesome but very cold (in May).
There was an outhouse facility, which had to be experienced. Let's just say it was a brief visit to this facility, as was it cold. We climbed back into the bus and drove back towards the US border. After some document exchange, we stopped at the "Welcome to Alaska" sign for a photo. That was great photo opportunity.
On our return to Skagway, we detoured to a Waterfall, behind the rail depot. There was a bit of a climb to the waterfall, but it was manageable by all fellow tourists.
This shore excursion was my favourite of all the shore excursions on my Alaskan Cruise. There was an option to get the train tour, which runs along the side of the mountain, but in my opinion, the bus tour seemed to give a better view all round of the area.