Gold Rush Cemetery
Alaska St., Skagway, AK
Of Skagway’s three old cemeteries (besides Slide Cemetery and Pioneer Cemetery), Gold Rush is the oldest and the easiest to visit. The small, undeveloped cemetery holds the remains of hapless miners and local characters—the most famous is Jefferson “Soapy” Smith, an Old West con artist known for robbing his own customers.
The cemetery is situated just outside town and is a popular stop on Skagway sightseeing tours, which are best for providing historical context. Visiting on your own is an option: to reach the cemetery from downtown Skagway, walk north on Alaska Street for about 30 minutes, or take the SMART shuttle to a stop nearby. Trips to the cemetery are easily combined with visits to scenic Lower Reid Falls.
The cemetery is undeveloped but has some interpretive displays with historical information.
Lower Reid Falls lies a few hundred feet above the cemetery. The hike to Upper Reid Falls is about 5 miles (8 kilometers) round-trip.
The Skagway Visitor Information Center has helpful information about the cemetery and trail maps.
There’s a wheelchair-accessible toilet in the parking area.
The cemetery is just over a mile (1.6 kilometers) north of downtown Skagway. Visitors can reach it on foot by walking for about 30 minutes along Alaska Street, taking part in sightseeing tours, or hopping on the local SMART shuttle bus, which stops about half a mile (.8 kilometers) from the cemetery. Rental cars are also an option.
The cemetery is open year-round but isn’t always free of snow. The Skagway tourist season runs roughly from April to early October and isn’t a bad time to visit. The best weather—and the annual Summer Solstice Party—rolls around in June. For your best chance to see the Northern Lights, try visiting after late August.
The White Pass, also known as the Dead Horse Trail, is a high mountain pass leading from Skagway to the headwaters of the Yukon River in British Columbia, Canada. It’s a popular tourist draw and the home of the White Pass and Yukon Route railroad running from Skagway to Whitehorse in the Yukon. Travelers can take scenic train rides from the Skagway cruise terminal to the White Pass Summit and back—a 40-mile (64 kilometers) 2.5-3 hour round-trip.
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