Skagway, Alaska - From Skagway you'll need to take the White Pass train to the Laughton Glacier trailhead at mile 14. There's an early train at 7:30am and a later train at 12:30. We took the latter thinking we would have enough time to quickly get to the glacier, spend a bit of time and return before the train came back to pick us up. It turned out that the train was slower than we anticipated getting to the trailhead, so we were moving a pretty good clip up to the glacier, and then ran all the way back. Missing the train would have meant missing the cruise ship, and we didn't want to be "those people".
Because of the rush, we didn't have time to make it all of the way to the base of the glacier unfortunately. We were probably a quarter mile away. Talking to others (from the early train) who made it all the way, it sounded amazing, but slow-going due to very slippery ice and rocks as you approached it. It would definitely be worth going again, but if you want the freedom to approach the glacier on your own terms, don't join a tour group. That will just slow you down and restrict you.
The trail is incredibly well-maintained and meanders through an old-growth rainforest with more varieties of mushrooms than I've ever seen. As you approach the glacier the trail becomes a rocky riverbed, then a boulder field before the ice edge. It's a dangerous place in the spring/summer, so entering ice caves isn't a smart idea. I wish we'd had the option of deciding ourselves, but didn't make it that far. Next time!
