South to Alaska
Today we started the last part of our vacation … a trip into Alaska. We left Whitehorse at 9:30am for the drive to Skagway along the South Klondike Highway. Google Maps said it should take over two hours but we already knew it was going to take longer based on the number of stops we had planned.
Our first stop was Emerald Lake which is known for its intense green water. When we arrived, there were clouds and that made the lake look dull and muted. We sat in the car and tried to wait out the clouds. We saw on the map that there was a road that appeared to run alongside the lake. We thought let’s go down there to get a different perspective. When we got down there, the road actually ran into the lake. And before you ask, NO .. we did not drive into the lake. As we were walking back to the car, the sun broke through the clouds and so we back to the original pullout and got the photos we wanted.
From there, we continued to Carcross Desert. It is often called the world’s smallest desert but it is actually a series of sand dunes. Karen and I walked out a little ways before heading back to the car.
It was less than a five minute drive to Carcross which is short for Caribou Crossing. It is the home of the Carcross/Tagish First Nation. We parked at Carcross Commons and walked around the various shops.
We crossed the railroad tracks and headed over to “downtown” Carcross. We went over to Chilkoot Trail Sourdough Bakery for lunch and while we were there, we struck up a conversation with a woman named Brenda who lives in Carcross. When she learned that we were headed to Haines, she gave us a list of places where we might see bears. It always pays to stop to talk to the locals. We made a detour to Bennett Beach Lookout before heading back.
As we headed into one of the shops, we saw the White Pass Scenic Railway pull into Carcross. We took this train back in 2011 with Nana and Papa when we did an Alaskan cruise. Before the train heads back to Skagway, the locomotive gets turned around.
We got back on the South Klondike Highway and made many more stops like at the Yukon / British Columbia border, Fraser Lookout and the Welcome to Alaska sign. At some point, we changed time zones and gained an hour.
We arrived at the Holland America Skagway Inn ($272.15 CAD / night not including taxes and fees) around 4:30pm. So in total it took us eight hours to get here. We got checked in and headed downtown to check out the shops. Many of them were closing early today because of the summer solstice party. Even though there were three cruise ships in port, the town was not busy at all. We drove over to Skagway Fish Company where we enjoyed some Alaskan Halibut and Chips for supper. There is nothing quite like having fresh fish.
Afterwards we drove up to the Skagway Lookout for its great view of the town. We headed back and went to the Elks Summer Solstice Party. There was live entertainment along with food vendors. We knew we were not going to make it to 12;24am so it was back to the hotel to call it a day.
