Tripping with MikenJudy 2012: Watson Lake, YT to Whitehorse, YT

Sorry for the time lag - but Wi-Fi availability has been terrible

Leaving Watson Lake the night was spent at Johnson’s Crossing. We temporarily went south on the Klondike Highway to Skagway, Alaska, taking a short break at Carcross, YT on the way.

Carcross is a shortened form of Caribou Crossing, a place used by the Indians (you guessed it) for caribou hunting. During the gold rush after the railroad was built, it became a supply center for riverboats supplying the surrounding lakes.

We then continued south going through customs, crossing the foggy and cloudy mountain pass in 40° weather. You could barely see five feet in front of the truck for several miles. They have over-head markers showing both edges of the road. We finally arrived in Skagway that has a population of 968 and is located at the northernmost point on the Inside Passage, in southeast Alaska. The population booms from May through September with two to three cruise ships arriving every day. The city is transformed from a picturesque sleepy historic gold rush town into a Mecca for tourists. You can ride the historic White Pass and Yukon narrow gauge railroad that was completed in 1902. It climbs 3,000 feet in 20 miles and you can see glaciers, gorges, waterfalls, tunnels and wooden trestles. We rode the train in 2004.

Next stop was Whitehorse, the capital of the Yukon. The city is home to some of the most spectacular scenery in Canada. Named the Wilderness City, Whitehorse is nestled on the banks of the famous Yukon River surrounded by mountains and pristine lakes. We took a walking tour of the S.S. Klondike. Since it was Canada Day, the tour was gratis. How nice! The S.S. Klondike National Historic Site represents an era of riverboat transportation. The sternwheeler brought the world to the Yukon. It was built in Whitehorse in 1929 by the British Yukon Navigation Company and operated with 250 other river boats until 1952 as a cargo vessel. It was then refurbished as a cruise ship and operated until 1955.

On the way home we drove to see Miles Canyon, which we have seen before and it is still beautiful.