Alaska RV Tour – Skagway to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory

We left Skagway the morning of July 6th the same way we came in, traveling the Klondike Highway up and over the Coast Mountains.

It was very foggy when we left Skagway and, once again, we drove our RVs separately instead of in a caravan. This way, folks could go up that mountain as slowly or as quickly as they wished (or their RV could handle), and could also cross the border without creating a traffic jam.

That fog was like pea-soup and I told Lynda I was glad it had not been like that when we came down the mountain into Skagway… it would be a lot worse driving in that fog going down a steep road than coming up! 

Our group met at the Carcross Vistor Center parking lot, formed a caravan once more, and then we went on to our lunch stop at the Caribou Crossing Trading Post just a few miles outside Carcross. This place turned out to be well worth the stop!

After we ate lunch, we had plenty of time to roam around and enjoy the Wildlife Museum, play with some Alaskan Husky puppies, and learn more about the Iditarod race. Lynda and I were so impressed with the Wildlife Museum! There are animals on display there that surpass anything I’ve seen in major museums in the lower 48! Unfortunately, we did not have the camera with us but you can visit the Caribou Crossing Trading Post web site and look at some photos there. We also had fun playing with some puppies and we watched a taped interview with Michelle Phillips in which she talked about mushing, the Yukon Quest and the Iditarod.

All in all, the Caribou Crossing Trading Post was a very pleasant afternoon stop! Then our caravan hit the road again, heading to Whitehorse with just one more stop on the agenda: a place called Emerald Lake.

Emerald Lake has an intense green color which is attributed to light reflecting off white deposits of marl, a mixture of clay and calcium carbonate, at the bottom of this shallow lake. The high level of calcium carbonate found here is the result of deposits from glacial erosion. Emerald Lake proved to be gorgeous and well-worth the stop!

As we approached Whitehorse, Lynda and I decided we needed to stock up on some groceries and so we let Spike and Herb know we would be bypassing the Pioneer RV Park to head straight into town to do some shopping. We found the Wal-Mart pretty easily (thanks to the GPS) and got our shopping done.

We were amazed at the large number of RVs that were in the Wal-Mart parking lot! These folks had their awnings and camp chairs out, their grills set up… the whole works! It was evident that several had been there for a while. The Whitehorse Wal-Mart is the only place we’ve seen this so far.  Sure, many RV travelers will overnight at a Wal-Mart on their way somewhere to save money and for the convenience of the shopping – we do this quite often ourselves. But this was the first time we saw people actually camping in a Wal-Mart parking lot. Things are different here, that is for sure! Anyway, we made our way back to the Pioneer RV Park without any trouble and got settled into our spot that Herb set aside for us.

Click here for some photos of our drive from Skagway to Whitehorse.

Here we are in Whitehorse – stay tuned!