Carcross Desert

Hi Blog!

On our road trip from Whitehorse to Skagway, we made a stop at the Carcross Desert. Now, most of the tourists stop, get our of their cars, take a photo of the sign and then continue on their way. Not us! If there are sand dunes out there, then we are going to climb them. But first, we stopped and took a picture of the sign.

While the Carcross Desert is commonly referred to as a desert, it is actually a series of northern sand dunes. The area's climate is too humid to be considered a true desert. The sand was formed during the last glacial period, when large glacial lakes formed and deposited silt. When the lakes dried, the dunes were left behind. Today, sand comes mainly from nearby Bennett Lake, carried by wind. The dunes contain a wide variety of plants.

While the vegetation in the area currently locks much of the dune system in place, a large event such as a forest fire could easily clear out the vegetation and return the dunes to an active state. The dune at the base of the mountain is our destination. It is hard to tell from this photo, but we'll have about 300 feet of sandy elevation gain. We left a couple of people in the photo for perspective.

After reaching the summit of the dune, we looked down onto a verdant valley on the far side of the highest dune. The sheer drop off is almost vertical. As we stood on top of the dune, we looked over 300 foot lodge pole pine trees to the mountain beyond.

As we turned back to the trailhead, we coul see Tagish Lake in the distance.

White Pass is up there somewhere.

Hiking up sandy dunes is hungry work. Time to head to Carcross for lunch. Stay tuned as we continue our adventure down the South Klondike Highway!