South Klondike Highway

Hi Blog!

The Yukon town of Whitehorse is within easy driving distance of Skagway, Alaska. We decided to leave our rig in Whitehorse and just drive our truck down and back the South Klondike Highway to Skagway. Using the mile-by-mile guide in The Milepost, we planned numerous stops along the way. The 2-1/2 hour drive took us about 7 hours. Our first stop: The Robinson Roadhouse.

The White Pass & Yukon Route railway was completed from Skagway to Whitehorse in 1900. A parallel track was built in the rail line here at Robinson to allow trains to pass one another. Robinson siding was a designated “flag station” where the train stopped on an as-need or request basis. During the 1906 Wheaton gold rush, a railway box car was parked at Robinson to accommodate waiting passengers. It was a popular stop on route to the Yukon River. Later, the roadhouse included a log cabin lodge, a saloon and three tents. The roadhouse started to grow quickly and in 1906 there was talk of turning the roadhouse into a townsite. However, the gold strike ended and so did Robinson.

After leaving Robinson Roadhouse, we got our first look at the coastal mountains.

We made several more stops: Emerald Lake, Caribou Crossing Trading Post, Carcross Desert, and the town of Carcross. We had so much fun and took so many pictures, we decided to do separate blogs posts about each of them. After lunch in Carcross at Caribou Coffee (which was awesome) we got back on the road, and our next stop was the Bove Island View Point on Tagish Lake.

Tagish Lake is named for the Tagish people. Tagish means fish trap in the old Tagish language, an Athabascan language. Tagish lies in the path of migratory swans that come every spring to wait out the melting of the more Northern Lakes. It has two arms, the Taku Arm in the east which is very long and mostly in British Columbia and Windy Arm in the west, mostly in Yukon. The Klondike Highway runs along Windy Arm south of Carcross. Bennett Lake flows into Tagish Lake, so the northern portion of Tagish Lake was part of the route to the Klondike used by gold-seekers during the Klondike Gold Rush.

We found it interesting that the Canadian Border Services and the U.S. Border Services were miles apart. The Canadians set up their checkpoint in Fraser (mile 22.5 from Skagway), while the U.S. doesn't have its checkpoint until your near Skaway (mile 6.8). The actual border is up in no-man's land at the top of White Pass (mile 14.7), and in fact we spent part of a day hiking in Tormented Valley, just below the pass - you can learn more about that in our blog entry on Tormented Valley.

There is a large pullout at the summit which gave us great views of International Falls.

As we began our descent into the Skagway Valley, we got our first look at the Sawtooth Mountains.

There are a number of pullouts with "histerical" markers. We tried to hit each and every one, but we decided to leave a few for the ride back to Whitehorse. We did stop for a look at the Old Brackett Wagon Road. George A. Brackett began building his Brackett Wagon Road in November of 1897 and by March of 1898, the toll road was open and spanned 10-miles up the valley to White Pass City. The road was very popular with packers as it was a vast improvement over the miserable White Pass Trail of 1897. However, as the railroad began laying track up White Pass, Brackett sold his road in June of 1898 to the railroad for $100,000. Just as we were looking across the Skagway Valley trying to find the Old Brackett Wagon Road, we heard a train whistle. We were able to catch the engine just as it was crossing a trestle over a waterfall.

Built in 1898 during the Klondike Gold Rush, this narrow gauge railroad is an International Historic Civil Engineering Landmark, a designation shared with the Panama Canal, the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty. The 110 mile White Pass & Yukon Railroad was completed with the driving of the golden spike on July 29, 1900 in Carcross, Yukon connecting the deep water port of Skagway Alaska to Whitehorse Yukon and beyond to northwest Canada and interior Alaska. The WP&YR suspended operations in 1982 when Yukon’s mining industry collapsed due to low mineral prices. The railway was reopened in 1988 as a seasonal tourism operation and served 37,000 passengers. Today, the WP&YR is Alaska’s most popular shore excursion carrying over 390,000 passengers operating on the first 67.5 miles (Skagway, Alaska to Carcross, Yukon) of the original 110 mile line.

We arrived in Skagway in later afternoon - just in time to check in and get to the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park Visitor's Center. We picked up lots of great ideas for things to see and do. There will definitely be more blogs posts to come.

On Thursday, June 2, 2016, we began our drive back up from Skagway to Whitehorse. There were a few stops we missed on the way down. When we first passed Bridal Veil Falls, the entire pullout was covered in bicycles. Apparently, when folks get off the cruise ships, they can arrange a bike tour of the Skagway Valley. The tourists are driven up the valley in a big van, then given bikes to pedal themselves back to town. We decided to wait until our drive back up to take our photo sans bike tour.

The Yukon Suspension Bridge at Tutshi (pronounced TOO-shy) Canyon is located on the South Klondike Highway, just a few miles north of the White Pass summit.

The bridge was erected using galvanized steel cables, and required a helicopter to install the far side towers before it could be suspended over the river. This costly method was the only way to get the cables across because the other side of the canyon was completely inaccessible. Design of the interpretive areas and main building are done entirely in wood, since concrete is not available in these remote conditions where temperatures during winter reach -36.4° Fahrenheit.

The Tutshi River is a small, technical white-water river. Here is how local guides describe a trip down the Tutshi River.

The trip starts with a series of small lakes leading to the headwaters of the river. The gentle river quickly disappears, as does the horizon line and you enter the heart of the canyon. The Tutshi Canyon is fast, generally grade III, with a grade IV drop known as the Nozzle. Below the canyon you have to paddle a section known as “The Drops,” which is a series of grade IV and V rapids, with flat pools at the bottom. The Tutshi is one exciting ride, but it is not for everybody. It is hard to stop in the canyon, and “The Drops” are steep.

No thanks. I think we'll just watch from the bridge. Here is the Tutshi River as it comes rushing down from White Pass.

The mountains around Tagish Lake saw a number of mining operations.  We were enchanted with this mountain because of its gorgeous red-orange rocks and soil, contrasting with the greens of trees on its lower slopes:

A mining town of about 300 people known as Conrad City sprang up along the Windy Arm of Tagish Lake. An aerial tramway was built from the town up to the side of Montana Mountain. Venus Mill proved uneconomical and was closed in 1911. However, the base of the tramway can still be seen.

Just as we were approaching the pullout for the Bove Island viewpoint. We saw several vehicles pulled off to the side of the road. At first we thought the parking lot for the viewpoint must be filled, or perhaps someone was rear-ended trying to turn into the parking area. After slowing down and speculating what could be the hold-up, we decided to pass them. Looking at the smiles on everyone's faces, we figured it probably wasn't an accident. It was a BEAR JAM!

We never knew that black bears love dandelions. However, they hate big white noisy trucks. As soon as Great White rolled by, one of the little guys took off for the woods.  That's his little bear butt exiting stage left, while his brother and Mama continue to scrutinize us cautiously:

Just a footnote to anyone traveling down the South Klondike to Skagway. When you come back up, you have to go through Canadian Customs. The border crossing is very small. There is one small lane for cars and one lane for trucks and RVs. They routinely inspect the trucks; since Skagway has loads of foreign tourists, the chance for smuggling is high. The RVs had to wait behind the trucks being inspected. Great White just made it through the car port. We did have to take our CB antennas off, but we made it with inches to spare!