The Golden Circle Route - Whitehorse - Skagway - Haines - Haines Junction

Alaska is a place that conjures up visions of remoteness, wilderness and adventure. My first exposure to Alaska was watching Eric Hjorleifson in Matchstick and TGR ski movies in the early 2000's. I would spend hours pouring over Powder and Skier imagining myself skiing the huge spines and deep powder in the Chugatch and Alaska Ranges. The names of Alaska heli-ski operations and mountain ranges have been a part of my vocabulary for years. Later, I revisited Alaska through Jon Krakauer's literature, "The Call of the Wild," and "Eiger Dreams" and the desire to visit this mystical place grew stronger. It was only natural to take advantage of my proximity to the border this summer to go see Alaska for myself! With limited time, we were only able to scratch the surface of this massive state, and it left an even deeper desire to return and explore (hopefully with my skis!).

Made it to Alaska!

Kyle arrived in Whitehorse for a whirlwind trip, in typical Jenny planning fashion. Our Alaska road trip was only one part of the visit which also included exploring Whitehorse and a bike trip to Carcross. I had created an itinerary to drive the "Golden Circle Route," from Whitehorse to Skagway, Haines, Haines Junction and back to Whitehorse in a weekend. This involved 600 km of driving, 2 border crossings, 2 time zones, 2 breweries, 2 mountain passes, a hike, a ferry, a desert, and a scenic flight! In order to fit in everything, I had to leave straight from work on Friday evening. There was no time to spare! Well, actually we stopped for some sushi in Whitehorse before hitting the road. We were on vacation after all.

Kyle in the Carcross Desert

Fortunately for us, the Yukon daylight hours are long in late July. We started the trip in Whitehorse, driving south on Highway 2 towards Skagway, Alaska. Our first stop was at the Carcross Desert, a one mile by one mile area of glacial sediment that looks very out of place in the surrounding boreal forests and mountains. It is considered the "worlds smallest desert" which sounds cheesy but it was actually pretty cool and worth a visit.

Yukon desert, the worlds smallest desert!

We drove through Carcross and continued south towards the USA border. The further south we went, the bigger the mountains and more rugged the terrain became. We drove through White Pass which runs parallel to the Chilkoot Trail from the Klondike Gold Rush one valley to the west. We left the Yukon and drove through a small sliver of Northern BC before arriving at the USA border. This blew Kyle's mind!

Open roads on the way to Alaska

Nares Lake

Scenic views through White Pass

White Pass somewhere between BC and Alaska

Yay Alaska!

Thanks to a time zone that I didn't realize existed until this trip, we arrived in Skagway at 9 pm. Hooray for Alaska time! We checked into our Bed and Breakfast then wandered the downtown area of historic Skagway before grabbing a beer at the Skagway Brewing Company. Spruce tip beers seem very popular in the North so we made an effort to sample one at each destination.

Late night in Skagway

Skagway shops at 11 pm - this photo was taken for John!

We stayed at the Historic Skagway Inn, an old brothel from the gold rush times. It was a unique place, but we were a bit disappointed by the tiny breakfast portions. It wasn't cheap either. We opted for a second breakfast at a cafe that we ate as we investigated town by day. Two huge cruise ships docked in the harbor and as shops started to open, the streets were flooded with cruise ship people wandering around aimlessly buying tourist things.

Cruise ships in the Skagway port

I had booked the fast ferry from Skagway to Haines that was departing at 11 am. We were able to check in early then drive back to the main drag for more people watching. When we returned to the ferry dock, we basked in the sunshine and watched scores of helicopters zipping around the fjord on scenic tours.

The ferry arrived a few minutes behind schedule. The booking had been very specific about the length of our vehicle and we soon discovered why. The ferry comes up from Juneau where vehicles can drive on from the back of the ship, however the docks in Skagway and Haines only allow for boarding and disembarking from the door on the side of the ship. The cars that boarded in Juneau are loaded so that they can drive off forwards, but all the large vehicles that load in the other ports have to reverse onto the ferry so that they can get off. The parking staff are able to provide direction and guidance to the drivers but they don't park your motor home for you. We watched in agony as an older gentleman struggled to reverse his massive 5th wheel onto the ferry while his wife filmed the whole thing. It took about 45 mins and will probably be a story that they will tell forever. So, be warned, boarding can be a slow process. Don't count on getting anywhere on time! We were about an hour behind schedule. Fortunately, everyone was loaded on in such a way that disembarking in Haines was mostly painless.

The fast ferry to Haines

Challenges backing onto the ferry

Looking back down the fjord to Skagway

The ferry covers the ~20 km down the Taiya Inlet in 45 mins. It was a beautiful cruise and we had views of huge waterfalls, high alpine glaciers and bright green/blue ocean. We had our eyes scanning the horizon and although we didn't see any whales, we did see a number of bald eagles, especially as we approached Haines which is one of the world's bald eagle capitals.

Ferry views

Haines is a small fishing village that is totally opposite from the bustling cruise ship port of Skagway. It was quiet and low key. We grabbed some overpriced fish and chips for lunch then went for a short hike out to Battery Point to stretch the legs. Following the hike, we checked out the Haines Distillery and sampled their spirits on a beautiful deck overlooking the ocean and mountains. We wandered through first nations art galleries and of course had to try a spruce tip ale at the local brewery. Unfortunately we had a tight timeline and had a 240 km drive to Haines Junction that night so we couldn't linger. Being a small town, no restaurants were open in the afternoon so we waited until 5 pm to grab a bite to eat before hitting the road. We went to the Haines Bakery, which actually is a Thai Restaurant (as well as Mexican, American, a coffee shop and bakery!). We had a delicious and authentic Thai meal cooked by a Thai woman and her mother, then stocked up on some baked goods for the road. One thing that was a bit surprising about Alaska was how expensive everything was! As soon as we got back to the Yukon, prices dropped.

Haines Battery Point trail

Haines shoreline

Visiting the brewery

The drive between Haines AK and Haines Junction (Yukon) is gorgeous. We drove beside the Chilkat River and up into the mountains of the St. Elias Range (which contains Mount St Elias in Alaska and Mount Logan in the Yukon) following the Haines Highway. There is some amazing terrain up in the mountains that looked perfect for ski touring.

Chilkat River likely full of salmon at this time of year

Views from the Haines Highway

We arrived in Haines Junction just after 9 to check into our Air B&B at Mount Logan Lodge. I had booked an old miners cabin for the night, which was beautiful self-contained room complete with a wood stove, Coleman stove and outhouse. The main lodge had a number of guestrooms and a big kitchen, dining area and living room for guests to enjoy. They also had a hot tub on the deck with views of Kluane National Park! The lodge has recently been purchased by a couple that were very friendly and accommodating. They told us about the time they had spent living off the grid in a school bus, which is now one of their rental units on the property! I wish we could have stayed longer.

Our "miners cabin" at Mt. Logan Lodge

Awesome little cabin

Cabin sunset

Views out to Kluane National Park

The next morning our hosts were up early to make us breakfast because we had a scenic flight over Kluane park planned for 8 am. It was a 15 minute drive to the tiny airstrip where we met our pilot and piled into the plane with one other passenger who turned out to be a guy I had met in Whitehorse a few weeks earlier. Kluane National Park is a remote mountain park in the St. Elias Range. It contains Mount Logan, the tallest mountain in Canada (5959 m) and a massif with the largest base circumference of any mountain in the world! Our pilot flew us deep into the park, pointing out mountain peaks, glaciers and rivers. The park is very difficult to access and only a limited number of people are granted access at any given time. Those who want to climb Mount Logan often have to fly into the park, then ski up to 100 km to reach the base before they start to climb. We caught a glimpse of Mount Logan off in the distance at the furthest point in our flight. It was still a few hundred kilometers away but it looked so big it could have been right beside us!

Smallest plane I've ever been on!

Big glaciers in Kluane

Watching glacial moraines form in real time

Kilometers of glacier flowing down the valleys

Huge mountain peaks!

Mount Logan looks so close but in reality it is very far off in the distance

We couldn't stop staring out the windows

Scenic flight crew!

Colourful bands of rock

Massive crevasses 

Beautiful big lines out the window

Steep couloirs!

More glaciers and crevasses

Crevasse field and icefall

Glacier calving into the lake

Beautiful colours on the way out of the park

Coming in for a landing

The flight itself was only 75 minutes long but it felt like we had just visited another planet. We were both awestruck by the huge glaciers, mountain peaks and icefields. Kluane contains the largest non-polar icecap in the world and the ice can be over a kilometer thick in places! It was gorgeous. 

For the remainder of the day, we decided to hike up to the King's Throne, a mountain above Kathleen Lake on the edge of Kluane Park. We stocked up on sandwiches, snacks and coffee at Village Bakery, a cute little spot nestled just off the highway in Haines Junction. The hike to the "King's Throne" was a steep and direct trail (550 m elevation, 5 km one way) and we were at the turn-around after only an hour of hiking. Feeling a bit ripped off, we decided to continue up to the summit which added an extra 900 m of elevation and 8 km return. This gave us epic views deep into the park as well as over the lake.

Kings Throne in Kluane National Park

Hiking fun!

Kathleen Lake view from the ridge below the Kings Throne summit

We finished off the Golden Circle by driving back to Whitehorse, stopping for dinner with Kyle's friend on the way home. We somehow managed to pack it all in and still have a nice mini-vacation! As I said before, we had only scratched the surface of Alaska by visiting a tiny corner. We will save the rest for next trip!