Two summers ago, we were fortunate enough to take an Alaskan cruise. We sailed on the Disney Wonder, leaving from Vancouver, British Columbia. To date, it has been one of our favorite vacations. The cruise sailed to Dawes Glacier, Skagway, Juneau, and Ketchikan. In each port, we did some fantastic adventures, but by far our favorite was the Yukon Discovery and Sled Dog Excursion.
In researching excursions for this trip, I found it was a better deal to book directly with a tour company, rather than through the cruise line. There was a significant price difference, and we traveled with a smaller group. I did my research and ended up using Frontier Excursions and Adventures. We were not disappointed. Our driver met us at the dock and escorted us to a minibus. There were a total of 12 people on the bus. It was perfect. Our guide handed us a map of the road we would be traveling and a list of points of interest we would see along the way. We would be following the Klondike Highway, all the way to Emerald Lake. The road passes through three different provinces/states (Alaska, British Columbia, and Yukon). We traveled from Skagway, drove over the White Pass, went alongside the White Pass and Yukon Railway, drove by lakes, mountains, waterfalls, wildlife, and more. We drove through the rain forest, the tundra, and a desert. We made several stops along the way for photos.
The White Pass Summit is located at the U.S./Canadian border. Our guide pulled over (on our way back to Skagway) and took a photo of each family in front of the Welcome to Alaska sign.
At about mile 15, we crossed the border into British Columbia, Canada, and the landscape changed drastically. This area is known as the Tormented Valley. It is unique, and our guide pointed out that it looked lunar.
As we continued, the road took us around Tutshi Lake for almost 10 miles.
At around mile 50 we crossed over into the Yukon. Once in the Yukon, we drove along Windy Arm, which is part of Tagish Lake. We stopped for photos at Bove Island Viewpoint.
After about 2 hours we made it Emerald Lake. Emerald Lake is the most photographed lake in the Yukon. It is affectionately called the jewel of the Yukon. It was gorgeous. The bluish-green waters are the result of light reflecting off layers of marl (a mixture of calcium carbonate and clay) at the bottom of the lake.
After our visit to Emerald Lake, we headed back down to Skagway. However, we still had a few more places to visit. First, we stopped at Caribou Crossing Trading Post. Caribou Crossing is a great place to visit, have a delicious BBQ lunch, take a dog sled ride, pan for gold and more. Dog sledding was the highlight of the day for this dog loving family.
We enjoyed a delicious BBQ lunch, along with the famous grandma’s donuts. After lunch, we were escorted over to attend a Sled Dog 101 presentation. We learned about the history of dog sledding, the athletes and even met a dog or two.
Then we were off to experience our own dog sled ride!
It was a bumpy, but fun ride. These dogs are eager to please and work extremely hard. The ride lasted approximately 15 minutes. Once done, we had a little bit of free time and wandered the property. We played with some puppies and took in the sites. Bill and I spoke to a gentleman about his life in the Yukon. He had moved here from Calgary and loved every moment of it.
Our second stop on the way back to Skagway, was the smallest desert in the world, Carcross Desert. It actually isn’t a desert, but the bed of a glacial lake. It is approximately 1 square mile.
After leaving the desert, we stopped at one of many waterfalls and filled our water bottles up with fresh, cold spring water.
Our last stop before heading back to the ship, the Welcome to Alaska sign of course!
Overall, the journey lasted about 6 hours. Our guide was terrific, and we had great people in our group. I highly recommend Frontier Excursions and Adventures.
