The original plan at this point was to work our way south to Skagway, AK, be there in time to board our AMHS (Alaska Marine Highway System) ship, and sail back to the lower 48. We had purchased our tickets several months earlier on our way north with a departure date of 16 September. But we had almost 2 weeks left and agreed we didn’t want to spend anymore time in Skagway than needed. Across the summer, we’d heard repeatedly how beautiful the drive was on the Haines Highway south from Haines Junction. Why not? Our new plan was to stop 2 days in Carmacks, YT (population 588) on the route south to Whitehorse, where we would spend a week taking care of some vehicle maintenance and errands. Then finally, we would drive 246 miles to Haines, AK (population 1,657) and complete our 2024 Alaska and Northwest Canada trip. Time to execute the new plan!
Carmacks, YT
It was 222 miles to Carmacks. Most of the roadway passed through thick boreal forests carpeting the rolling hills, mountains, and Yukon River Valley. The weather was partly sunny, which made for some great pictures. We also enjoyed seeing a little autumn color in the leaves on the deciduous trees.
In June, when we were previously in Whitehorse on our way north, 45 miles of the Yukon Highway had been closed from June through August from Stewart to Pelling Crossing, YK. Two wildfires had caused the closure. Combined, the Wrong Lake and Willow Creek fires had burned 18,719 acres. We drove past the scars.
We chose to stop in Carmacks because it had the only full-hookup campground between Dawson City and Whitehorse, and it was a comfortable driving leg for MFI. We were one of only a few campers at Hotel Carmacks & RV Park.
That first evening, we walked across the hotel parking lot to have dinner and a glass of wine at the Gold Panner Restaurant. Neither the food nor the wine were particular remarkable, but the place was clean, the service was good, and we were two of only five diners. The wall finish was the inner side of the logs used to construct the building. Over the years, visiting occupants from across the world had carved their names and all manner of other graffiti into the exosed logs. This made for interesting reading and conversation, but we left no trace of our having been there. On the morning we hit the road, we ate a big breakfast at the Sunshine Restaurant (and Post Office). In general, we’ve found it’s hard to ruin a basic breakfast meal, and this place confirmed our experience.
From our campground next morning, I hopped on a two-trail loop, both of which were part of the Trans Canada Trail network: Carmacks Boardwalk along the Yukon River and Ridge Run Trail along the Nordenskiold River. At the end of the boardwalk, there were two historic buildings with interpretive displays. The first was a cabin built by prospector, Orloff King, in the 1920’s. While King never struck it rich and died mysteriously on Mount Nansen, he was part of the many prospectors who helped explore and develop one of Canada’s mineral-rich regions. The second building was the 1902 Carmacks Roadhouse, one of may built between Whitehorse and Dawson City during construction of the road connecting these cities. Roadhouses were built about every 30 miles for the purposes of providing workers and travelers a change of horses, hot meals, and beds. The Village of Carmacks owned the 12-room roadhouse and restored it for guided educational tours.
The remainder of the loop was very picturesque. After leaving the cliffs above the river, the trail led me through the local cemetery and decended past the elementary school. From the cemetery, I could hear children singing Happy Birthday to one of their classmates at a party being thrown in the school playground. It was an unintentional life and death moment (rim shot).
Prior to leaving Carmacks, we drove to the north edge of town to check out the eats at a food truck and liquor store we’d passed on our way in to town the day before. The signs on both facilities read OPEN; however, the food truck wasn’t serving yet, and the liquor store was opened only upon request. We did need some wine, so they opened for us. The whole situation had a weird vibe about it. I thought this hand-written sign hanging near the door explained the experience perfectly.
Whitehorse, YT
The drive to Whitehorse was a mere 113 miles and continued winding through the Yukon River Valley south until intersecting with the Alaska Highway 5 miles northwest of Whitehorse. The scenery was similar to what we had enjoyed since departing Dawson City.
Having thoroughly enjoyed our first visit to Whitehorse, we stayed a week. This time we opted for a full hook-up, pull-thru spot at Hi Country RV Park at the south end of town. MFI had ordered new Mopeka® propane tank level sensors and had them mailed to our maintenance heroes at Fraserway RV, plus, we wanted to know if they could possibly fit us in for an oven repair. They couldn’t do the repair but were happy to act as our mailing address for the sensors, if and when they showed up. We scheduled a front-end alignment at KAL Tire, because of the beating Sid took on the Dempster. To our surprise and dismay, they couldn’t perform the alignment until all four tires were replaced due to excessive tread wear ($$$). We bought new super tread, reinforced sidewall tires, which we called our “Alaska Tires.” Surprisingly, Sid’s alignment was fine.
We went to Jiffy Lube® for an oil change, got new wiper blades, and treated oursleves to coffee and donut bits at the Tim Horton’s across the parking lot. Timmy’s has always been our Starbucks® substitute while traveling in Canada. They made a better than average dark roast, and we liked the style and diversity of the artwork decorating their cafes. Of course, this didn’t stop us from returning multiple times to Midnight Sun Coffee Roasters, our favorite place in town. We often treated ourselves to one of their daily recommended baked goods, such as the fanned, sliced apple thingy pictured below. We chilled, relaxed, and recharged before heading to Haines. And BTW, the Mopeka® sensors didn’t showed up before we left.
Haines, AK
We had already driven the Alaska Highway from Whitehorse to Haines Junction on our way north in June. I took a few more pictures of the scenery along this route but had nothing new to add here. However, the scenery along the remaining 150 miles to Haines was absolutely as beautiful as people claimed.
We camped at the family-owned and operated Haines Hitch-up RV Park This park was extremely well landscaped, spotlessly cleaned and maintained throughout, staffed by caring and attentive personnel, and ranked among our top-3 campground facilities over the last 5 years.
Because we accomplished a lot during our 5 days in Haines, it required and deserved a separate blog.
