Klondike Highway

The road from Skagway to Carcross, 106 km (66 mi.) away, is passable all year round. Situated 40 km (25 mi.) south of Whitehorse on Bennett Lake, Carcross, where time seems to stand still, was such an important place at the turn of the century, but now has a very small population. The first people to live there were Indians who hunted around this area. They named the place "Caribou Crossing" and the abbreviated version of this was later adopted by the gold-prospectors.The Caribou Hotel, built in 1898 and renovated in 1909 is the oldest hotel still trading in the Yukon. Visitors can see S.S. "Tutsi", an old paddlesteamer, and the "Duchess", a tiny locomotive that traveled the line from Taku to Atlin Lake early this century. Matthew Watson's General Store was built in 1911, and the Watson family still ran it until quite recently.

Takhini Hot Springs, at the 198 km mark (123 mi.), is a good place for a swim, with temperatures of 36°C (97°F).The area offers some nice scenery with the surrounding mountains and also has an on site café. The Takhini Hot Springs Retreat Centre offers some accommodations and other facilities.

Braeburn Lodge, famous for its food, at 281 km (189 mi.), is worth making the next stop.The lodge is located about an hours drive from Whitehorse and is part of the Trans-Canada Trail System. The Yukon Quest sled dog races also stop here each year.

Carmacks, after 357 km (222 mi.), named after George Washington Carmack one of the three discoverers of the Klondike gold, is a place to stop for services. Most of the people living here are descendants of the original Indian inhabitants.Just north of Carmacks the Campbell Highway forks east to Watson Lake on the Alaska Highway, passing through Faro and Ross River.

Five Finger Rapids, where the prospectors had to haul their boats through on ropes, are at 381 km (237 mi.).

At Minto (431 km (268 mi.)), another trading post set up by Robert Campbell for the Hudson's Bay Company, the Klondike Highway leaves the Yukon River to cross the central Yukon Plateau and the valleys of the Pelly and Steward rivers.

At Stewart Crossing (538 km (334 mi.)), the last services for 140 km (87 mi.), the Silver Trail branches north-east to Mayo, Elsa and Keno in the silver-mining territory around the upper Stewart River.

Today most of the silver is mined in the United Keno Hill Mine at Elsa, and the ore shipped to Mayo, an Indian township about 46 km (29 mi.) south. Keno City, in a lovely setting at the foot of the Keno Mountain (1889 m (6170 ft)) is pretty much a ghost town, since mining here has long since been abandoned.