Carcross

Carcross has quite the history. This small Tlingit and Tagish First Nations community became a boomtown during the Klondike gold rush, acting as a stopover and supply center for prospectors hoping to strike gold in the Yukon. As the gold rush waned, the White Pass Railway connected the small town to Skagway, Alaska, instantly making it a major transportation hub. 
In more recent years, Carcross has reinvented itself as a tourism destination, celebrating stunning wilderness, aboriginal culture and its gold rush past. Situated on Nares and Bennett Lakes, the area is naturally stunning. Caribou still roam the nearby hills, and the Bennett Train Journey on the White Pass Railway, now considered the “Scenic Railway of the World” is back up and running. The Caribou Hotel is now a Yukon Historic Site and the Matthew Watson General Store, located along the town’s main street, is the oldest operating store in the Yukon. Nearby Montana Mountain was recently named a global mountain bike destination, and the same area is renowned for its 4x4 off-road tours.  One of the more surprising attractions is the Carcross Desert. It’s the world’s smallest, measuring only 640 acres, but locals use its steep dunes for sand boarding. There are also several companies that run off-road ATV tours in the area and a small network of hiking trails that explore this Yukon anomaly.

Practical Info

Carcross is on the Klondike Highway, 46 miles (74 km) south of Whitehorse and 68 miles (110 km) north of Skagway, Alaska.