Alphen

Internet quality and time is currently preventing a daily update, so please bear with us, if we temporarily pause this review.

Whitehorse to Dawson A very smooth check in in Whitehorse, no security whatsoever! Everything is very small in Whitehorse, so at one moment it is just “would you care to follow us to the airplane please” and walk over to the awaiting ride to Dawson! A bit late in departure, but only a 40 minutes hop or so to Dawson. Weather still great. Our journey guide Will warned us that maybe our rooms would not be ready on arrival, apparently staff shortage is everywhere here. Dawson Arriving in Dawson, it was about 20 minutes to town, where the bus showed us several highlights of the town, straight out of Bonanza it seems. Our rooms were ready, again spacious, large and clean, coffee and tea maker, so no complaints. Also plenty of (USB)outlets to get things charged. There is also a mobile AC unit and a ceiling fan. WiFi only at the lobby, but that is no problem. Weather is gorgeous, warm and sunny, really lucky there. We took a little walk through town, afternoon was already almost gone when we arrived, but we don’t have to be afraid that it is getting dark quickly.

Yes, they are.

Caribou Crossing We headed out to Caribou Crossing around 9. During our 45 minutes bus ride, our journey host Will explained a bit more about the tour ahead and handed out several brochures for the rest of our tour. We headed out over the Alaskan Highway, built around and after WWII and via the Klondike Highway. Will also talked a bit about the Klondike Gold-rush, which apparently was the largest migration not as a result of a war. Our first stop was at Emerald Lake. A beautiful lake that got its colours from corals and lime-secreting algae that are responsible for the beautiful colours, together with the difference in depth. Second stop was the Caribou Crossing Trading Post. Turns out that Carcross is just short for Caribou Crossing! At the Trading post, there was a museum dedicated to the Royal Canadian Mountain Police, an exhibition of stuffed animals (don’t know the right word) a petting zoo with horses, Alpacas, donkey’s and rescued dog puppies and husky puppies. There are also many huskies that are trained as sled dogs and it is possible to take a ride in a motorised vehicle, pulled by dogs, for an extra charge. This particular location was only visited by a HAL tour for the second time, since it is a new vendor this season. After all this, there was a BBQ lunch with chicken, baked potato and coleslaw and cookies for dessert. At 12:30 we headed back for a 50 minute drive to Whitehorse airport for our flight to Dawson. In Dawson we will also be tested for our arrival in Fairbanks Alaska, which will be our next stop. A second (or third if you count the pre tour one), will take place in Anchorage.

Morning routine:

Whitehorse wildlife We had some nice wildlife sightings, at least for us, including some nice beaver shots. There were at least 3 of them. A little bit later, a fellow group guest indicated a family of red foxes in town.

Whitehorse morning stroll. After breakfast we took a stroll along the peace full Yukon, before leaving to Carcross. IMG_3568.MOV

Thanks for the heads up John, we will see if the schedule will leave us room.

Another sunny ☀️ start in Whitehorse. Chilly overnight around nine Celsius, but should get into the lower twenties later. Breakfast was a limited buffet, but sufficient for a start of the day. Luggage should be out in the hallway at 07:45, leaving at 09:10 to Carcross Yukon, to visit Caribou Trading Post to see sled dogs. We are also having (included) lunch there and after that we go to the airport for a short flight to Dawson. Just went outside, already a nice temperature! The bus is from a different group, we are not the only HAL group, there is also a Y4L group. Hotel notifications in the elevator:

Just to be comlete, there is also a microwave, but that was a bit in the back on a shelf 🙂

As a bit of help with general tourist information. Our first hotel in the Yukon, The Sernwheeler in Whitehorse, has much information about this location, but also about other stops in the Yukon, like upcomming Dawson (with usefull citymap) and other locations. We also found a brochure about Skagway in the lobby. Much of these brochures can also be found in restaurants and shops and most probably also in the tourist information here in town.

You are right about the luggage restrictions, which are the restrictions from Air North by the way. Only the checked luggage was weighed, not the carry on luggage. All these number are per guest, not per couple by the way. I have not heard about any other direct forwarding options, sorry about that.

The Sternwheeler Hotel and Conference Center. Some additional information on the facilities in the hotel. The rooms are good, just for one night. The in room Wi-Fi is very good, although we were warned by our journey host Will, that this is an exemption in this tour, so we will see how it works out. Pending good Wi-Fi, this report will maybe continue, otherwise there will be gaps. Hotel room also includes fridge and coffee maker. Diner For dinner, there are loads of dining options in town and in the hotel. We stumbled upon a Chines restaurant, which usually is quick dining and we felt like it, so we went ahead and were not disappointed. Seating was spacious, we are still looking out for distancing and wear masks often. The food was good and plenty, so no complaints there. There were many locals and a large group of Chinese that came in on our flight, so guess not the worst choice for dinner. So far, nobody asked for our test results, so guess that's another CAN$ 160 down the drain. Ah well, better safe than sorry.

Yeah, pretty nice weather, 23 degrees celcius or so! We have looked at other excursions, but we have a full schedule at Denali, so maybe throttle back and take some time either in the Chalet grounds, or with the shuttle to the visitor center.

The Sternwheeler Hotel and Conference Center. After this short tour, we made a stop at the hotel, to see if our room was ready, which it was. We could also see in the lobby, how the SS Klondike looks, with its paddle wheel!

Whitehorse town After visiting the Klondike we slowly made our way through town. In the meantime, we sadly got another cancellation of a tour, this time one during our land portion in Denali, we are bracing ourselves for more. HAL always calls it “cancelled for operational reasons”, but this could be anything. Labor shortages could be a main factor in all of this sadly.

SS Klondike II, Whitehorse Whitehorse is a nice little town, just opening up for tourist season recently, so not everything maybe perfect. We took a stroll to the waterfront and then slowly made our way over the Millennium Trail to the SS Klondike II, the last great paddle wheel, grounded as a museum. Sadly, it is currently being renovated, so only open for 3 tours a day, of which the last one we just missed. The paddle wheel itself is now covered for renovation, so we could only walk around the outside. They did show a sort film about the history of the steamer just next to the site, but we did not see this one. Also I can mention that the Millennium Trail is a nice walk, with several nice views over the river and also some nice photo opportunities.

Vancouver to Whitehorse An uneventful flight took us to Whitehorse in just around two hours. During the flight there were complimentary drinks (nonalcoholic), a sandwich and a warm chocolate chip cookie. The flight was a regular flight, so we were not the only passengers and it looked almost full. Not too bad at all and we were soon in the arrival hall of the small airfield of Whitehorse. In the hall we were greeted by our host Will and we soon got our luggage tagged and given to the crew that took care of it, delivering it to outside our hotel room. A short ride got us to the Sternwheeler Hotel and Conference center (not HAL owned, like the Westmark’s), but our rooms were not ready, so we could easily go into town, while rooms and luggage were sorted out.

And welcome to Whitehorse it is!

We are on our way;

Hmm, that looks familiar……🤔

Vancouver Airport cont. Just went through check in and security, security around nine AM was about 15 minutes, but be advised, this is domestic, Canada! looks like everything going smoothly so far, at check in they only checked our vaccinations, nothing else.

We are currently in our room, check in is about 3 hours away, but we will make sure we are in time to encounter these lines.

Vancouver Airport Food options for either dinner or breakfast the following morning, were not included, but could be either in the hotel or in several options on the airport. We have chosen for the breakfast plan in our land portion, but that will start tomorrow in Whitehorse. For lunch and dinner, we saw enough options with either included on some occasions, or during an excursion. For the rest we will look in the area. On the airport there are options like Starbucks, Wendy’s, Subway, Tim Hortons, A&W and Pajo’s. In the morning, we chose for a croissant at Hortons and some coffee and tea in the room, so we were ready to go. We checked at reception, but we could just dump our keycard and go ahead for check in. Vancouver weather today is a bit cloudy, but forecast for upcoming Whitehorse today and Dawson next look promising, with temperatures in the lower twenties (Celsius, luckily the Canadians are on the same page as us from over the pond 😊). Depending on internet options, the story will continue as much as possible, although our first priority is not the internet, but exploring the Yukon and following Alaska.

Thanks John, this would be a blast! I understand that Whitehorse is a locations that is used by Buffallo air, they are flying either original Lockheed Electra's or converted P3, as I remember having seen sometimes on Discoverry. Maybe I will hear the distinct sound of roaring Allison engines!