Just Back:Skagway July10 Car rental/Spirit Lake-review

[VikkiGarcia]

We were in Skagway July 10. We got lucky, our one port, no rain. We rented a car from Avis and drove up to Emerald lake with our Murray guide. THANK YOU YUKON! We were quickly on the road. Anyone concered about driving this is a no brainer. You can not get lost on the one road. There was so little traffic that you can pull over for scenery easily. We even slowed to a crawl on the highway a few times. My job was to watch behind to see if any car are coming up. We stopped at Carcross to get our stamps at the post office. Not much else in the "town". The people we saw off the train looked a bit perplexed at where they had been dropped off. We contined on to Emerald Lake, very pretty. We then turned around and headed to Spirit Lake Lodge. We had booked their paddle/saddle directly through them. When we got there it was a moment of confussion. It seems they get organized tours doing paddle/saddle but very few people do it directly. But the great thing about doing it on our own is that we ended up getting a private canoe trip and horseback ride. One hour guided canoe ride on Spirit Lake. Then a one hour horseback ride. Then lunch in the lodge. We had planned to have lunch between the canoe and horse but they said if we didn't mind doing them back to back we would not have to combine with an incoming tour. Lunch was your choice of soda, choice of sandwhich, bowl of soup, choice of piece of pie. The paddle/saddle including lunch was $95canadian. I thought this was a really good value considering some of the other option we had looked into. The car ride back was beautiful. The car rental came to $135 including gas. So the day for our family of 4 came to about $140 a piece for a 7 hour excursion.

[Podie]

Thank you very much for this review. I want to ride up at Emerald Lake and had not heard of the paddle and saddle but since we are renting a car, it seems like something to look into. May want double the saddle and none of the paddle. though!

[VikkiGarcia]

If you contact them I am sure you could arrange just a horseback ride. Try to get lunch included with the ride. We found this to be the best option for lunch. Other members of our group ate in Skagway after their tour and spent $70 for 5 people on a small lunch a few streets off the main tourist drag.

[mayang]

Hi Vikkie,

I will be travelling with 8 people and I'm trying to find out if renting a van is better than going on a rail ride (averaging $100 pp). Can you please e-mail me with details? my e-mail is amyayc@yahoo.com. thanks - BTW, we are leaving on 7/27/08 and I'm wondering if I should reserve a van now. HELP!

[TMS9539]

Podie - We are doing a 2 hour horseback ride around Emerald Lake with Emerald Lake Ranch. No "paddle". We booked directly with them. Cost is $130. http://www.yukonhorses.com

[VikkiGarcia]

mayang: I do not know if Avis has any vans. I did not see any on the road that were not Tour Operators. I rented 6 months out and it seems like cars are limited. I did hear them tell a walk-in that they only had SUV's left at a rate of $139+ taxes.

[curry767]

VikkiGarcia, can I ask how long the day was?

[VikkiGarcia]

curry: We were gone for 7 hours, but we really took our time.

[curry767]

Cheers, Thanks

[sailandcruise]

Sourdough Car Rentals has several 8 passenger vans. We rented the Chevy Astro last summer and made the drive to Emerald Lake. It had over 132K miles on it but worked fine. The office closes early but we just filled up the tank, parked the van in their lot, and left the keys. No problems at all. See http://www.geocities.com/sourdoughcarrentals/ for more information. You do have to call them to book, however.

[MercedMike]

We prebooked with Avis for two cars for 8 people, because the Avis website did not show vans available. However, when we got there early in the morning they offered us a van instead. Perhaps you can find the local phone number and talk to them directly.

 

Check out our review and pics at http://www.elite.net/~thehalls/alaskaZ.html

 

Have a GREAT cruise!

[kenish]

Vikki- We were in Skagway on the same day as you (we were on Zaandam). The weather was good. We had booked "Dyea" Dave as a tour guide, you can google it for their website. They picked us up at the dock and we shared a van with a family from Star Princess. Dave customizes his tours according to interests, schedule and weather. After visiting the NPS center and getting a sense of the local history, we went to White Pass summit by van and took the train down. Both were great experiences. Dave met us at the train station and gave us bikes. We rode out to the cemetary and made the short hike to the waterfall. Then we went on somewhat strenuous ride up to the overlook. (It's on the hillside above the airport). There is a dirt trail that goes back to town, an exciting stretch of downhill mountain biking!

 

FYI, there was no problem getting seats on the train at the last minute. There were only 10 people in our rail car. Another option is buying tickets in advance, the cancellation fee is 10% if the visibility is bad and you want to skip the train.

[VikkiGarcia]

Kenish: Were you with Dyea Dave and a family? The rest of my group (mother,father, sister,BIL, and kids) used him that day. What a small world...

[cruisin'mama]

We were planning to do our horseback riding at Emerald Lake, but this combo sounds good too. We wanted a beautiful ride and thought Emerald Lake would provide that. How was the scenery at Spirit Lake? Was there shoreline riding as well as forest riding? I'd love to hear about it.

 

Thanks!

[kenish]

Kenish: Were you with Dyea Dave and a family? The rest of my group (mother,father, sister,BIL, and kids) used him that day. What a small world...

 

Hi Vikki, Yes we were! We were the father and teenager that were on Dave's van with your group. We all took the van and train together. Back in town we parted ways, my son and I went bicycling and your family went gold panning. I hope you all had as great a time as we did!

[Yukon]

How was the scenery at Spirit Lake? Was there shoreline riding as well as forest riding? I'd love to hear about it.

 

I did the Paddle & Saddle at Spirit Lake last year - the scenery is great, but the riding is up in the hills away from the lake.

 

Murray

[VikkiGarcia]

Kenish: My family had a great time and thought Dave was very accomidating. They were surprised to find that you all had a private car for you train ride.

 

Cruisn'mama: Although the horseback ride does not go around the lake the scenery was beautiful. Our trail guide Kallie really did a great job giving us all the history, pointing out certain plants,ect. She set up a couple photo spots for our whole family and took some great pictures. For me one hour on a horse is plenty.

[cruisin'mama]

Thanks for the horseback riding info. We just got back from Hawaii and did a ride at Turtle Bay that combined beach, "jungle", and forest riding. It was wonderful, but LOVED the beach portion the best. Do you know if the ride at Emerald Lake does shoreline rides, or at least part of the ride along the shore?

 

The combo at Spirit Lake still interests me.

[Yukon]

Do you know if the ride at Emerald Lake does shoreline rides' date=' or at least part of the ride along the shore?[/quote']

 

No it doesn't - the only lake that has a rideable shore (a nice beach) here is Lake Bennett, and there are no horse rides there.

[cruisin'mama]

Thanks, now I definiately have a decision to make. Which lake would you recommend for our ride?

[Yukon]

Thanks' date=' now I definitely have a decision to make. Which lake would you recommend for our ride?[/quote']

 

Both trail rides are excellent and I'm sure you'd enjoy either, but the Spirit Lake combo is really quite unique.

[cruisin'mama]

Thanks, nothing like a recommendation from a local expert! I will be checking out the combo at Spirit Lake for sure! Do you know what company runs it?

[Yukon]

Thanks' date=' nothing like a recommendation from a local expert! I will be checking out the combo at Spirit Lake for sure! Do you know what company runs it?[/quote']

 

Most ships offer it (ie http://www.yukonsaddlepaddle.com/ ), but Spirit Lake Wilderness Resort runs it - http://www.spiritlakeyukon.com/ and you can book independently with them.

[cruisin'mama]

Thanks so much Murray, you are such an invaluable a wealth of information! I will email them and see what they say. Thanks again!

[VikkiGarcia]

The shore excursion through NCL(ship we sailed) is priced at $182pp. I found a tour company (I believe Southeast tours?) that offered it at $150pp. We ended up spending $95pp + car rental $102+gas $30. So for our family of 4 it was $128pp.