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While many visitors to Skagway choose to board the White Pass & Scenic Rail, we decided to rent a car, take a similar route, and drive the Klondike Highway!
AVIS Car Rental is located a 15-minute walk from the cruise dock at the intersection of Spring and 3rd in downtown Skagway.
It was much cheaper for the two of us to rent a car for the entire day than it would have been to go on the train for just a few hours.
Having a car allowed us the freedom to stop as often as we wanted for photos; a concern we had when considering the train.
I read that the drive from Skagway to Emerald Lake (Yukon) and back should take 4-6 hours. HA! It took us close to 8 and I felt like we had to rush just a little at the end! The beauty was unreal and we stopped A LOT to take photos!
The William Moore Suspension Bridge (pictured above) crosses a very active earthquake fault and is only anchored on one side so that it can move freely in the event of an earthquake.
What I love about this drive is how many turnouts there are. The ever-changing scenery forces you to stop every few miles and just enjoy the views!
The summit of the White Pass is 3,292 feet. The railway runs through at a lower part of the pass. We simply admired it from a distance!
The pullout on the side of the road opposite the summit elevation sign is a spectacular spot to photograph the Skagway River Valley.
Just 15 miles after leaving the city of Skagway, Alaska, you pass into Canada (although the official border crossing is about 20 miles farther down the road).
Waterfalls are abundant along this drive. My favorites were the multi-level falls cascading down the mountainside.
There were so many places we passed where I thought “I could pitch a tent here and camp out for a few days”. It was so serene and peaceful…
Though there are few facilities along this route, we did come across one surprisingly clean outhouse with a scenic view!
The journey between the official international border crossing and the customs border station was our favorite part of the drive.
The mountains, rocks, and turquoise lakes came together beautifully to create a remarkable landscape!
It reminded us a little bit of the Blue Lagoon (geothermal spa in Iceland).
Every now and again we’d see the rail tracks, so we knew our journey wasn’t that far off from that of the train’s.
I didn’t realize we’d actually be changing time zones during our one day road trip! So, we entered the Twilight Zone for a bit, then made our way back to Skagway.
Check out a quick video of our scenic drive below, then head over to read Part 2 of this post!