Skagway to where ?

[abhisheks77]

Hi,

We are reaching Skagway at 7 AM and cruise will leave at 5 PM in first week of June. We will be renting car. For those 8 hours on land, one option is to go Haines and spend time. Other one highly discussed, drive till Emerald Lake (Klondike highway) and back by evening. Few suggested to go ahead till Jakes's Corner, while others say that scenery pales after Emerald Lake. Any suggestions please, if you have drove to that side of country ?

 We are not looking for whale watching, but interested in landscape photography and scenery.

Thanks

[Northern Aurora]

Just have to ask the question -- with a port call from 7 AM to 5 PM are you asking if you can actually drive from Skagway to Haines with that time limitations?  What road do you plan to take?

[abhisheks77]

I am open to suggestions. Yes, that would be my question where can I go .

I was few posts and they suggested drive till Emerald Lake and come back.  Would that be my best option ?

If that is suggested, will it worth to ahead till Jake’s corner? 

Or we can have other better alternatives? We have already secured rental car

[karatemom2]

The drive from Skagway to Haines is 350 miles so if you want to visit Haines on your port day the only way to go is the Ferry. If you are renting a car I would suggest taking the drive to Emerald Lake with time for plenty of stops along the way. It’s very beautiful and nice to do at your own pace. I’m not sure how much further Jake’s Corner is but generally Emerald Lake is a good turnaround point and doable in the port time you have 

[gracebest]

13 hours ago, abhisheks77 said:

Hi,

We are reaching Skagway at 7 AM and cruise will leave at 5 PM in first week of June. We will be renting car. For those 8 hours on land, one option is to go Haines and spend time. Other one highly discussed, drive till Emerald Lake (Klondike highway) and back by evening. Few suggested to go ahead till Jakes's Corner, while others say that scenery pales after Emerald Lake. Any suggestions please, if you have drove to that side of country ?

 We are not looking for whale watching, but interested in landscape photography and scenery.

Thanks

We have cruised to Alaska many times and have rented cars and driven to Emerald Lake 3 times. We saw a moose at Emerald Lake, bears beside the road not too far from Skagway and lots of beautiful scenery.  We have used Murray's guide which highlights sights to see along the way, like the tiny little desert, etc.  Enjoy your trip!

[Eaglecw]

You don't have enough time to drive to Haines from Skagway. If you want to go to Jake's Corner you'll need to go back to Carcross from Emerald Lake and go down Hwy 8 towards the village of Tagish. It's about 40 miles or so from Emerald Lake to Jake's Corner. I'd suggest stopping at the Carcross Desert and then going up to Caribou Crossing http://www.cariboucrossing.ca/ for lunch and check out the puppies before heading to Emerald Lake. From Emerald lake there's the small abandoned town of Robinson, it's about 10 miles past Emerald Lake on the left, not much left of it. On your way back to Skagway stop in the town of Carcross for an ice cream cone at the general store.

[abhisheks77]

3 hours ago, gracebest said:

We have cruised to Alaska many times and have rented cars and driven to Emerald Lake 3 times. We saw a moose at Emerald Lake, bears beside the road not too far from Skagway and lots of beautiful scenery.  We have used Murray's guide which highlights sights to see along the way, like the tiny little desert, etc.  Enjoy your trip!

In your past trips, have you visited other roads as well, apart from Klondike Hwy ? Just to compare, what other options we would have.

[Eaglecw]

4 hours ago, abhisheks77 said:

In your past trips, have you visited other roads as well, apart from Klondike Hwy ? Just to compare, what other options we would have.

If you look at Google maps you'll see that there aren't many roads that go off of the Yukon highway. One year we went up to White Horse, that was a fun day. 

[Northern Aurora]

If you can find a detailed map of Alaska you will find that the drive out of Skagway is the Klondike Hwy which connects Skagway to the Al-Can near Whitehorse, Yukon Territory (in Canada).  Given your port time trying to drive to Haines is simply out of the realm of possibility.  The drive from  Skagway to Emerald Lake is scenic with an interesting variety of terrain.  

 

There is a very short side road from Skagway to the old ghost town of Dyea.  The National Park Service has located and marked some of the old building remnants of Dyea.  Dyea was the point where the Klondike gold rush stampeders started the hike on the Chilkoot Trail.  It is a scenic drive on a nice day. 

[karatemom2]

1 hour ago, Northern Aurora said:

There is a very short side road from Skagway to the old ghost town of Dyea.  The National Park Service has located and marked some of the old building remnants of Dyea.  Dyea was the point where the Klondike gold rush stampeders started the hike on the Chilkoot Trail.  It is a scenic drive on a nice day. 

 

I was going to recommend this as an option as well - we did it once and it was such an interesting and beautiful place to visit. Some rental car companies prohibit taking the cars there as it is unpaved road, something we found out after the fact. Thankfully all was well and the car incurred no damage - but something to be aware of if you take that trek. 

Edited May 23, 2019 by karatemom2

[abhisheks77]

Thanks for additional suggestions. I will look, if time permits.