Klondike Highway, Carcross YT

The small town of Carcross is charming & less overtly touristy than Skagway. According to locals, the Caribou Hotel (3rd pic) was home to Polly the Parrot (a male) for more than 50 years &  is reputedly haunted. Like a number of towns in the Yukon, Carcross became a town during the brief Klondike Gold Rush, & it grew when it was an important access point during the building of the ALCAN. 

 

Who knew that there would really be a beach where Google Maps had one labelled? Apparently, the light snowfall this past winter, & the delayed snow melt due to cold temps this spring, have resulted in unusually low water levels. The paddle-wheeler the S.S. Tutshi had been renovated, then largely burned, but a frame & some remnants give a sense of it. The totems are in front of the Tagish Learning Center, a cultural museum.

Caribou Crossing Trading Post is complex of various touristy stuff, but the wildlife gallery & a museum about the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in the Yukon are worthwhile. 

The scenery around Carcross is lovely, especially as the newly emerging leaves give a pop of light green to contrast with the evergreens. 

One small area just north of town is claimed to be "the world's smallest desert". Of course, it's too wet to be a desert, but sand dunes have formed from wind blowing sand up from the lakeshore, & it does seem weird to see that here.