Why this ride
A one-way ride of 485 km, Whitehorse to the finish - roughly 6 h 40 in the saddle. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,500 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Kluane Scenic Drive: Whitehorse to Kluane Lake
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 485 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 6 h 40
- Journey
- One way; return travel is separate
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: planning record, not independently verified geometry.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distances and riding times are planning figures. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Whitehorse
Whitehorse sits on the Yukon River in a broad valley under bare hills, and with some twenty-three thousand people it holds around three quarters of the territory's population, which gives you a sense of how empty the rest of it is. It is also where everything you need is available, fuel, repairs, food and beds, before the long road west. The Alaska Highway runs straight through town, and the town sits at about Mile 918 of that famous road, counted from Dawson Creek in British Columbia.
Read the complete Whitehorse write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Whitehorse is where the day begins. Next is Haines Junction.
2. Haines Junction
Haines Junction exists because a road did. In 1942, when the US Army pushed the Alaska Highway through the Yukon in a matter of months to supply Alaska during the war, this spot became a junction where the Haines Road, running down to the Alaskan coast, branches off the main highway. A construction camp turned into a village of about eleven hundred people, and it has been the gateway to Kluane ever since.
Read the complete Haines Junction write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Haines Junction comes up about 334 km into the recorded legs. Next is Kluane Lake.
3. Kluane Lake
Kluane Lake is the biggest lake in the Yukon, a long cold sheet of water in the shadow of the Kluane Ranges, and its colour is a milky turquoise from glacial silt carried down by streams from the big ice fields to the west. It lies on the Alaska Highway, with the little settlements of Destruction Bay and Burwash Landing strung along its shore, and with the St Elias Mountains rising behind to heights that include Mount Logan, the highest peak in Canada at nearly six thousand metres, hidden behind other peaks and rarely visible from the road.
Read the complete Kluane Lake write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 485 km.
Leg by leg
Whitehorse to Haines Junction
Whitehorse → Haines Junction is 334 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Haines Junction to Kluane Lake
Haines Junction → Kluane Lake is 151 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
More motorcycle rides nearby
- Kluane Scenic Drive · 447 km
- Kluane Scenic Drive: Haines Junction to Beaver Creek · 650 km