Alaska and The Yukon: The Golden Circle
8 Day Inn Tour
Tour Information
If you take the path of an Alaskan bald eagle, it’s but a 15-mile flight from Skagway to Haines. But for this tour, we connect these two towns with a ribbon of highways known as the Golden Circle, a wilderness feast of snow-capped mountains, alpine lakes, lush rain forests and ice fields through the most stunning stretches of the Alaska panhandle and the Yukon territory, all kissed by the midnight sun. We bring you the best of this iconic route – now with overnight stays in inns and cabins.
Guaranteed
The tour still has space. Make your travel arrangements.
Moderate
Advanced
Rolling terrain with some longer climbs on mostly paved roads. Moderate to advanced cycling level. Moderate level with an electric-assist e-bike.
7 nights lodging in inns and cabins, 7 breakfasts, 6 lunches, 7 dinners, use of touring bike, snacks, route maps, van support & trained guides.
Touring bike with straight handlebars is included in the tour. Limited number of e-bikes are available for an additional fee.
Accommodations are subject to change.
Fly round-trip to Juneau, AK. Then take a plane or ferry to Skagway for the start of the tour and from Haines at the end of the tour back to Juneau. You should probably plan to arrive in Juneau at least a day before the tour starts.
"I loved the tour. I would have gone back to Haines and started it all over if it had been possible. I felt safe because of the good support, and I never lacked for food or water. I was super lucky with weather. I loved every mile!"
Tour Itinerary
DAY 1: Arrive in Skagway by ferry or plane from Juneau. We meet for a bike fitting and orientation in the afternoon and then dinner in the evening at a local seafood restaurant. Sitting on the northernmost point of the Inside Passage, Skagway was the state’s first incorporated city, thanks to the population explosion brought on by the gold rush of the late 1890s.
We recommend that you arrive a day or two early to recover from jet lage and to explore colorful Skagway. Most of downtown is now the Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Park. 0 miles.
Day 2 We begin our venture with a scenic 25-mile train ride up and over the historic narrow gap of White Pass to Fraser, British Columbia. From Fraser, we start our cycling along the Klondike Highway through the Yukon Territory. We’ll ride alongside Tutshi Lake and Nares Lake and bask in the shadows of the coastal mountains. The day’s ride ends in Carcross, home to the Carcross/Tagish First Nation where caribou migration once flourished. 45 miles.
DAY 3: Farewell Klondike Highway, and hello AlCan Highway, a World War II-era engineering feat that was considered as miraculous as the Panama Canal. It connects Alaska with the contiguous U.S. We will also meet up with the Yukon River, one of North America's longest rivers and one of the worlds longest salmon runs. We finish our ride in the Yukon capital of Whitehorse, the "Wilderness City" of 25,000 that has been ranked by the World Health Organization as having the cleanest air in the world. 45 miles.
DAY 4: We shuttle past the busiest stretch of the AlCan to start this day’s ride to Haines Junction. There we take time to explore the Da Ku Cultural Centre, a place that celebrates the cultures and traditions of the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations peoples. Da Ku is also the home of the Kluane National Park & Reserve Visitor Centre, the ideal place to orient yourself to Mount Logan and the peaks and ice fields of the Elias Mountains.
Home for the next two nights is a rustic cluster of cabins near Kathleen Lake. Before dinner, you can walk to the lake and the daring can take a dip in the clear but chilly alpine water. 37 miles.
DAY 5: Our entire ride today takes place in the largest protected area in the world. We’ll cycle through Kluane National Park and Tatshenshini-Alsek Provincial Park until we reach the border with British Columbia. We’ll stop for a picnic and an optional hike through the pristine wilderness before shuttling back to our cabins for the night. 44 miles.
DAY 6: As we continue to ride south on the Haines Highway, you’ll have plenty of miles to savor glaciated peaks and shimmering lakes and rivers. We crest the stunning Chilkat Pass and its mysterious arctic tundra and start our descent into Alaska, where we will spend the night just north of Haines. 60 miles.
DAY 7: Today we cruise alongside the Chilkat River Flats, a delta of unparalleled beauty. If you haven’t spotted a bald eagle yet, you surely will here. Before we reach our final destination of Haines, we will spend time in the tiny village of Klukwan, ancestral home of the Tlingit tribe where the traditional tribal council still oversees community matters. We'll celebrate our Golden Circle week with a farewell dinner. 27 miles.
DAY 8: We say our good-byes over breakfast this morning. You will be able to fly or ferry out of Haines to catch your connecting flight in Juneau. Better yet, take the time and extend your trip to see another part of Alaska - the last frontier. 0 miles.