Canada's 'Golden Circle Route' Is A Mountainous Road Trip Through Famously Scenic Territory

The Yukon — North America's enormous, untamable, and glorious frontier — can be tricky to traverse. Valleys cleave through open country, dense snow entombs the mountain peaks that jut above the province, and thick flourishing forests swathe hundreds of thousands of square miles of wilderness. Less than 3,000 miles of all-terrain roads wind through the 186,272 square miles of rugged terrain, more commonly frequented by meandering moose and paddling bears than tourists.

To plan a trip to the land of the midnight sun, your best bet is to follow one of the province's emblematic road trip routes, already mapped out for intrepid explorers. The best among them is (arguably) the Golden Circle. A road trip route that weaves through some of the most spectacular scenes in the southern Yukon, the Golden Circle is a three-day passage from Whitehorse to Kluane Country. It dips in and out of the wild Canadian province, nipping stateside to chase the trains on the "Scenic Railway of the World" through the breathtaking Alaskan wilderness.

Given its far-flung locale, Whitehorse doesn't have any direct flight connections to the U.S. However, you'll only need to make a quick stopover at a major Canadian airport. Warm up for your tour on a layover in vibrant, idyllic, solo-travel-friendly Vancouver or charming Calgary, which has direct connections to 20 U.S. states. The full route loops back around to Whitehorse, so you can fly in and out of the same airport. Its northerly location also means travel to the Yukon is very weather-dependent. For the safest road conditions, travel between May and September. Travelers who visit during the shoulder season also have a better chance of spying the dancing northern lights.

Slipping past sheening glaciers and snow-slicked peaks, the Golden Circle Route opens with the passage from the Yukon into Alaska. Dipping quickly past British Columbia, there are a few sensational stop-off points for travelers to see before crossing the border. Canada's emblematic alpine lakes stretch all the way up to the Yukon. A few of them glimmer alongside the Golden Circle Route, including Emerald Lake. Encircled by forest-coated slopes and stained teal at the edges, it is the first major waterway you'll reach on the route before slipping through the world's smallest desert. The alpine Carcross Desert is a minuscule miracle frozen in the highlands that guides roadtrippers out past the dense cerulean surfaces of another two lakes and out over the Alaskan border.

Trod by thousands of desperate Gold Rush-era fortune seekers, this trail traverses the magnificent cliffs of the White Pass. Iron-wrought relics of that eager era and the perilous endeavors of the laborers who industrialized it can be seen as you descend into the Alaskan wilderness, including the train lines that transported thousands of workers and now transport thousands of contemporary travelers. Stop off in the well-preserved and once-prosperous town of Skagway before continuing your travels to Haines.

Dubbed "the Adventure Capital of Alaska," this mountainous inlet has a number of thrilling activities to partake in on your way past. Raft along a glacier-fed river with an eye to the sky for the eagles circling above, take a scenic flight over the frozen peaks that cleave between the clouds or visit a salmon-filled waterway to see grizzlies swipe their dinner from the stream.

Venturing back across the Canadian border, you'll follow the Golden Circle Route onwards to an otherworldly national park with glaciers, dramatic views, and Canada's tallest peak. Visiting the UNESCO-protected Kluane National Park and Reserve is the quintessential Yukon experience: Enormous, remote, and almost desolate. Wanderers beneath its towering peaks and vast swathes of river-veined plains feel minuscule by comparison, traversing a territory roughly half the size of Switzerland.

Take one of the many trails that twist through the wilderness, choosing from easy scenic routes to epic and challenging backcountry hikes. Following a designated trail, you can sidle alongside rivers fed by ancient glaciers, tackle sections of some of the highest mountains in Canada, and spy some of the animals that preside over this desolate northerly domain. It's common to spot physics-defying mountain goats casually scaling sheer cliffs, wolves skulking in their shy packs, and meandering caribou. However, remember to keep an eye out for bears, as there's a higher concentration of grizzlies here than in any other part of North America.

To get a true grasp on the impossible scale of Kluane National Park, opt for a flightseeing tour. Boarding a helicopter or a prop plane, you'll get an eagle eye's view of the 8,486 square miles of conserved wilderness, watching the web of glacial rivers span out across the park. There's also an option to stop atop Canada's largest icefields to walk over the glaciers for unparalleled views of Mount Logan, the country's tallest peak. From Haines Junction, a village in the shadows of Kluane's soaring mountains, it takes less than two hours to journey back down to Whitehorse, the starting point of the Golden Circle Route.