Have you ever overbooked or over-planned? It seems this may have been our plight today. We originally thought that the drive from Whitehorse to Kluane was much longer than it was…with so many places to visit, it is hard to keep things straight! Kluane was only about an hour from Whitehorse. Two of Canada’s tallest peaks live here, but the weather kept the views to these hidden. ‘Tut tut, looks like rain,’ says Winnie the Pooh. This is how we felt when we arrived at the Kluane Visitor Center. You can see in the photos that the sky was falling and rain was most certainly imminent. Recognizing that we could try again on our return route, we set out to find another place to stay. We consulted iOverlander, and verified with TripAdvisor, to find the most perfect spot – Lake Laberge, on the Klondike Highway. After reading the descriptions, we searched for the often mentioned Cremation of Sam McGee…a poem written by Robert Service. With a bit of internet just outside Whitehorse, we listened to this version by Johnny Cash as we approached the mighty lake – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJNZwuamwj0.

As we arrived at the majestic lake, the words to the poem lingering in our thoughts, we realized our mislaid Kluane plans were responsible for this hidden gem. Neither of us had ever heard of Robert Service or Lake Laberge, but we will certainly return.

Day 6 – 211 mi…headed down the Klondike, thinking about Sam McGee.