Caribou Crossing Trading Post — Attraction in Yukon

I'm moving to the Yukon ... or at least coming back to explore this fascinating place in an RV for several weeks! One of the most interesting and continually marveling days I've ever spent sightseeing and I'm now sporting several bruises from having to pinch myself to work out which century I'm actually living in. After driving near the footsteps of the panhandlers up White Horse Pass and through the tundra countryside, we came to an incredible place down a track meandering through the wilderness called Caribou Crossing Trading Post - our lunch stop on our White Horse Pass tour and a fascinating sightseeing venture. About 50 sled dogs greeted us with friendly smiles and joyful howls as they waited - many already in their sled traces - to set out on a rocky instead of snowy adventure. I opted out of the bumpy ride deciding I'd wait 'til I can do it on that powdery white stuff instead! But I did manage to cuddle a pair of cute three week old puppies who were very happy to pose for pictures as well as pat a very blue eyed boy eager to set out for his turn to lead the pack. But for me the highlight of this wilderness outpost was to walk through two very unimpressive saloon-style doors and down a passageway to then spill out into a massive garage-style shed and be confronted with the best display of taxidermy animals in the world! Literally! They've been classed as one of the finest and you'd swear every single one of a display of scores of different species were still alive. I even had the sense of being back in the Ice Age with a gigantic woolly mammoth standing in all his glory with tusks raised and mouth open wide right in front of me. Not to be outdone, the largest polar bear ever found and now stuffed stared you down, along with some bison, woolly mountain goats with pure white heavy coats, a pack of fierce wolves attacking three huge elk, grizzlies fighting each other or just staring you down and every other bear of these ice cold tundra plains pitting themselves against their enemies, along with tiny albino squirrels, snowshoe rabbits, a pair of lynx, trumpeter swans, eagles, and many other bird varieties along with every Canadian/Alaskan animal found in this gorgeous region. A moose standing over three metres tall and a pair of very large musk ox with their tiny baby were other additions to this wonderful collection. What amazed me most was the perfect plumage and fur coats with none of the normal unrealistic bumps of any other displays I've seen even in renowned museums of the world. Most were found dead of natural causes and brought in or were killed out of necessity due to a "bad streak" but none killed just for the sake of it. The gifted creator of these works of art is a true craftsman. As our guide said, "Can you believe something so stunning as this is can only be found in the middle of a wilderness where 99.9% of the world's population have no idea it exists!" I couldn't agree more. Well worth a visit and make sure you take your...

Ahh Caribou I loved you the other two times I have visited but this time it was very lackluster. We got there as soon as the place opened and after paying the fee to visit the taxidermy area and the live animals it just wasn't as good as I remembered. They only had a few sled dog puppies but they really weren't puppies, more rambunctious teenagers. Everyone seemed so busy getting the place ready to open,even though it was past the posted opening time, that we really weren't greeted in a warm fashion by anyone as they were taking animals out of the barn and setting up for the day. We weren't even asked nor given the option to buy food to feed to the animals and the trays were you would normally by the food were empty. I just think that they should be ready to go with the posted opening time. Then we went in to get a cinnamon roll at the bakery and they weren't done yet. She said she still had to make the icing so we bought an average donut and we were on our way. The drive-up from Skagway is...

Open in the summer,Carbon Crossing attracts tourists and locals alike. Located 45 minutes from Whitehorse or about an hour and 30 minutes from Skyway Alaska you will see tourists from both sides of the border.

There is a gift shop with Yukon items including clothing and toys. A full restaurant which primarily services bus tours and a cafe which serves sandwiches or snacks like ice cream.

The real attraction though is the live animals. You can pet horses, llamas, goats, and cute husky puppies. If you're up for seeing how huskies love to run you can book a mini sled pull where they have a team pull a side by side converted for guests.

If you are looking to get close to larger and more dangerous animals you can do that too. There is an exhibit with bears and various wild cats that are showcased.

Finally if animals aren't your thing, try your hand ar gold panning where you could catch some real gold with a steady hand, a good eye, and...