Haines Junction

The Village of Haines Junction lies in the expansive Shakwak Valley in southwestern Yukon, 96 miles and 2 hours west from Whitehorse, Yukon.

With a breathtaking backdrop of the St. Elias Mountains of Kluane National Park and Reserve, the area of Haines Junction is blanketed in spruce forest mixed with poplar and aspen, and the valley supports healthy populations of moose, black bear, wolverine, muskrat, lynx, and coyote.

Shakwak Valley was a river of ice in the early 1700s, and from 1725 to 1850 a huge glacial lake filled the valley. After many years the forests developed after the most recent glacial lake in the valley drained.

For at least 5,000 years Southern Tutchone people have inhabited this area. Europeans first explored over Chilkat Pass and into the interior in the late 1800s.  The building of the Alaska Highway in 1942 led to establishment of Haines Junction.

Opportunities exist for year-round adventure and wilderness tourism, such as a flight-seeing trip into the heart of St.  Elias ice age landscape, hiking the alpine meadows, or a snowmobile excursion into the vast snows of Chilkat Pass.

Stay a day, a night, or settle in for your Klondike get-away.