Make sure to stop at Discovery Yukon Lodgings

The best full-service campground of our 2024 trip to Alaska was Discovery Yukon Lodgings. This includes both Alaska and Canada. We were lucky that we stopped. It is a big mistake to bypass this wonderful campground. We liked it so much on our northbound trip to Alaska that we extended our stay on our southbound trip.

In years past, a stop at Discovery Yukon Lodgings was nearly mandatory because the Alaska Highway was so rough (and in this area, it was a dirt road). Now that the road is paved, it seems that many drivers try to make long drives, all the way from Haines Junction to Tok. I am so glad we didn’t fall for that trap.

We stayed at Discovery Yukon Lodgings both on the way to Alaska and again on the way southbound on the Alaska Highway. On the way north we stayed two nights. On the way north our previous stop was Whitehorse. That day we covered 258 miles. The last 100 were the roughest from Destruction Bay to Discovery Yukon Lodgings. The result was that on our way north, we split the worst section of the Alaska Highway into two separate travel days.

Three separate travel days

On the way south, we split the worst section of the road into three separate travel days. After leaving Tok our first stop was at Deadman Lake. Deadman Lake is 64 miles south of Tok. While we were heading north, most of this section of the road was under construction. When heading south all the construction was finished except a small stretch. Here is a link to our story about going south and our stop at Deadman Lake. Southbound on the Alaska Highway.

Our second leg southbound on the worst part of the Alaska Highway was 80 miles. This was from Deadman Lake and to Discovery Yukon Lodgings. On our third leg, we went from Discovery Yukon Lodgings to Congdon Creek and spent two nights camping there. This was 94 more miles, all on the worst part of the Yukon part of the Alaska Highway. The rest of the Alaska Highway was smooth sailing. We made short stops at the Thechàl Dhâl Visitor Centre (near Solider’s Summit), Haines Junction, and then continued to Dazadeash Lake.

Discovery Yukon Lodgings is not on the map

Unless you zoom in close Discovery Yukon Lodgings is not on the map. The nearest place is a short distance to the southeast is Koidern. Don’t expect to see even a tiny town at Koidern, rather it is a bend in the road. The nearest town (tiny town) is Beaver Creek. Beaver Creek is further northwest near the Canada-Alaska border. It is the home to most of the Canadian customs agents. The closest larger town in Canada to Discovery Yukon Lodgings is Burwash Landing on the north side of Kluane Lake. As you might expect, Burwash Landing isn’t a very big town.

Mail is not guaranteed

It may not have been the most sane decision, but I ordered Starlink for delivery at Discovery Yukon Lodgings. We ordered nearly two months before our arrival to make sure it was there when we stopped on our southbound leg. We expected a slow delivery. It was so slow that Starlink had to cancel the first month’s billing because we didn’t have delivery yet.

The post office (in Beaver Creek) quit getting the mail because the only postal employee (part-time job) in Beaver Creek quit so he could join the Canadian Customs Service. This meant that no one in Beaver Creek was getting mail. Usually, the postmaster had to drive to Burwash Landing to pick the mail up and bring it back. Only the postmaster could make the drive and there was no assistant. This little slowdown was fixed and the Starlink, shipped almost two months prior arrived just before we did.

Good thing I ordered Starlink with plenty of lead time. As I understand it, one of the residents of Beaver Creek made a trip to Whitehorse to pick up the mail for the entire town while making a grocery run. My Starlink antenna was one of the collected packages. Without this grocery run, I would have had to go hunting for it myself.

Discovery Yukon Lodgings is off the grid

Discovery Yukon Lodgings is hundreds of miles from the nearest electrical power plant. They make their electricity with a large generator. Huge fuel and propane tanks keep the generators running all summer.

Labor Day or Labour Day

The end of the tourist season in Alaska is Labor Day. Labour Day in Canada is the same day. Both celebrate Labor Union victories that improved wages and working conditions. In both Alaska and the Yukon, staying after Labor Day is rare as a tourist. As we often do, we seemed to close campgrounds at the end of the season as we left them. Even further south in British Columbia, we were some of the very last campers of the season.

We were in a hurry

We were in a hurry both northbound and southbound otherwise we would have loved to stay at Discovery Yukon Lodgings longer. On the way north we were anxious to get to Alaska and on the way south we were starting to worry about termination dust.

Termination dust means you stayed too long

Each fall in Canada and Alaska, the end of the tourist season is Labor Day. The real end of the tourist season is the first morning you wake up to snow. If you haven’t guessed by now, termination dust is snowfall and if you stay in Canada or Alaska and wait for the first snowfall of winter, you have stayed too long.

Too cold to snow

Once the temperature reaches minus 10 Fahrenheit not much snow falls. This is because the atmosphere is very dry. At lower temperatures anything that was moisture crystalized and fell to the ground. Most snowfall happens at 10-30 degrees Fahrenheit. The cold means that the snow doesn’t melt but rather, it blows around gathering in odd places and causing drifts.

Amanda is the owner of Discovery Yukon Lodgings. She leaves each fall when the termination dust tells her that the season is over. When we were there, still in August, she was planning for the closing. The lodge and campground are closed until next spring. After the first snows of winter, the temperature takes a dramatic turn to extremely cold. Typical low temperatures in the middle of the winter are minus 40-60 degrees Fahrenheit.

The record low temperature in Beaver Creek (just south of the ALCAN border and a short distance from Discovery Yukon Lodgings) is minus 83F. Beaver Creek is the coldest place in the Yukon with a road. The cold weather in Beaver Creek makes Whitehorse look balmy. Assuming the wind isn’t blowing, school children at Beaver Creek still go outside to play when the temperatures are below zero. Discovery Yukon Lodgings is Beaver Creek’s next-door neighbor.

While building the Alaska Highway the soldiers would never turn the engines off. If they ever stopped then perhaps they might be able to restart them in the following summer.

Season Kickoff

In the winter the Alaska Highway is a lonely place. Traffic along the ALCAN starts picking up in April as all the Alaska seasonal workers make their way to Alaska for the summer. The seasonal workers are soon followed by tourists in May. Our arrival at Discovery Yukon Lodgings was on June 5th. Most of the tourists had already made it to Alaska.

Most visitors, if they stay at Discovery Yukon Lodgings, spend only one night. Our return trip southbound was at the end of August. We timed that one just about right. Don’t make a big mistake and fail to stop at Discovery Yukon Lodgings on your RV trip to Alaska.

A campground in a museum

The location associated with Discovery Yukon Lodgings was established by the southbound work crews when building the Alaska Highway. The construction equipment for the southbound road crews was first shipped from Tacoma to Valdez Alaska where it was routed 268 miles by road to Delta Junction. At Delta Junction, they started building the Alaska Highway. The first one hundred miles was to Tok. From Tok, they built the road another 350 miles to Solider’s Summit. Solider’s Summit was the place where the northbound road-building crews met the southbound road-building crews.

Discovery Yukon Lodgings was one of the staging areas for building the Alaska Highway. While the Alaska Highway was in operation as a military-only road, all the equipment to build the road continued to be used to widen and service the road. Some of this equipment is still at Discovery Yukon Lodging and serves as a museum focused on building the Alaska Highway.

While camping at Discovery Yukon Lodgings we were camping among the museum displays.

During our trip to Alaska and through Canada, we stopped and camped at more than fifty locations. These ranged from nearly unprepared sites to fully established campgrounds. Discovery Yukon Lodgings was our favorite full-service campground for the entire summer. Previously I mentioned our favorite campground with no services was Quartz Creek on Kenai Lake, l discussed this one in this article. Alaska’s Playground is the Kenai Peninsula Another great campsite was at K’esugi Ken Campground. I discuss K’esugi Ken Campground in this article about Denali National Park. Denali is the big mountain in the clouds

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About our links

As you know, our blog income is intentionally zero – this allows us to be independent and just tell the truth.  We do not get income or commissions. No, we don’t make paid endorsements.  We don’t make recommendations but instead, we will tell you what we like (or dislike). The links are only provided as a quick reference to help our readers.

Links

The Milepost Guidebook found on this website is updated annually and you can use the book even without internet data. First published in 1949 it is the bible for travel in Alaska and northwestern Canada.

Historic Mileposts on the Alaska Highway website with key mileposts

Tok Alaska

Alaska Highway Canada

Alaska Highway 75th Anniversary

Discovery Yukon Lodging

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