HAL's Ultimate Yukon & Whitepass Railway - Skagway

[Meerjungfrau]

Does the above HAL excursion include Bennett Lake and Emerald Lake?

[Tricia724]

I haven't taken this particular excursion, but I have been to the Yukon twice.....once on a private excursion and the second time we rented a car and drove to Carcross and Emerald Lake.

Since you travel to the Yukon on a bus, you would see Bennett Lake going into Carcross. However, this trip may not go to Emerald Lake. Emerald Lake is about 8-10 miles beyond Carcross and a popular tourist attraction so I can't imagine why the bus wouldn't go there, but the description of the excursion does not mention Emerald Lake which rings a little warning bell for me.

If you haven't made reservations for this excursion yet, here is something you may want to look into with a private excursion. I haven't booked with this company myself, but I have read some good comments about them on the Alaska Board, and their combination bus/rail trips do go to Emerald Lake.

http://www.chilkootcharters.com/carcross.htm

If you haven't spent some time on the Alaska Board, you may want to check it out. There is a wealth of good information about Alaska.

[Nghthawke]

Does the above HAL excursion include Bennett Lake and Emerald Lake?

Absolutely! Best excursion I've ever been on; well worth the $$$.

[Nghthawke]

Emerald Lake is about 8-10 miles beyond Carcross and a popular tourist attraction so I can't imagine why the bus wouldn't go there, but the description of the excursion does not mention Emerald Lake which rings a little warning bell for me.
The bus drives by Emerald Lake on the way to Caribou Crossing Trading Post for the barbecue lunch and homemade donuts. The motorcoach stops at Emerald Lake on the way back.

This is only available on the Ultimate Yukon & White Pass Railroad excursion.

[Tricia724]

The bus drives by Emerald Lake on the way to Caribou Crossing Trading Post for the barbecue lunch and homemade donuts. The motorcoach stops at Emerald Lake on the way back.

This is only available on the Ultimate Yukon & White Pass Railroad excursion.

It's good that someone who has taken the excursion can clear things up for the OP. Emerald Lake is such a spectacular sight that it would be a shame to go that far and miss it, but I have learned never to assume anything when dealing with ship excursions.

[gratefulguy]

When I took this excursion last month (from Ryndam), we stopped several times after the lunch stop, going back to Fraser to board the train into Skagway (bus up/train back option). The amount of time you can spend at these photo stops is somewhat determined by whether everyone cooperates by being back on the bus when you are supposed to be. If someone spends too much time in the gift shop, etc. and gets back to the bus late, everyone loses! Emerald Lake is beautiful, but so much of Alaska is spectacular that it can seem anti-climactic if you are expecting it to be as large as, say, Glacier Bay.