The Carcross Desert: The World's Smallest Desert
In the Yukon, an hour south of Whitehorse, the boreal forest opens onto a landscape that belongs in the Sahara. Sand dunes rise from the valley floor, shaped by wind into curves and ridges, bare of vegetation except where hardy plants cling to the edges. This is the Carcross Desert, sometimes called the world's smallest desert - though 'desert' is a stretch for a place that gets twelve inches of rain annually. The sand is a glacial leftover, lakebed sediment exposed when ice-age Lake Bennett drained. Now the wind sculpts it, the locals sandboard it, and visitors arrive to photograph a scene that makes no sense in the subarctic. A desert in the Yukon. Geography has a sense of humor.
The Origin
The Carcross Desert exists because glaciers did. During the last ice age, glacial Lake Bennett covered this valley, accumulating sediment from surrounding mountains. When the glaciers retreated and the lake drained, the sediment remained - fine sand exposed to the drying winds that funnel through the valley. The sand is ancient lakebed, now windblown, shifting slightly each year. The dunes are small by global standards - about 640 acres - but distinctive against the surrounding evergreen forest. This is a local climate anomaly: the valley receives less precipitation than surrounding areas, strong winds keep the sand moving, and dry conditions prevent most plants from stabilizing the dunes.
The Controversy
Is Carcross really a desert? Technically, no - it receives too much precipitation to qualify as an arid climate, and it's more accurately described as a series of sand dunes in a semi-arid microclimate. The 'smallest desert' claim is marketing more than science. But the dunes exist regardless of what you call them: bare sand in a landscape that should be covered in spruce and pine. Local signs embrace the desert branding; scientists politely object; visitors take photos that look like they were shot in Arabia. Call it what you want - it's still sand dunes in the Yukon, which shouldn't exist but does.
The Ecosystem
Despite the improbable landscape, the dunes support life adapted to sandy, dry conditions. Kinnikinnick (bearberry) and other ground-hugging plants colonize dune edges. Rare Yukon lupines bloom in the sand. The dunes provide habitat for insects found nowhere else in the territory. Wildlife crosses the dunes - caribou, bears, wolves - treating them as corridors between forest patches. The ecosystem is fragile; off-road vehicles were damaging vegetation until restrictions limited access. The dunes are a window into a different climate, a different landscape, coexisting uneasily with the wet, cold subarctic surrounding them.
The Experience
Visiting the Carcross Desert means walking in sand when you expected snow. The dunes are publicly accessible, just off the South Klondike Highway. You can walk across them in twenty minutes or spend hours photographing the surreal juxtaposition of sand and spruce. Sandboarding has become popular - riding dunes that would be unremarkable in Nevada but are miraculous in the Yukon. The wind can be fierce; the sand stings exposed skin. Summer brings warmth and the midnight sun; winter brings cold that makes the 'desert' experience stranger still. The views are always improbable: sand in foreground, mountains behind, a landscape assembled from incompatible parts.
Visiting the Carcross Desert
The Carcross Desert is located off the South Klondike Highway (Highway 2), approximately 70 kilometers south of Whitehorse and adjacent to the village of Carcross. A parking area provides access; no admission is charged. Boardwalks protect sensitive vegetation at the edges; please stay on designated paths and boardwalks in fragile areas. The dunes themselves are walkable. Carcross village offers restaurants, shops, and the historic White Pass & Yukon Route railway depot. Whitehorse has full services and an international airport. The desert is accessible year-round but most spectacular in summer when the contrast with green forest is sharpest. Bring sun protection - yes, in the Yukon - and be prepared for wind.
From the Air
Located at 60.16°N, 134.69°W in the southern Yukon. From altitude, the Carcross Desert appears as a beige patch interrupting the green boreal forest - unmistakable because nothing else in the region looks like bare sand. Bennett Lake stretches to the south; Tagish Lake is nearby. Carcross village sits at the narrow land bridge between lakes that gave it the original name 'Caribou Crossing.' The Klondike Highway passes along the desert's edge. The Coast Mountains rise to the west. The terrain shows classic glacial landscape - long lakes filling valleys scoured by ice, surrounded by mountains. The sand dunes are a geological curiosity, visible evidence of the lake that once covered this valley.