Carcross Desert - the Smallest Desert in the World
The ‘Smallest Desert in the World is a major year-round stop for Yukon Tourists and Locals alike’ is a reference to the Carcross Desert you see pictured in this post with both winter and summer images.
Known affectionately both locally and internationally as the smallest desert in the world, this area was once at the bottom of a giant glacial lake. With the lower water levels resulting from the retreat of the glaciers, a sandy lake bottom was left behind to be exposed to strong prevailing winds – winds which constantly kept reworking its surface into miniature valleys and dunes of varying sizes.
Species of plants to have survived its ever changing surface include both kinnikinnick and lodgepole pine.
Carcross Desert in Summer Light
A highly popular summer tourist stop for tour buses and private vehicles alike, this unique geographical feature is also a popular winter cross-country skiing, snowmobiling, tobogganing and sliding spot for Yukon locals from a number of surrounding communities.
It’s worth a turn off the highway to see it for yourself if you’re in the area. There’s a wide pullout there to accommodate whatever size of vehicle you’re driving, and interpretive signs to help you better understand its formative history.
Whether dressed in the heat and sunshine of summer days or the covering snows of winter, the unique features of the Carcross Desert are likely to ensure it will be forever known as the smallest desert in the world – a major year-round stop for Yukon tourists and locals alike.
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