August 7, 2025 – Carmacks to Whitehorse, Yukon
2025 Yukon & Northwest Territories
The original plan for today was to leave Carmacks and drive to Destruction Bay and Kluane National Park, staying overnight before driving to Whitehorse the next day. As it turns out, that didn’t happen!
Our tour group is awakened by a loud noise just before 7AM as we are about to put our bags out in the hallway of the Carmacks Hotel for loading onto the bus. Our bus driver drove the rear of the bus into the hotel building, managed to park it again, and stumbled into the lobby where he collapsed. He is being attended to by several people, including a doctor in our group, and then an ambulance takes him to the Carmacks Health Centre, which is right across the street.
After he is assessed at the Health Centre, the ambulance takes him to Whitehorse hospital. The bus is still running, since nobody knows how to turn it off, however it isn’t otherwise doing any harm where it is. We hear later that our driver and his wife are flying to Edmonton so he can get treatment. Our group is concerned about our driver, who we all like very much.
Our Tour Director Alistair and Mile Zero Tours in Victoria are working on a plan to get us moving again. The Standard Bus company operations guy arrives mid-morning, turns off the bus and has a look at the damage. While we wait for new arrangements to be made, the Hotel Carmacks assures us we can stay in our rooms. After breakfast, I go for a short walk along the river and then return to my room. Since I have lots of time, I catch up with annotating my photos and work on my journal from the last couple of days.
Our tour director tells us we will leave for Whitehorse at 1:30PM with a new bus and driver, who will be with us for the rest of the tour. We will stay at the Quality Inn for one night in Whitehorse, and then move to the Sternwheeler Hotel for two more nights. Day trips will run out of Whitehorse starting tomorrow, since today is a write-off.
We have lunch in the Carmacks Hotel restaurant before we leave, paid for by the bus company. Along the highway, we stop at Fox Lake before arriving at the Quality Inn in Whitehorse at 4PM. This hotel is newer than the Sternwheeler, so the group are happy with the new accommodations. Dinner for the group is paid for by Mile Zero Tours.