Campgrounds and Rest Areas in the Yukon
This viewpoint is located at Km 117.6 of the South Klondike Highway, overlooking the most-photographed lake in the Yukon. There are no facilities at the viewpoint.
The beautiful blue-green colour of Emerald Lake, which was once known as Rainbow Lake, is created by sunlight reflecting off a white layer of "marl" on the lake bed. Marl is a calcium carbonate clay that forms in the water and then settles onto the lake bottom. It forms when carbonate from the dissolving limestone reacts with calcium in the water. The limestone hills around the lake were created 150-200 million years ago by reef-building corals growing in a warm sea. Many other lakes in the Yukon have this colour, but very few are road-accessible.