Page 88 - 2025-2026 Travel Guide to Canada

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CYCLISTS ON A SUNSET RIDE ON MOUNTAIN HERO •
ANDREW STRAIN/TRAVEL YUKON
and rivers. Experienced guides can create a
day of superb fishing in remote waters
where you can really get away from it all.
Fishing outfitters like Inconnu Lodge offer
personalized, small-group packages to
introduce visitors to the northern lights,
while enjoying fishing and viewing
glaciers and local wildlife (www.inconnu
lodge.com).
Spectators cheer on mushers in the famous
Yukon Quest Sled Dog Race
(www.yukonquest.com). Winter, summer
or fall, dog lovers can paddle, hike, sled or
snowmobile on guided outings with Muktuk
Adventures, where there’s a dog along on
every outing (www.muktuk.com).
Yukon Wild, a group of professional
adventure travel companies, holds year-
round trips with experienced local guides
and equipment. Activities range from
fishing, hiking, canoeing, mountain biking,
horseback riding or rafting, to dogsledding,
snowshoeing, skiing and snowmobiling
(www.yukonwild.com).
HERITAGE AND CULTURE
When the news of “Gold!” echoed from the
Klondike, tens of thousands of gold seekers
set off, lured by dreams of riches. The
history of the Gold Rush is still at the hub of
many Yukon experiences. In 2023 the
territory celebrated the 125th anniversary of
the Klondike Gold Rush!
The Dawson City Museum is the perfect
spot to learn about the town at the heart of
the Gold Rush (www.dawsonmuseum.ca).
Watch the award-winning film, City of Gold,
narrated by Yukon-native Pierre Berton.
Dawson City likes to show off a rich
literary heritage. Along Writers’ Block
(Eighth Street), stop at the Robert Service
Cabin where visitors are treated to readings
of his poems and some insights into the
more idiosyncratic aspects of the author’s
personality. Next door is the log cabin that
was once home to storyteller Jack London,
author of Yukon classics such as White Fang
and Call of the Wild (www.dawsoncity.ca).
At the expanded MacBride Museum in
Whitehorse, learn how stampeders once
panned on the Klondike creeks and peer into
prospector Sam McGee’s cabin (www.macbride
museum.com).
Many communities have First Nations
cultural centres—Kwanlin Dün Cultural
Centre in Whitehorse, Dänojà Zho Cultural
Centre in Dawson City and Big Jonathan
House at Pelly Crossing are just a few spots
where visitors can learn about the traditions,
crafts and history of the First Nations.
The Yukon Beringia Interpretive Centre
transports visitors to the unforgiving prehis-
toric landscape of Beringia—the dry,
unglaciated land bridge that once linked
Alaska and Siberia. Multimedia displays and
dioramas tell the story of a time when
woolly mammoths and gigantic mastodons
roamed the region (www.beringia.com).
Every summer musicians and music
lovers come to the Yukon for the Dawson City
Music Festival, a world-class showcase of
North American talent (www.dcmf.com).
MUST SEE, MUST DO
Rent an RV and take the ultimate road trip
along iconic northern roadways like the
Dempster Highway across the Arctic Circle
or the winding Silver Trail to historic
frontier mining towns.
Explore Dawson City, the “heart of the
Klondike Gold Rush,” that bustles with the
history of a wild era when prospectors
rushed to follow dreams of riches.
At Montana Mountain in Carcross, about
40 km (25 mi.) of trail have been built for
the enjoyment of hikers, mountain bikers,
snowshoers and skiers (www.destination
carcross.ca).
Winter or summer, take a sightseeing flight
by small plane or helicopter over the spectac-
ular Kluane National Park Icefield Ranges,
one of the world’s largest non-polar icefields
(www.kluaneglacierairtours.com).
Try a traditional First Nations adventure tour
or cultural experience, outside Whitehorse
with traditional Southern Tutchone First
Nations culture operator, Long Ago Peoples
Place (www.longagopeoplesplace.ca).
Learn from the experts about stargazing and
viewing the aurora colours of the night sky
at Northern Nights: Kluane’s Dark Sky
Festival (www.parkscanada.gc.ca/kluane),
or through one of the northern lights
packages offered with Yukon Tours by
Klondike Travel (www.yukontours.ca).
SCENIC DRIVES
The Golden Circle Route’s 600-km (373-mi.)
begins in Whitehorse and circles to include
Skagway, Alaska and Kluane National Park,
showcasing spectacular alpine scenery.
The secluded Top of the World Highway,
open seasonally only, hugs the top of
mountains for outstanding scenery. At the
east end of the unpaved drive, hop on the
free car ferry and cross the Yukon River to
Dawson City. Bring your passport—the
crossing from Alaska to the Yukon is the
most northern international border crossing
in all of North America.
The breathtaking and bumpy Dempster
Highway, a wilderness route, is best travelled
in summertime. The 740-km (460-mi.)
gravel roadway is Canada’s only all-weather
road across the Arctic Circle.
The paved Alaska Highway is one of the
continent’s great wilderness drives. In
1942, a workforce of thousands of U.S.
soldiers and Canadian and U.S. civilians
built the lengthy highway in record time. It
winds through eight communities, Kluane
National Park and major attractions
including the Sign Post Forest, the
Northern Lights Centre and the Teslin
Tlingit Heritage Centre.
FAMILY FUN
All kids brighten up at the chance to spy
some wildlife. The Yukon Wildlife Preserve
features 12+ species of northern Canadian
mammals in their natural environment—
including woodland caribou, lynx, moose,
mountain goats, wood bison and foxes.
Open year-round, the preserve can be
explored on self-guided walking/biking/
skiing trails or by interpretive bus tour
(www.yukonwildlife.ca).