On my birthday this year I was surprised with a pair of flights to The Yukon by Orla. I had been talking about wanting to visit it for some time so to say this was a welcome surprise is a bit of an understatement. I was EXTREMELY excited about this trip.
We flew out of YVR on a Friday morning with Air North (shout out Air North, what a fucking airline) and landed into Whitehorse just two hours later. Having got our rental car, we wasted no time in getting out into nature and drove to the conveniently located Miles Canyon just outside of town. This is a popular spot, and isn’t exactly the remotemeness you expect up here - but as an introduction to the consistently stunning landscapes you’re going to encounter you can’t ask for much more. We spent a few hours wandering around here before making our way back to town, and eventually to the home of a friend who we would be staying with for a few nights.
Having had dinner with our hosts we planned a hike for first thing the following day and aimed for a local spot called Fish Lake. The hike up the back of Fish Lake toward the ridge that climbs above it started out in the trees and eventually opened up - giving us our first glimpse of the vibrant fall colours all over the valley below. We continued to climb and eventually made it to the ridgeline and the vista I saw on the other side of that ridgeline was the first “Holy shit” moment I had on this trip. It gave me an immediate and powerful idea of just how remote and wild this place is. What I saw were mountain ranges that went on seemingly forever, with absolutely no trace of human activity no matter where I looked. As my friend Natalie remarked at the time, it looked like you could just start walking and never stop. This moment will stick with me for a long time - it felt like turning the corner on a different understanding of Canada and what wildnerness truly means.
After taking in the awe inspring views for a while we meandered back down to the cars. I wanted to do some fishing so we parted ways with our local guides (…our friends) and scoped out a few options. I ended up wading into McIntyre creek and despite the promising flow and ample hiding spots, I didn’t manage to grab any bites. I did, however, manage to get tangled up in a tree for a few minutes much to Orla’s amusement. That evening we decided to visit Eclypse Hot Springs about twenty minutes outside Whitehorse. The various spring fed pools here helped ease the muscles after the days hiking and in preparation for another hike the following morning. We had decided earlier to go to the edge of Kluane National Park and do the Kings Throne hike.
The drive out to Kluane really just adds onto the sense of remoteness and wilderness that I was beginning to come to terms with. Eventually, shortly before Haines junction, the view in front of us was on a vertical scale I had not yet seen as we gazed out toward the range that is home to Canada’s highest peak, Mt. Logan. The hike up to Kings Throne again began in a forgiving tree lined forest path, before turning steeply upwards in an unforgiving climb to the “seat” (the bowl of the glacial cutout). Looking behind us along the way gave ever expansive views back down into The Yukon and again the autumn colours made it seem like a painting. After reaching the seat we had some lunch and thought we might try going “a little further”. The onset of sleet and wind quickly changed our minds for us about that and we retreated back down the slope and eventually back into the trails along the shore of Kathleen Lake.
The following day we said farewell to our incredibly gracious hosts (honestly - if you read this Paddy/Natalie thank you so much for your hospitality) and began making our way to our next accommodation at Little Atlin Lake. WE opted to take the “long way” there via Carcross. As was beginning to be the theme - the drive down had us mouths agape for much of the journey as every bend revealed some other stupidly expansive landscape that was hard to continue to fathom. We stopped in Carcross, got some coffee, and enjoyed the quietness of the town as it ramped down from the tourist season where businesses were still open but we felt like we had the place to ourselves. By mid afternoon we had made it to our cabin at Little Atlin Lodge and immediately got the wood fired hot tub heating up. We then walked the 20 meters through the trees outside our cabin to the lake front and take in what would be our morning coffee spot and evening fishing/beer spot for the next few days. Our spot had a view that opened up all the way to the southern end of the lake and when the skies were clear gave us a distant view of Mt. Minto.
The remaining time in the Yukon was spent exploring, hiking, and relaxing and I don’t need to lay out the details of it, because my experience there wasn’t really about a distinct collection of activities - we could have done any number of different hikes, or lakes, or drives, or whatever and the takeway was the same. If you live in Canada, and have only ever experienced the “southern” provinces I urge you to change that. I have yet to visit the other territories but what I can say of The Yukon is that it sincerely changed something in me about how I see Canada, how I see myself as a non-native immigrant Canadian, and an appreciation for what must be an incredibly challenging yet connected to nature way of life that the First Nations on this land had for thousands of years.
The rest of the photos from this trip that I edited are here.