A road trip through the Yukon, combined with hiking, quickly becomes a trip of a lifetime. Here are my tips for the perfect route.
Autumn in the Yukon! The intense yellowing of the leaves leads to a gold rush, similar to the one that attracted hundreds of thousands of fortune hunters to the Yukon in the 19th century.
However, this gold is not mined in the streams, but visitors today seek their fortune in the fleeting rush of color. The tundra also changes color and with a little luck you can see the first northern lights.
There are only a few places in the world that have preserved such originality.
The indigenous people, who have been trained in the fight for survival for thousands of years, hunt and trap as they always have. Every trip here is a journey into the wilderness. A road trip through the Yukon in Canada, combined with hiking, quickly becomes a trip of a lifetime.
Here is our itinerary ↓
My tip: Plan enough time, because the Yukon is large and the round trip crosses the US state of Alaska several times.
To better imagine the dimensions, here is a comparison:
With 482,443 km², the Yukon is 1.3 times the size of Germany, but Germany has almost 2,000 times as many inhabitants.
When you meet people here, they are very helpful and friendly. And the vastness of the country leaves plenty of room for adventure.
Here are my tips for places you should definitely see on a road trip in Yukon/Canada:
Whitehorse
As the capital of the Yukon, Whitehorse, located on the famous Yukon River, is on every travel route. The two major highways meet at this traffic junction: the Alaska Hwy and the Klondike Hwy. The city may not be a particularly eye-catching sight, but travelers will find everything they need for their Yukon adventure here. In the city center you will still find many old, heritage-listed houses. There is also an active art scene, galleries, restaurants and accommodation options.
MacBride Museum ( www.macbridemuseum.com )
Yukon's first - and recently expanded - museum offers a comprehensive overview of the people and groundbreaking events that shaped the territory's history. The modern extension encloses the telegraph office built in 1900 - the small wooden house is the oldest building in Whitehorse.Whitehorse is a popular starting point for canoe and kayak tours , from half-day trips on the Yukon to multi-day expeditions to Carmacks or even Dawson City. For those with little or no canoeing experience, the 25 km, four-hour trip to Takhini Bridge is recommended.
Off into the wild
The 714-kilometer-long Klondike Highway leads north from the capital. Be careful: you should always be on your guard even on the asphalt roads in the Yukon: potholes and gravel sections are not uncommon. A good stopover to stretch your legs on the bumpy road is the Five Finger Rapids north of Carmacks. An 800-meter-long path leads down stairs to the river. During the gold rush, paddle steamers tried to sail through the basalt columns. Many lost their belongings. Since then, the five fingers have become four. One of the rocks was blown up to make shipping safer. Continue reading:
Dawson City
Click on the first picture to start the photo gallery
The town with Wild West charm lies at the confluence of the Yukon and Klondike Rivers, just 240 km south of the Arctic Circle. This was the epicenter of the Klondike Gold Rush. Today, you can stroll along the dirt roads past old, brightly painted wooden houses and drink questionable drinks like the Sour Toe Cocktail (a drink in which a real human toe floats).
Dempster Highway
Actually, the highway named after the little-known police officer William Dempster should be called "Michelin Hwys" or "Goodyear Hwy" - after the countless tires that have burst here.
The 736-kilometer route (if you drive all the way north to Inuvik) is one of North America's last great adventure routes. It winds through barren mountain ranges and green valleys, past vast tundra landscapes and through the Tombstone Territorial Park.
My tip: be sure to check with the car rental company beforehand whether driving on the Dempster Highway is included in the insurance.
Tombstone Territorial Park
Where else in the world does boreal forest meet alpine and arctic tundra? Tombstone Territorial Park - also called Canada's Patagonia - protects 2,200 km² of unique wilderness: rugged peaks, vast tundra, bears and bright flowers make a visit an unforgettable experience. The best place to start exploring the park is the Tombstone Interpretive Centre (open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. from May 13 to September 24) on the Dempster Highway at kilometer 71.5. Tombstone is best explored on one of the many hikes, which range from one hour to 3 days with backcountry camping. Don't forget bear spray!
Top of the World Highway
The 281 km long gravel road connects Dawson City in the Yukon with the Alaska Highway at Tetlin Junction. Actually, there are two highways: in the Yukon it is called the Top of the World Highway and in Alaska the Taylor Highway.
Please note: To enter Alaska you need a valid ESTA and the USA is one hour ahead of Yukon time.
The barren mountain landscape is dotted with towering rocks and - if you're lucky - with grazing reindeer. It's a great joy when you have asphalt under your tires again on the Alaska Highway. The wild journey continues eastwards back to the Yukon and to...
My tip: be sure to check with the car rental company beforehand whether driving on the Top of the World Highway and Alaska is included in the insurance.
Kluane National Park & Reserve
Described by UNESCO as the " Realm of Mountains and Ice ", the national park with the largest ice fields outside the poles stretches south of the Alaska Highway to the Alaska border.
Click on the first picture to start the photo gallery of Kluane National Park:
Three more superlatives come together here. Firstly , Mount Logan is the highest mountain in Canada at 5,959 metres ; secondly, the turquoise-blue Kluane Lake is the largest lake in the Yukon ; and thirdly, the largest population of grizzly bears in the country lives between the park boundaries. Together with Tatshenshini-Alsek Provincial Park in the south in British Columbia and Wrangell-St. Elias National Park in the west, it forms one of the largest nature reserves in the world. Beyond the mountains that can be seen from the Alaska Hwy, there are over 200 glaciers, about half of which do not even have a name. You can only get really close to them on sightseeing flights or multi-day hikes. The day trip to Sheep Creek is particularly beautiful; with a bit of luck, you can see Dall sheep .
Haines Highway
The 259 kilometers between Haines Junction in the Yukon and Haines in Alaska pass by like an impressive nature documentary in XXL format. The television is the windshield. It is difficult to concentrate on the road because outside the St. Elias Mountains , the Million Dollar Falls (a nice detour), glaciers and bald eagles are flying past. On the 20 km hike to the Samuel Glacier in Tatshenshini-Alsek Provincial Park you can get very close to this and many other glaciers. In Haines it is worth visiting the Chilkat State Park , where you can admire the glaciers from the sea - a surreal sight!
Off to Skagway
The ferry between Haines and Skagway (both Alaska) winds its way through the narrow Chilkoot Inlet. Emerald green mountains drop steeply into the sea.
Picturesque Skagway on the Inside Passage is overrun by cruise ships in the summer.
Many buildings date back to the gold rush era and are now part of the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park. The nostalgic tourist trains of the White Pass & Yukon Route Railroad pass the notoriously steep Chilkoot Trail on their way to Canada and offer wide panoramic views of the surrounding mountains.
The Lower and Upper Dewey Lakes are ideal for a hike to take in the indescribably beautiful landscape.
Chilkoot Pass
From Skagway, the already well-known Klondike Highway winds its way steeply up the dreaded Chilkoot Pass . For long stretches, the road follows the Gold Rush Trail, the route of the Klondike gold miners. Fortunately, drivers have it much easier these days...
The colourful Carcross is the art centre of the Tagish First Nation with numerous totem poles, murals, galleries and shops. To the north of the town is the "smallest desert in the world". The village is a good stopover on the way back to Whitehorse.
In my blog post " Plan your adventure in Canada" you will find the best tips for travel planning including booking a rental car and reserving campsites.