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Published: August 21st 2016
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It’s said the North & Yukon casts a spell on people (who never leave) and it’s easy to see why! We have spent the last two months exploring the wilds of Alaska and remote northern communities in the Yukon territory, Canada.
To put the words isolation, remoteness and wilderness into context – the Yukon territory is larger in size than Germany, but with a population of 40,000 people! I have been fascinated by Northern living for quite some time and decided where better to start our working holiday in Canada than in the far North. To begin with, we spend a month living and working at a lodge and cabins near Carcross, with splendid views over a lake. During our free time, we hike, bike, canoe or kayak on the lake, ride a quad bike into the forest and walk the chef’s dog! For my birthday, I enjoy a day out in Carcross, an area with a strong First Nations influence. I walk along the famous White Pass & Yukon route railway tracks, explore the Carcross Desert and visit Caribou Crossing.
After a month at the resort, we decide to hike the Chilkoot Trail, a multi-day hike that was
the route used by Stampeders who journeyed North in search of gold in the late 1800’s, traversing from Skagway, Alaska to Bennett, Canada. The hike was extremely adventurous, challenging and rewarding, crossing streams and avalanche zones, bouldering to reach the White Pass/Summit in dense fog, but totally worth it! We met very few people on the trail during our 3 days/nights and it’s entirely self-sufficient (you pack in and pack out all your food, camping supplies, etc.) just like old times!
After completion of the Chilkoot trail, we spent a night camping in Bennett in beautiful British Columbia, a place that time forgot since the Klondike gold rush over 100 years ago. There's no roads to get here, no people, nothing – just one train per day over the White Pass (the scenic railway of the world). It's eerily quiet and deserted, this indescribable feeling of isolation/remoteness, like we have stepped back in time. Yet overlooking the beautiful turquoise lake and mountains, the railway tracks and the old church, I realise there’s not many places on earth like it and that’s why it’s magical.
Then, we embarked on a road trip to Kluane National Park and Dawson City,
home of the Klondike gold rush, another fascinating northern community. Kluane is beautiful with lots of trees as far as the eye can see and is actually the park which borders Wrangell-St. Elias in Alaska. We did some nice hiking up to the “King’s Throne” and camped at the lovely (yet very windy!) Dezadeash Lake. Another scenic drive ensued on the Top of the World Highway, to take us into Dawson City (the farthest thing from a city you can imagine!).
Visiting the historic gold rush town of Dawson City in the Yukon was another highlight and a fitting way to end our trip. The whole town has been restored and preserved as a National Historic Site with all the buildings in the style of how Dawson looked in 1900. To give you an idea, towns this far north (of which there aren’t many) experience long, dark and cold winters – everything freezes over and usually melts in May – but in summer, it becomes accessible to visitors from the outside world!
We take part in some of Parks Canada’s walking tours offering a sneak peek behind closed doors, inside many of the historic buildings and learn the
fascinating stories from Dawson’s past. We spend the night at Diamond Tooth Gerties, playing blackjack at Canada’s oldest casino and enjoy the 3 “can-can” shows! However, maybe the best of all is on our last night in the Yukon, the Northern Lights put on a show just above Dawson City, brilliant greens in the sky above, trailing across the river and up over the mountain.
My blog wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the Beez Kneez hostel, our “home away from home” in Whitehorse. During our time in the capital (more like a small town), we did various activities including: a local brewery tour (Yukon Brewing make some of my favourite beers on the planet!), walked along the Yukon river to the salmon fish ladder and visited the S.S. Klondike boat.
It began with the midnight sun…. and ended with the Aurora Borealis!
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