Yukon
by Polly Evans
Yukon Travel Guide – Holiday tips and expert advice on wilderness travel, highlights in Alaska and Canada, Klondike Trail, wildlife tracking, hiking and paddling. Also included in this guide are practical tips on northern lights viewing, transportation, wilderness safety, Whitehorse, Kluane National Park, Skagway, Dawson City, gold mining history.
Edition: 1
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About this book
Canada’s Yukon is one the world’s last great wildernesses, where bears, moose and caribou roam. It’s a place where hikers, paddlers, skiers and mushers can travel for days without seeing another human soul, where the northern lights dance green and red across starry skies, and where glaciers tumble, mountain peaks soar, and tundra shrubs scream scarlet as summer turns to fall.
Bradt’s Yukon is the only guidebook dedicated to this natural and historical wonderland. Offering practical advice on everything from where to pan for gold to how to avoid being eaten by a bear, alongside quirky anecdotes (such as the story behind the ‘sourtoe cocktail’ – a shot of whisky garnished with a severed human toe), it’s the perfect companion for highway drivers, cruise-ship passengers, and outdoors enthusiasts alike.
About the Author
People always ask travel writers, ‘Which is your favourite place?’ Before visiting Yukon, Polly always answered, ‘My own sofa’; ever since, she says, ‘Yukon’. An award-winning journalist and author, Polly first travelled to Canada’s Yukon to research her book on learning to drive sled dogs, Mad Dogs and an Englishwoman. She didn’t expect to like it very much: she has never been good with the cold. But the extraordinary peace and beauty of the far north in winter – the indigo shades of the snow beneath the weak morning sun, the sound of a sled dog’s paws, the sight of the Northern Lights creeping up as bony green fingers from the horizon – affected Polly more than she had thought possible. ‘These simple and almost silent pleasures have an intensity that the noise and bright lights of a city can never match,’ she says.
During one of many return visits to Yukon, Polly undertook the research for Bradt’s Yukon, which won the British Guild of Travel Writers’ award for Best Guidebook. The judges commented, ‘The writer was obviously smitten with the Yukon, this was very apparent from the text, but two things stood out for the judges – the quality of the writing and the amount of research.’ Polly also won the Independent/Bradt Travel Guides Travel Writing Competition with an article she wrote about a camping trip with sled dogs in Yukon. Additionally, she has written about the territory for newspapers and magazines including the Sunday Times, National Geographic, Condé Nast Traveller, Wanderlust, Sunday Times Travel, BBC Wildlife and Traveller.
Reviews
‘All the advice and information you will need for a fantastic trip.’
Real Travel
‘Whether you’re looking for the best cruise-ship shore excursions, driving tours or simply what to expect from a tour operator holiday in the Yukon, this is a very sound buy.’
Essentially America
est Guidebook Award, sponsored by First PR.
Polly Evans, Yukon, Bradt Travel Guides.
‘The writer was obviously smitten with the Yukon, this was very apparent from the text, but two things stood out for the judges-the quality of the writing and the amount of research. A deserving winner.’
Judges’ Comments – British Guild of Travel Writers 2010 Best Guidebook Award
Additional Information
Table of ContentsIntroduction VII
PART ONE GENERAL INFORMATION 1
Chapter 1 Background Information 3
Geography 3, Climate 5, The northern lights 5, Natural
history and conservation 6, A brief history 15,
Government and politics 17, Economy 17, People 17,
Language 21
Chapter 2 Practical Information 22
When to visit 22, Highlights and suggested itineraries 22,
Tour operators 23, Red tape 26, Embassies 26, Getting
there and away 27, Health 28, Safety 29, What to take 29,
Money and budgeting 32, Getting around 32,
Accommodation 34, Eating and drinking 36, Public
holidays, festivals and events 37, Shopping 40, Arts and
entertainment 41, Outdoors activities 41, Photography 45,
Communications 46, Media 47, Cultural etiquette 47,
Travelling positively 48
PART TWO THE GUIDE 49
Chapter 3 Whitehorse 51
History 51, Getting there 52, Getting around 55, Tourist
information 56, Tour operators 56, Where to stay 57,
Where to eat 62, Entertainment and nightlife 64,
Shopping 65, Other practicalities 67, What to see and
do 68, Sports and activities 75
Chapter 4 The Alaska Highway 77
History 77, Driving the highway 79, Watson Lake 80, From
Watson Lake to Teslin 86, Teslin 88, From Teslin to
Whitehorse 89, From Whitehorse to Haines Junction 93,
Haines Junction 94, From Haines Junction to Beaver
Creek 96, Beaver Creek 99
Chapter 5 Kluane National Park and Reserve 101
History 101, Getting there 103, Tourist information 103,
Tour operators and guides 104, Where to stay and eat 105,
Klukshu 106, Hiking in Kluane National Park 106,
Fishing 110, Canoeing, kayaking and rafting 110, Skiing
and showshoeing 111, Mountaineering 112, Mountain
biking 113
Chapter 6 Skagway and the South Klondike Highway
(plus Haines and Atlin) 115
Skagway 115, Skagway to Carcross 126, Carcross 127,
Tagish and the Tagish Road 128, From Carcross to the
Alaska Highway 129, Haines 130, Atlin and the Atlin
Road 137
Chapter 7 Campbell Country 141
The Campbell Highway 141, The Canol Road 150
Chapter 8 The North Klondike Highway and the Silver Trail 155
Whitehorse to Carmacks 155, Carmacks 157, Carmacks to
Stewart Crossing 159, The Silver Trail 161, Stewart
Crossing to Dawson 163
Chapter 9 Dawson City 165
History 165, Getting there 170, Getting around 171,
Tourist information 172, Tour operators 173, Where to
stay 175, Where to eat 179, Entertainment and
nightlife 179, Shopping 180, Other practicalities 181,
What to see and do: downtown 181, What to see and do:
beyond downtown 184, Walks and hikes 187
Chapter 10 The North 191
The Dempster Highway 191, Inuvik 202,
Tuktoyaktuk 214, Aklavik 216, Herschel Island 217, Old
Crow 219, Paulatuk 219, Sachs Harbour 221,
Ulukhaktok 221, National Parks of the Western Arctic 221
PART THREE HIKING AND PADDLING 225
Chapter 11 Wilderness Travel 227
General information 227, Sample packing checklists 230
Chapter 12 Hiking 233
Chilkoot Trail 233, Donjek Route 239
Chapter 13 Paddling 243
Yukon River 243, Big Salmon River 247, Liard River 251
Appendix Further Information 255
Index 258