TRAVEL LIKE A LOCAL | Top 10,000 Places to Visit in Canada
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groups & pages – Northern Lights in Whitehorse and Yukon | Tour Yukon with us – Yukon Home & Tour | Photo by Gareth Sloan from Montreal, Wikimedia Commons
The best chance of catching the northern lights (a.k.a. aurora borealis) is during the first few weeks of winter. Ideal viewing conditions consist of dark and clear nights (preferably moonless) with a magic window between 10 pm and 3 am. It’s best to try to leave the city lights behind you and head for the hills.
Although the Northern Lights are visible from mid-August to mid-April.
One of the most beautiful sites in Whitehorse is Miles Canyon. Almost nine million years ago, a rush of basaltic lava spread over a pre-glacial landscape a few kilometres from Whitehorse downtown.
Originally referred to as Grand Canyon, it was renamed in July of 1883 Miles Canyon after General Nelson Miles.
A 25-meter-long suspension bridge across Miles Canyon was built in 1922. It’s offering great river views.
The Takhini Hot Springs Hair Freezing Contest is an annual winter contest. To enter in a future year, visit Takhini Hot Springs any day during the contest period when the temperature is below -20°C.
The Takhini Hot Springs is are located twenty minutes north of Whitehorse. The hot springs have been in operation for over 100 years. Hot springs pools are a relaxing 36° and 42° Celsius, with water entering the pool at 47 degrees. The water is natural and rich in minerals. Open year around.
One thing that put the Yukon on the map was the Gold Rush of the 1890s. Whitehorse became an extremely prestigious place. People from far and wide visited to go on luxurious paddle-boat cruises on the Yukon River.
SS Klondike was the name of two sternwheelers, the second now a national historic site located in Whitehorse. SS Klondike II built in 1936 from the original’s engines, boiler, and other parts in 1937 after it sank, gave up carrying ore from the silver mines in Mayo to Whitehorse for onward shipment by road.
Visitors to Whitehorse can ride the restored, 1925 Waterfront Trolley. It departs northbound from Rotary Park, across from the S.S. Klondike National Historic Site, and southbound from the Roundhouse where Wood Street connects to Front Street.
This interpretive ride describes the Whitehorse waterfront’s fascinating history, including the stories about the White Pass & Yukon Route and the mighty sternwheelers that once plied the Yukon River.
Daphne Mennell created “The Whitehorse Horse” to reflect on how all Yukoners have memories tied up in the capital city. Weighing more than two tonnes and rearing up over three metres, more than 200 Yukoners from around the territory donated pieces of scrap metal for the sculpture.
Installed in 2011 at the top of Two Mile Hill, the rearing horse rises from a wave-like metal swirl over Whitehorse.
Beringia is believed to be the route travelled by the first people who entered North America from Asia. The focus of the centre is the story of Beringia, the 3200 km landmass stretching from the Kolyma River in Siberia to the MacKenzie River in Canada.
At the Yukon Beringia Interpretive Centre, the area’s history, geographical events, and culture are illustrated through fossils, First Nation exhibits, murals, and dioramas.
Pierre Berton is a noted author of non-fiction, especially a serious popularizer of Canadian history, and was a well-known television personality and journalist. He was born in Whitehorse, Yukon, where his father had moved for the 1898 Klondike Gold Rush. Berton spent his early newspaper career in Vancouver.
In 2016, Whitehorse Mayor Dan Curtis unveiled Pierre Berton’s sculpture on Main Street downtown.
The fish hatchery was established in 1984 and plays an important role in protecting and replenishing the Yukon’s stocks of Chinook and other fish species including arctic char and rainbow trout.
At the interpretation centre in the fishladder, you can view fish through the underwater window and learn more about the salmon and other species from displays inside the building and the viewing platforms above the Yukon River.
The Yukon Wildlife Preserve is a unique wildlife viewing property featuring 12+ species of northern Canadian mammals in their natural environment.
Wildlife species are spread out around a 5km loop suitable for walking, biking and skiing (in winter).
On Canada Day, July 1st, 1994, pj johnson was honoured to be invested as the first official Yukon Poet Laureate in Canada.
The daughter of a Yukon trapper, she is also known as “The Yukon Raven Lady” – a self-proclaimed “Raven Maniac”.
The museum has a large collection of relics and photographs from the gold-rush days, as well as displays relating to the Yukon First Nations. Notable exhibits include a log cabin belonging to Sam McGee—about whom Robert Service, the “Bard of the Yukon,” wrote a famous ballad.
There are also numerous bits of old machinery and implements, as well as an interesting display of the wildlife of the Yukon.
