Family Adventure in the Yukon

The Yukon Territory, located in the northwestern corner of Canada can truly feel like the last frontier. The territory is the size of California, and while the U.S. state has 38 million people, the whole of the Yukon has 38,000. That’s a whole lot of land with few people on it. In fact, most of the topography of the area is boreal forest. Package stunning mountain scenery, the amazing Yukon river, and glacier icefields with plenty of family-friendly activities, such as horseback riding, white water rafting and flight seeing, and this part of Canada makes for one of the world’s most unique destinations.

I spent 10 days traveling from White Horse, the Yukon’s largest town, to Dawson City, home of the Klondike Gold Rush. A trip here is an amazing journey into Canada’s 19th-century gold mining history combined with wonderful wilderness exploration (it’s not uncommon to see grizzlies, moose, and elk). A family trip here in the summer—when there’s almost 24 hour of sunlight—is truly an unforgettable experience. Here, the top things to see:

Glacier Flightseeing with Icefield Landing

Traveling at the end of July, I didn’t expect to need warm clothes on my visit to the Yukon, but I put on all my layers for my glacier flightseeing excursion. This was hands-down one of the highlights of the trip and worth the expense; if you can save up for one big-ticket excursion, this is definitely worth the splurge. We took Icefield Discovery Tours deep into Kluane National Park & Reserve (home to the world’s largest non-polar icefields). We flew over Kluane Lake (Yukon’s largest lake) and took in views of Mount Logan (Canada’s highest peak) before landing on the icefield. The remoteness and quietness of walking on top of a glacier in such a secluded area was breathtaking.

White Water Rafting in the Yukon

This full-day rafting trip attracted plenty of families (they take kids 6 and older) and for good reason. The Tatshenshini River is unique in that it’s located in the largest preserve in the world—consisting of Glacier Bay National Park in BC, and Tatshenshini Provincial Park, Kluane National Park, and the Yukon Game Preserve. We spent the day running the river, going over class three rapids, stopping for lunch and swimming breaks. The views of the mountains and glacier-covered valleys were pretty amazing and we saw bald eagles and other wildlife (grizzlies are not an uncommon sight). Tatshenshini Expediting provides helmets, wet suits, booties, lifejackets and lunch.