A long, long time ago we had two little boys, aged 1 and 3, when Kees was offered the position of director of Parks & Recreation for the city of Whitehorse, Yukon. We packed up our belongings, left Alberta’s Rocky Mountains where he had been a park ranger, and drove north for several days.

We drove the Alaska Highway. We drove and drove… the trees got more and more spindly, the terrain turned to rolling hills, the mosquitoes got bigger and the bears and moose more frequent.

When we finally reached Whitehorse, the capital city, we could have easily missed the city of, then, 15,000 people. It lay tucked into the Yukon River valley, well below the highway escarpment. But we did take the Two Mile Hill turn-off and started a whole new life. People in Whitehorse were friendly and outgoing. Most had come from far away and it was easy to make friends. We chopped firewood, went tobagganing and fishing. We watched native dances and ate bannock. Yukoners celebrate everything! They have to because without celebrations, life is dark and cold during the long winters here. The sun only rises for a little bit each day and we’ve had -60º. So we celebrated the ice break up, the midnight sun and especially the winter carnival that heralded the end of winter. During the nine years we lived here, we celebrated the Gold Rush, the poems of Robert Service, we watched tube races down the Yukon River and outhouse races down Main Street.

In all the years since we moved south again, I went back several times but Kees never did. We decided that it was time to visit Whitehorse again. Fast forward 27 years!

Whitehorse now is a city of 25,000 people. It has a McDonalds and a Walmart. It has 3 (three!) Starbucks. I’m not sure if this is progress but it certainly is change. We fondly remembered the little supermarket from way back when, as we shopped at the Great Canadian Superstore that made me shake my head in disbelief. Groceries here now are cheaper than on Salt Spring Island. This did not feel like the Whitehorse we once knew.

There are many restaurants, sushi places and trendy shops now. But some things haven’t changed. Max Fireweed is still the same fabulous bookstore on Main Street. Murdoch’s still sells Harrison prints and moose nuggets. There are still shacks with stovepipes sticking out of the roof, leaning helter-skelter against each other. There are still husky pups waiting for snow. And there are still unique, friendly people walking the sidewalks near the Yukon and White Pass railway station.

Whitehorse’ chosen subtitle is ‘The Wilderness City’ and that is an apt description. We hiked the beautiful Millennium Trail along the fast flowing Yukon River. Watching the water rush by it is amazing to realize that this force will soon be overtaken by the even stronger force of cold. All the rushing water will be frozen and immobile in winter. Once you have seen the Yukon River freeze, been here during the winter months and watched it thaw and flow again in Spring, you are declared a Sourdough. If you’ve never spend a winter here, you remain a Cheechako.

Perhaps the world’s only log “skyscraper”…

We watched in fascination the many dozens of trees along the river bank felled by beavers. Leaves and wood chips were everywhere. We followed the drag marks where entire trees had been hauled to the water and saw how these amazing engineers had maneuvered the trees, using the river’s force, to their dam that blocked off a good part of the river. So glad the city does not blast these dams apart or trap those busy beavers!

The SS Klondike, Whitehorse’ iconic centre piece, is a National Historic Site.

Upriver of the bridge is the Yukon River fish ladder where you can watch salmon jumping up the ladders, in Fall. If you spend time in Whitehorse be sure to visit landmarks like The S.S. Klondike, one of the last remaining paddle wheelers of a bygone era. You can tour the old wooden boat to get a sense of what it was like to travel up the river. Reading Pierre Berton’s book Drifting Home, and his mother Laura Berton’s book I Married The Klondike is a wonderful way to learn more about this unique history.

The McBride Museum preserves many artifacts important to Yukon’s history. We stopped into The Chocolate Claim, a great local coffee shop (https://theclaim.ca/) because of many memories tied to this place and also because I was Miss Chocolate Claim during the famous Winter Festival. There are strange things done in the midnight sun, which is why many moons ago I was involved in running for Miss Yukon and Miss Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous and was crowned Miss Congeniality! Being here brought back many fond memories.

Another must if you visit Whitehorse, is the Takhini Hot Springs. Here you can take a long, hot soak in natural mineral water. One side is large enough for slowly swimming in comfy, warm water. The other side is HOT. It was weird to visit it now, without snow and ice. In winter your hair freezes with the steam coming off the water and you can have wild, white hairdo’s! During Rendezvous they have frozen hair contests here! They also have a fantastic créperie now where we enjoyed gigantic fresh fruit and chocolate crepes!

A winter visit, by plane, to attend Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous if definitely worth it. Rendezvous reenacts to Gold Rush. The entire Yukon is swept up in the festivities. People dress in period costumes and have many events including dances, fiddle concerts and contest such as a chainsaw chucking contest and a hairiest leg contest.

Outside Whitehorse there are many beautiful areas to drive. Early September is definitely one of the most gorgeous times to see this area as aspen and other deciduous trees turn bright yellow, orange and red, dotting the evergreen hills like a fluffy quilt, framed here and there with the first white powder on mountain tops. Especially the drive along Kluane Lake is gorgeous. Summer is short and can bring lots of mosquitoes. Northern Lights are stunning and occur any time of year but of course are more visible in winter. Yukon Gold comes in many different shapes…

We recommend a day trip from Whitehorse to Tagish to Carcross (2.5 hours) or a drive to Lake Laberge (where they cremated Sam McGee) and to Marsh Lake. You can also drive to Dawson City and get a taste of the real Gold Rush.

During one of my recent (winter) stays I stayed in the Historic Guest House, said to have been build for the ‘real’ Sam McGee: https://www.historicalguesthouse.com/