Yukon 2008 Vacation Planner - 99

Yukon SCEnIC DRIVES Route Travel from Dawson City to Canada’s Arctic across breathtaking mountain ranges and expansive subarctic tundra. Distance: 736 km (one-way) Time recommended: 5 nights (return trip) Features: Tombstone Territorial Park, Arctic Circle, Gwich’in culture, Porcupine caribou herd Activities: Hiking in Tombstone Park, wildlife viewing in Blackstone Uplands, crossing the Arctic Circle, camping at Tombstone, Engineer Creek and Rock River campgrounds Trip Planning above: Fall colours on the Dempster Highway – YG (R.Postma), below right: Hikers in Tombstone Territorial Park – YG (F. Mueller) Tombstone Territorial Park Starting 40 km south of Dawson City, this unpaved two-lane highway (Dempster Highway #5) traverses North Yukon all the way to Inuvik, Northwest Territories. A drive up the Dempster begins with a visit to the Tombstone Interpretive Centre and campground. Naturalists offer interpretive walks, travel information, special events and tips on wildlife viewing along the highway. Popular with hikers, Tombstone is a haunting landscape remembered for its jagged peaks and colour-stained hills. North Yukon is also the home of the Porcupine caribou herd, a 150,000-strong herd (2004 figures) of barren-ground caribou that migrates to calving grounds each summer. Dempster Highway travellers are sometimes treated to the sight of caribou crossing tundra expanses on either side of the highway. Places to visit: Dawson City, Tombstone Park Interpretive Centre, Eagle Plains, Fort McPherson, Inuvik • Klondike Corner to Eagle Plains: 369 km (6 hrs) Eagle Plains to Inuvik, NWT: 367 km (6 hrs), with Peel and Mackenzie River ferry crossings (free) • The Arctic Circle Halfway up the Dempster, drivers pull into Eagle Plains to refuel and, some, to stay the night. A further 36 km north of Eagle Plains, a sign marks 66° 33’ north latitude, the point where travellers cross the Arctic Circle. On summer solstice, June 21st, the sun doesn’t set at the Arctic Circle—the further north you travel, the higher the midnight sun. In mid-August, the vegetation begins to change colour as the frosts of late summer touch the tundra. A crimson parade is ignited in northern Yukon and green and brown tundra turns into sheets of scarlet and gold. The show of colour lasts from mid-August into September, and Dempster Highway travellers have front-row seats. With limited services, two river crossings by ferry, and long stretches across open tundra, the journey north and back is an original driving adventure. Travellers are urged to carry spare tires and allow for delays. Plan to spend two days driving north, a couple of nights in Inuvik, NWT and one to two nights on the return trip to Dawson City. Highways travelled: North Klondike Highway #2, Dempster Highway #5 Visitor Information Centres: Dawson City, Inuvik Local Attractions Tombstone Interpretive Centre Tombstone Viewpoint • Two Moose Lake • Blackstone Uplands • Arctic Circle • Peel and Mackenzie River ferry crossings • Yukon/NWT border • • Roadside Explorations Driving up the Dempster in a car or RV, there are plenty of pullouts, day hikes and natural diversions. Peaks with alluring names like Goldensides, Angelcomb, Pilot’s Peak and Sapper Hill beckon, offering easy day hikes. The highway traverses the Continental Divide three times, and passes through the distinctive Beringia landscape, left untouched by the last ice age, where woolly mammoths and scimitar cats once roamed. Dempster Wildlife North of Tombstone Territorial Park, the Dempster crosses the Blackstone Uplands, an area rich in wildlife and bird activity. The road weaves through the scenic Ogilvie and Richardson mountain ranges, where moose, sheep, woodland caribou, grizzly bears and wolves make their home. Migrating swans, geese, ducks and shorebirds join year-round residents like ptarmigans and ravens in thickets and wetlands dotting the tundra. travelyukon.com 99

Yukon 2008 Vacation Planner

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Yukon 2008 Vacation Planner