A weekend in the Yukon

Yukon is one of Canada's federal territories and lies North of British Columbia. Yukon's tourism motto is "Larger than life", which is so very true. The distances are endless and the natur is just breathtaking. Most of the 30'000 inhabitans life in or near Whitehorse, I was amazed at the number of foreigners (Swiss, German, Polish, British, Indian, Japanese, etc) that live there and we were told that the reason for moving there is the lifestyle and the outdoors. 


Whitehorse also hosts many cultural and sport events take place such as the Arctic Games and the famous Yukon Quest (http://yukonquest.com), a 1600km dog sled race. Most people move there for the lifestyle. The Arctic Games include sports such as the one and two-foot high kick, the Alaskan high kick, Airplane and sledge jump: http://www.awg2012.org/en/Home.aspx. 


On Saturday, we drove along the Alaska Highway to Haines Junction, the gateway to Kluane National Park. Although we were tempted for a walk somewhere, we were very quickly deterred by the freezing cold temperatures, it was -35oC! It was like being  in a giant freezer only it was much colder than that. However, we did enjoy the spectacular scenery and occasional wildlife from the warm interior of the car. 

You can drive for hours and are more likely to see a moose or a wild horse than another car or human being. Signs like this one remind you that you are out in the wilderness and that help isn't just around the corner. Forget about your cell phone too, there is no signal out there.

The highlight of the trip was a day of dogsledding through the wilderness. The temperature, in the meantime, had risen to -22oC, still very cold but we were outfitted with warm jackets, pants, gloves and hats, which we wore over several layers of clothing. 

Remco and I had a team of 6 dogs that were all eager to take us for a run. We took turns driving the sled and enjoying the scenery. 

One had to be careful to stay on the break whenever we stopped as Remco's colleague found out the hard way. Their dogs took off with the empty sled and sped away only to be stopped by the tour guide who was following us on his snowmobile. We stopped somewhere for lunch and our guide grilled some hot dogs (the sled dogs are still alive) on the barbecue. My biggest concern was how to go to the toilet in the freezing cold while wearing 5 layers of clothing on top of each other. I somehow managed without having any body parts frozen off. 

Once we got back to the ranch, we warmed up with some hot chocolate and brownies and had a chat with the owner, who has been doing dog sledding for 40 years. He participated 24 times in the Yukon Quest and won the race 12 times. It was very interesting listening to him how they would prepare and how they took care of the dogs before and during the race. The wellbeing of the dogs is their top priority and teamwork is the key to success. 


We'll definitely go back to Yukon for a longer trip to explore the wilderness up to the Arctic Circle and Alaska.