Whitehorse Things to Do

The Whitepass and Yukon Route can be done as a daytrip from Whitehorse. You can eighter ride the historical steamer or do the trip by car. Both routes take you through beautiful scenery and snowy mountains. At the other side of the Whitepass the historical city Skagway (USA) awaits you.

Skagway is a small town with historical buildings and a lot of tourists. It's as well an important cruise-ship port. I would recommend to pre-book your RV-spot or hotel in advance as this place usually is crowded.

Only a few steps outside of the city of Whitehorse you'll find Two-Miles Canyon. It's possible to swim in the Yukon river (do not expect to warm temperatures!!) or just walk along the river and enjoy the beautiful scenery.

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This place is so unique and well put together that I certainly recommend a visit if you're in Whitehorse or anywhere else in the Yukon. It's a center (centre) that explores the last ice age which, amazingly left what is now the Yukon pretty much free of ice. Combined with parts of Alaska and Siberia--all too dry at this time--Beringia formed. Because of the lack of ice here, woolly mammoths, lions, cats and other animals were present and thriving in this grassy steppe climate. When the last ice age ended, so did Beringia. What remains are fossils and evidence of these creatures as well as the earliest evidence of people in this part of the world. Maybe the harshness of the climate in these places now or for another reason, fossils are still being discovered, so the collection here is only going to grow. Of course, when people were looking for gold the first of the fossils and artifacts were found. Really, it's a great place...very interesting.

It is open in the summer and that's probably your best chance to get to see it. However, if you're going to be in the Whitehorse area in the winter, it's open on Sundays or you can call to have a tour arranged. They have modified hours September.

But don't worry if you cannot make it here right away--they have a decent virtual tour online. It doesn't show everything but it does have enough to really capture your interest, so I believe their goal was met;-)

Just walk along the streets of downtown Whitehorse and enjoy the murals. Most buildings have a mural here on their large and otherwise boaring walls.
Some murals depict the history of Whitehorse or the region, some are more modern or refer to the use of the building they are on.

The Yukon brewing company is a small scale brewery in Whitehorse. You can visit the brewery and take part in a tour after which there is beertasting. But if you are not able to visit at tourhours they will let you taste before you buy too.

Beers they brew:
- Chilkoot lager, good lager but not very special (5% alc).
- Yukon Gold, a light ale which is populair in Whitehorse and with us (5% alc). Tastes much better than the lager.
- Artic Red, a darker beer with 5,5% alc. Also a beer you must try.
- Cranberry Wheat, for those who like fruitbeers this wheatbeer is very tasty.
- Lead Dog, a winter ale, not availlable in summer (so we must visit again......)
- Midnight Sun, a stout made with coffee. And i simply don't like coffee....... But Tom thought it was too much coffe and too little beer too.
- Aroma Borealis, an mixture of herbs is used for this beer. In my taste it is too much herbs and don't taste like beer anymore.

When we visited in july 2005 the tour was at 16:30 and its free!!

The referend Richard Bowen, a veteran of the Goldrush, was asked by Bishop Bompas to start a church in Whitehorse. he arrived in 1900 and immediately started building a church. The logchurch was used untill 1960 when a new cathedral was built. The church is now a museum and can be visited ( Mid May to Labour Day; Daily 10:00 am - 6:00 pm).
The museum holds church artefacts and you can learn the story of the bishop who ate his boots.
This was the nickname of Bishop Isaac O. Stringer after he survived getting lost in the artic by eating his boots.

Whitehorse is located along the Yukon river, a river through which the salmon migrate home to spawn at their birthground. Near Whitehorse a dam is built, this is an obstacle the salmon can't tacle by their own. So a fishladder is made to assist them on their journey.

We visited the fishladder half july, but there was no salmon there yet. The salmon is expected to travel through from begin august to half august. Must be an awesome sight, the huge fish jumping the ladder.

The fishladder is the longest wooden fishladder in the world, it is 2 m deep and 366 m long. It was built in 1959.
You can see the fish through one of the 3 underwater windows inside the public fishway building.

In the old days the Yukon river was crowded with sternwheelers. Some 250 sternwheelers were constructed for use on the Yukon River between 1866 and 1936.
Such a sternwheeler can be visited in Whitehorse. The S.S. Klondike was built in 1937 as an exact copy of the SS Klondike I.
Untill 1952 it was a cargo vessel. The Klondike could make the downstream run from Whitehorse to Dawson ( 740 km) in one and a half day. On the return run, the Klondike proceeded first to Stewart Landing 112 km above Dawson where she loaded sacks of silver lead ore brought down the Stewart River from the Mayo District. The upstream leg of her journey back to Whitehorse could take four or five days.

When an all weather road was built in 1952 the silver ore was transported by road and the S. S. Klondike was refurbished as a cruise ship. But the tourist were not to come untill years later........
In August, 1955 the S. S. Klondike II steamed into Whitehorse on her last run up river. The S. S. Klondike II sits in permanent retirement on the bank of the Yukon River in Whitehorse. She is owned by Parks Canada and is now commemorated as a national historic site.

Length: 64 m (210')
Width: 12.5 m (419')
Molded Depth: 1.5 m (5.75')
Gross Tonnage: 1226.25 tonnes (1362.5 t)
Registered Tonnage: 918.45 tonnes (1020.5 t)
Cargo Capacity: 270 tonnes (approx. 300 t)
Engines: 2 compound jet-condenser type producing 525 H.P.
Boiler: Locomotive type manufactured at the Polson Iron Works,Toronto, 1901, previously used in Steamer Yukoner & S.S. Klondike #1