Yukon - The splendor of the north

In August 2005, I visited my sister Anne Landry and her partner Rosanne Konrad at their home in Whitehorse, Yukon.

Anne is a naturalist with Parks Canada. She has helped develop the management plans for two national parks in Yukon, Kluane and Vuntut. Over the years Anne has also worked at a number of other national parks. As well, she has been director of both Green Gables Heritage Place in Cavendish, Prince Edward Island and the Gulf of Georgia Cannery National Historic Site in Steveston, British Columbia.

Rosanne is also a naturalist. She has shared her love of nature with students and the public in British Columbia, Alberta and Yukon. She currently gives classes in obedience training for dogs through her business Behaviour Matters.

While I was visiting, Anne and I took a road trip to Dawson City, six hours north of Whitehorse on the Klondike Highway. Along the way we stopped at Pelly Crossing for lunch. Our friendly servers at Penny's Place were Sandy Trerice and Ann.

Dawson City is best known as the center of the Klondike Gold Rush of the 1890s. However, it has been the home of the Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in First Nation for thousands of years. The town is situated at the point where the Klondike River flows into the Yukon River.

One of the local landmarks is Dredge No. 4 , an immense apparatus that dredged for gold in Bonanza Creek for nearly half a century. It's now a National Historic Site.

After two nights in Dawson City, Anne and I continued north along the Dempster Highway, which links Dawson City to Inuvik, Northwest Territories on the Mackenzie River delta. We drove the first 70 km of the Dempster and camped overnight at Tombstone Territorial Park. While we were there we hiked in the Blackstone Plateau and explored the adjacent tundra.

On our drive back to Whitehorse, we stopped for a swim in the cool waters of Twin Lakes.