Yukon and Yellowknife: Northern Lights, Dog Sledding and Kluane

1. Day 1: Arrive in Whitehorse

   Erik Nielsen Whitehorse International Airport to your hotel in downtown Whitehorse

   • Drive about 12 min
   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Whitehorse
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Whitehorse (YXY), the Yukon's capital, and plan to land by about 4 pm; the latest arrival time comes with your final itinerary. The airport sits on the bluff above town, about 5 km from downtown, and we meet you in the arrivals hall. At the hotel your See Sight Tours guide fits everyone with the loaned winter gear: a long parka, insulated pants, heavy boots and mitts, so you are not buying a coat you will never wear again. After a short briefing on how the week runs, with late mornings, daylight outings and night skies, we walk to a welcome dinner in town. Around 10 pm a licensed aurora operator collects the group for the first night out, at a dark site away from the city lights with a heated cabin, hot drinks and a fire. If your flight was long, sleep instead: there are five more nights.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Erik Nielsen Whitehorse International Airport (YXY)
   • Winter clothing fitting: parka, insulated pants, boots and mitts on loan for the trip
   • Welcome briefing and welcome dinner
   • Aurora outing with a licensed operator, about 10 pm to 2 am

   Easier option: Skip tonight's aurora outing and sleep after the flight.

   Free time: Free until the evening briefing

   Activity: Aurora outings are mostly standing and sitting outside in the cold, with a heated cabin or tent a few steps away.

   

2. Day 2: Dog sledding and the hot springs

   Whitehorse to a kennel north of town, the Yukon Wildlife Preserve and the hot springs at Takhini, then back

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Whitehorse
   Day 2 details

   A late breakfast, because in midwinter the sun only clears the hills around 10 am. We drive about half an hour north into the spruce forest to a mushing kennel, where the dogs are barking before the sleds are even out. The mushers teach you how to stand on the runners, brake and call the team, then you set off two to a sled, taking turns to drive and to ride, on a forest trail of an hour or more. Lunch is hot and sit-down, at the kennel or nearby. In the early afternoon we visit the Yukon Wildlife Preserve on Takhini Hot Springs Road, where moose, wood bison, caribou, muskox and lynx live in large enclosures. As the light fades we drive a few minutes further up the road to the hot springs at Takhini for a soak; on a very cold day your hair frosts white while you sit in the warm water. Dinner in Whitehorse is your choice, then the second aurora outing.

   Included

   • Half-day dog sledding with a licensed kennel north of Whitehorse
   • Sit-down lunch
   • The Yukon Wildlife Preserve
   • Entry to the hot springs at Takhini
   • Aurora outing with a licensed operator

   Easier option: Ride in the sled basket the whole way while the musher or your partner drives, and watch the animals at the Wildlife Preserve from the shuttle rather than on foot. If you are tired, skip tonight's aurora outing, or plan to take tomorrow's Whitehorse free-day option instead of the Kluane drive.

   More active option: Where the kennel allows it, drive your own sled for the whole run.

   Free time: Evening free for dinner before the aurora outing

   Activity: Dog sledding depends on snow cover; on early departures with thin snow the kennel may use a shorter trail or a wheeled cart.

3. Day 3: Kluane and the St. Elias Mountains

   Whitehorse west on the Alaska Highway to Haines Junction and Kathleen Lake, then back

   • Drive about 4.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Whitehorse
   Day 3 details

   Today is the longest drive of the trip, about 370 km and four and a half hours there and back, because Kluane's mountains are the reason to come to the Yukon in daylight and there is no closer place to see them. We leave around 10 am, after a late breakfast so last night's aurora outing still leaves a proper sleep, and drive west on the Alaska Highway as the light comes up over the Takhini valley. If you are tired, take the Whitehorse free-day option instead. Around noon we reach Haines Junction, where the Auriol Range of the St. Elias Mountains rises straight behind the village. Kluane National Park and Reserve is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site shared with Alaska and British Columbia. After a sit-down lunch in Haines Junction we drive about 27 km south on the Haines Road to Kathleen Lake for a short snowshoe walk, conditions allowing, then turn back while the light lasts. We are back in Whitehorse by about 6:30 pm, and tonight's aurora outing is yours to take or skip.

   Included

   • Drive on the Alaska Highway to Haines Junction with viewpoint stops
   • Sit-down lunch in Haines Junction
   • The Da Kų Cultural Centre in Haines Junction, when open
   • Short snowshoe walk at Kathleen Lake in Kluane National Park, snowshoes provided
   • Aurora outing with a licensed operator

   Easier option: Stay in Whitehorse for a free day: walk the frozen Yukon River waterfront and visit the MacBride Museum of Yukon History, then rest before the aurora outing.

   More active option: A longer snowshoe loop at Kathleen Lake while the rest of the group walks the shore.

   Activity: The one day at the four-hour driving cap, broken into three legs by the viewpoints, lunch and the Kathleen Lake walk. If the highway or Haines Road is closed by weather, we stay closer to Whitehorse and visit Miles Canyon instead.

4. Day 4: Fly to Yellowknife

   Whitehorse to Yellowknife by air, then to your hotel in downtown Yellowknife

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Yellowknife
   Day 4 details

   A slow morning in Whitehorse, then we fly to Yellowknife, the capital of the Northwest Territories, on the north shore of Great Slave Lake. Depending on the day's schedule, the flight is direct or connects in Calgary, Edmonton or Vancouver; we confirm the routing with your final itinerary, and your guide handles the bags and the connection. On the short drive in from the airport we stop at the Bristol Freighter, an old cargo plane mounted on a rock beside the road, a monument to the bush pilots who opened up the North; the plaque records that in 1967 this aircraft was the first heavy wheeled plane to land at the North Pole. Yellowknife is colder than Whitehorse, and sits under the band where the aurora is most often overhead. Dinner is your choice. Late in the evening an aurora operator takes us out to a camp outside town, with heated cabins or tents, hot drinks and wide views of the sky.

   Included

   • Transfers to Whitehorse airport and from Yellowknife Airport (YZF)
   • Flight from Whitehorse to Yellowknife
   • Stop at the Bristol Freighter monument
   • Aurora outing at a heated camp with a licensed operator

   Free time: Morning free in Whitehorse, evening free for dinner in Yellowknife

   Activity: We choose a flight that does not need you out of the hotel before about 9 am; if the only routing on your date leaves earlier, we tell you when we confirm your dates. If the routing connects through a southern hub, we reach Yellowknife in the evening and go straight to the aurora camp after dinner.

   

5. Day 5: Old Town and the ice of Great Slave Lake

   Downtown Yellowknife to Old Town, then across Yellowknife Bay on the ice road to Dettah and back

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Yellowknife
   Day 5 details

   We start late, once the light is up, in Old Town, the original gold-rush settlement on a rocky peninsula. Climb the steps to the Pilot's Monument on the Rock for the view over Yellowknife Bay, the frozen houseboats and the edge of Great Slave Lake, the deepest lake in North America. From January, and some years from late December, the ice is thick enough for the ice road: we drive about 6.5 km straight across the frozen bay to Dettah, a Yellowknives Dene community, a short cut on a road that exists only in winter. Lunch is sit-down in Old Town. In the afternoon we visit the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, the territory's museum, for the history of the Dene, Inuit and Métis peoples and the bush pilots and miners who followed. On departures before the ice road opens, we walk the Frame Lake trail instead. The evening's aurora outing follows dinner on your own.

   Included

   • Old Town and the Pilot's Monument with your guide
   • The Dettah ice road across Yellowknife Bay, when open
   • Sit-down lunch in Old Town
   • The Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre
   • Aurora outing at a heated camp with a licensed operator

   Easier option: Skip the steps up to the Pilot's Monument and wait in the van at the bottom, where the view of the bay is almost as good.

   Free time: Evening free for dinner before the aurora outing

   Activity: The ice road opens only when the ice is thick enough, often from late December or January into March; its dates are set each year by the territory.

6. Day 6: A free day on the lake and a last night out

   Yellowknife, at your own pace

   • Breakfast and dinner
   • Stay in Yellowknife
   Day 6 details

   After five nights of late outings, this day is yours. Sleep in, then choose how to spend the short daylight. You can head out onto Great Slave Lake for ice fishing from a heated hut, take a snowmobile across the frozen bays, or go dog sledding again with a Yellowknife kennel; your guide books whatever you pick and tells you the price before you commit. Others prefer a walk through downtown, a look inside the Legislative Assembly, whose round chamber reflects the territory's consensus government, or an afternoon with a book. In March, the Snowking Winter Festival builds a snow castle on the bay ice in Old Town, and it is worth an hour. In the evening we meet for a farewell dinner together, then the last aurora outing of the trip, the sixth, at the heated camp outside town.

   Included

   • Farewell dinner
   • Aurora outing at a heated camp with a licensed operator

   Optional experiences

   • Ice fishing on Great Slave Lake from a heated hut
   • Snowmobile tour on the frozen lake
   • Dog sledding with a Yellowknife kennel

   Free time: Day free until the farewell dinner

   

7. Day 7: Leave Yellowknife

   Downtown Yellowknife to Yellowknife Airport (YZF)

   • Drive about 12 min
   • Breakfast
   Day 7 details

   A late breakfast after the last night under the sky. Your guide collects the loaned winter clothing at the hotel and gathers anyone who wants a last walk to the lakeshore before checkout. Then we take the short drive, about 5 km, to Yellowknife Airport (YZF), where your guide checks your flight and sees you to the departures area before saying goodbye. Flights south leave for Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver, where you connect for home. Because the aurora outings run until about 2 am, book a flight leaving after about noon so the morning is not a rush. If you would like more time in the North, ask when you request to book and we will quote extra hotel nights in Yellowknife and further aurora outings or activities. No transfer or activity on this day starts before 8 am.

   Included

   • Drop-off at Yellowknife Airport (YZF)

   Free time: Morning free until the airport transfer

   Activity: Book a flight leaving after about noon.

Wildlife and weather: Late November and December bring the longest nights and the shortest days, and dog sledding depends on the snow. January and February are the coldest months, often -30 C at night in Yellowknife, with frozen lakes and the ice road usually open. March has much more daylight, milder days and still dark nights; the aurora is possible on any dark, clear night through the season, and cloud is what most often hides it.

• Whitehorse3 nights
• Yellowknife3 nights