June 18, 2025 - Driving to Alaska
Yukon River, Whitehorse, Yukon
Obviously, it was required that we go visit the S.S. Klondike.  To our dismay, it was under renovation, and we couldn't go aboard.
   
This is actually the second sternwheeler named Klondike.  Sternwheelers were ideal for operating on the Yukon River due to their shallow draft.  Both Klondikes ran freight between Whitehorse and Dawson City, along the Yukon River, the first from 1929 to 1936 and the second, an almost exact replica of the first, from 1937 to 1950.
 
A road from Whitehouse to Dawson city was finished in 1955 and that ended the riverboat era.   Today, only two White Pass sternwheelers remain intact, both designated as national historic sites: the S.S. Klondike and the S.S. Keno in Dawson City.
 
Two workers were doing something on the sternwheeler.
   
Looking south down the river.
   
Lynnette stops to smell the roses.  Except they're not roses.
   
Leaving the S.S. Klondike, we headed south down the Alaska Highway to visit Miles Canyon.
 
This area is hiking paradise!
 
Seaplanes operate out of Schwatka Lake, just east of Whitehorse.
   
Our first glimpse of the Miles Canyon through which the Yukon River flows.  Here looking south.
 
   
 
   

Looking north.

The basalt rock here in the canyon is resistant to lateral erosion and does not allow the river to meander.  This channels the water and increases the water significantly.  This part of the Yukon River was not navigable during the Klondike Road Rush of 1898.
   

Looking south.

The river looks peaceful now but Miles Canyon and White Horse rapids were once most dangerous obstacles on the entire Yukon River.  Tramways were built on both sides of the river during the gold rush.  In 1959, a dam was built just north of here at the top of Schwatka Lake harnassed the rapids and raised the water levels in the canyon , eliminating a huge eddy.
   
There are trails on both sides of the river; this would be a good place to spend the day hiking.
   
I'm not a big fan of suspension bridges.
   
 
   
Looking down at Miles Canyon and the Yukon River.
   
 
   
We took a back road back to Whitehorse and discovered Schwatka.  And the seaplane bases.
   

This is the place to come to get your seaplane ride.

And so ended our Whitehorse sightseeing.  There is definately a lot to do in Whitehorse.  At least a full day is required.
   
 
   
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