Teslin River Canoe Adventure

Imagine canoeing down the historic Teslin and Yukon River on a professionally guided canoe trip adventure through the very places where the Klondike Gold rush took place over 100 years ago. Explore the remnants of many of the original log cabins, buildings and paddlewheelers that still dot her wilderness shoreline from the days of the goldrushers.

During the goldrush the Teslin / Yukon River became the secondary route to the gold fields. It was favored by those who wanted to avoid the Chilkoot Trail and the hazardous White Horse Rapids.

High white clay cliffs, islands, backeddies full of inconnu and Arctic grayling, oxbows, sloughs and panoramas of the Big Salmon Range to the north, highlight this river. Good populations of moose, grizzly bear, black bear and wolf leave their tracks along sand and gravel bars. The river is a major migratory route in early spring and late autumn for trumpeter and tundra swans.

Teslin River Canoe Trip - Itinerary

Whitehorse
We pick you up at the airport and take you to the downtown hotel. We meet in the evening for an orientation meeting. The tour guide will introduce himself and answers any last minute questions.

Whitehorse to Johnson's Crossing
After breakfast and a last minute check of your gear, we will head off to our starting point to Johnson’s Crossing on the Alaska Highway, where the Teslin River winds its way through the mountains of the Southern Yukon towards the confluence with the Yukon River. There we will spend the rest of the day learning to pack and paddle our canoes. The evening is yours to relax and listen to the sounds of the crackling campfire or try your hand at some evening fishing.

Canoeing Teslin / Yukon River
The next few days will be spent enjoying the spectacular mountains that are all around us as we flow downstream with the current. The Teslin, in its initial stage, is wide and the current slow. At 100 Mile Creek the character of the river changes. The wide open river valley disappears, the river narrows, and the willow covered marshes give way to a shoreline of spruce trees and clay banks.

The additional volume from the Boswell, Swift and Indian Rivers results in more gravel bars and islands appearing. The river valley widens and large clay banks with distinctive eroded features called hoodoos become more frequent. It is in this stretch of river that we will experience "Roaring Bull Rapids". Other than a "rush", the rapids are not technical or dangerous.

We will arrive at Hootalinqua, where the Teslin River joins the Yukon River. Hootalinqua was an important depot, with NWMP post. Although the permanent population was never more than about a dozen, a telegraph station and trading store was located here. A number of buildings still stand.

As the river widens out at Hootalinqua, it takes on a completely different character - calmer. At Shipyard Island we will stop to see the 130-foot Evelyn. She was built by the Bratnober Company in Seattle in 1908 - working for the Upper Tanana Trading Company and then the huge North American Trading & Transportation Company (NAT & T), she supplied the trading posts along the tributaries of the lower Yukon River until 1913.

Wildlife encounters along the river are quite common, and one can expect to see moose, caribou, wolf and eagle. During August and September, thousands of salmon spawn in the Teslin River, and grizzly bears are often seen. In the evenings we`ll set up camp along the river banks or on gravel bars. Meals are cooked on the open camp fire, and fresh Arctic grayling, salmon and northern pike may be added to the menu. Evenings under the midnight sun on the shores of the river will prolong the enjoyment of this great adventure. Hiking trips into the mountains and creek valleys can round out an exciting river journey.

Carmacks to Whitehorse
We arrive in the town of Carmacks, we’ll be at the end of our wonderful river journey that has taken us more than 370 kilometers of Yukon’s pristine wilderness. A 2.5 hour drive takes us back to Whitehorse and we have the time to see more of the Yukon and to reflect back on the time well spent on your wilderness adventure.



Optional: Continue to Dawson City
After a layover day in Carmacks we will be picked up and driven to Minto, about an hour past Carmacks. We will load our canoes and begin retracing the Klondike adventure to Dawson City.

The sight of Fort Selkirk on a high bank remains one of the trip's highlights. The Hudson's Bay Company established it in 1848. We plan to spend a second day at Fort Selkirk. The area has some hiking trails and plenty of history to explore. Fort Selkirk has long been a gathering place for First Nation peoples. Stone tools discovered near this site have been dated to 10,000 years old.

Once past Fort Selkirk, the surrounding country is at least as impressive as ever. Certainly there is no shortage of historic sites along the banks.

The White River sees a dramatic difference in the colour (and the sound) of the Yukon River. The colour is the result of a combination of glacial silt, and ash from a volcanic eruption about 1,250 years ago. The ash layer now makes a convenient dating tool for archeologists at sites throughout most of the south and central Yukon.

At Stewart City the river is slowly reclaiming the site. The Stewart River, which joins the Yukon near Stewart City, was one of the earliest of the Yukon's placer mining areas. As we get closer to Dawson, a number of old woodcamps and homesteads have been taken over by new owners and new cabins have been built to replace the old ones. The relatively fertile islands were particularly popular spots for combined wood-cutting/farming operations. Little or nothing remains at most of these sites. Some have been lost to river erosion, or were moved to new locations when the original site was no longer viable.

The anticipation heightens with each bend in the river as we near Dawson City. This same thrill and anticipation must have been present with the Klondike goldrushers after their long journey. Finally the Dome, Dawson's well-known landmark, can be seen in the distance.

We should arrive in Dawson City in the late morning/early afternoon. We will stay at a hostel in Dawson City. Plans are to take a short orientation tour of the town and the following day we drive to the original goldfields and the lookout.

Return to Whitehorse
We will leave Dawson after breakfast and return to Whitehorse, arriving late afternoon. Along the way we will stop at Braeburn Lodge, a.k.a. Cinnamon Bun Airstrip, for the largest, and best, cinnamon bun around.