Geography

Situated on the Yukon River, one of the longest rivers in Canada, is Whitehorse, the capital city of the Yukon and the most northwestern territory of Canada.

Just 130 km inland from the Pacific Ocean, Whitehorse, Yukon has an elevation of 640 m (at km 1,476 of the Alaska Hwy), and is laid out on a level river shelf of land bordering a wide bend on the west bank of the Yukon River. It is a cosmopolitan city in the midst of pristine wilderness and big game country, with an abundance of grizzly, brown and black bear, moose, barrenground and woodland caribou, mountain goat, dall and stone sheep, as well as a host of other species of wildlife.

Known as the "Wilderness City", it is surrounded by hiking trails in all directions, with routes from the Klondike Gold Rush firmly embedded in the landscape.  With the Yukon River flowing right through town, it is a major tourist destination, offering a wide variety of adventure tours in the breathtaking wilderness that surrounds the thriving city.

The Yukon can be divided into two broad geographical regions: taiga and tundra. Taiga is the boreal forest belt that circles the world in the subarctic zone, including most of the Yukon. Tundra is the vast, rocky plain in the Arctic regions, where the extreme climate has stunted vegetation.

In the long sunny days of the summer months, the landscape is painted with bright colours of nearly 500 varieties of flowers and shrubs found in the Yukon, including the brightest in July, the purple Fireweed. In the dark winter months, the northern lights flare up the sky.

Also known as "The Land of the Midnight Sun", Whitehorse has a population of approximately 25,000 people, and is one of the largest cities in the world in terms of area, at 413 square km. Despite its northern location, it has a subarctic climate. The high altitude of much of the territory and the semi-arid climate provide relatively warm summers with temperatures frequently reaching 25C or more during the long summer days.  In winter the temperature ranges between +4 and -50C in the south and slightly colder farther north.

Just 160 km west of Whitehorse is Kluane National Park and Reserve of Canada, covering an area of 21,980 square kilometers. Home to Mount Logan, the highest mountain in Canada and the second highest peak in North America, this park also boasts the world's largest non-polar ice fields, and lush lower valleys that protect the greatest diversity of plant and wildlife in northern Canada.

See for yourself the amazing landscape that surrounds the city of Whitehorse, Yukon.