Canoeing the Thirty-Mile / Yukon Rivers, YT, CANADA: Lake Laberge > Dawson City

For the Fascinating CANADIAN History

LOGISTICS (YT, CANADA)

Designation: THIRTY MILE is a Canadian Heritage River
Canadian Heritage Rivers: YUKON (Thirty-Mile)

Van Shuttle: With UP NORTH Adventures from Whitehorse > Deep Creek, Lake Laberge

Water Taxi: With Up North from Deep Creek > (near the start of the) Thirty Mile River

Tandem Canoe: Lower Lake Laberge > Dawson City - CII, 11 days, 608 kms

Van Shuttle: With Up North from Dawson City > Whitehorse
Event: 38th Wedding Anniversary
DVD Available: Get copy from Store

View Thirty Mile / Yukon River(s) in a larger map

We chose this trip because of the pioneer and Goldrush history the river still offers up ... machinery from another time, sunken and dry-land riverboats, abandoned settlements, a restored and active HBC fort, a colourful historic town (Dawson City) at the take-out and the additional opportunity to paddle on another Canadian Heritage River.

THIRTY - MILE

YUKON

The Yukon River is a major watercourse of northwestern North America. The source of the river is located in British Columbia, Canada. The next portion lies in, and gives its name to Yukon Territory. The lower half of the river lies in the U.S. State of Alaska. The river is 1,980 miles (3,190 km) long and empties into the Bering Sea at the Yukon-Kuskokwin Delta.The average flow is 6,430 m³/s (227,000 ft³/s).The total drainage area is 832,700 km² (321,500 mi²), of which 323,800 km² (126,300 mi²) is in Canada. By comparison, the total area is more than 25% larger than Texas or Alberta. The longest river in Yukon Territory and Alaska, it was one of the principal means of transportation during the 1896–1903 Klondike Gold Rush. 

A portion of the river —"The Thirty Mile" section, from Lake Laberge to the Teslin River is a Canadian Heritage River and a unit of Klondike Gold Rush Historical Park. Paddle-wheel riverboats continued to ply the river until the 1950s, when the Klondike Highway was completed. After the purchase of Alaska by the United States in 1867, the Alaska Commercial Fishery acquired the assets of the Russion-American Company and constructed several posts at various locations on the Yukon River.

Yukon means "great river" in Gwich’in The river was called Kuigpak, or "big river", in Central Yup’ik The Lewes River is the former name of the upper course of the Yukon, from Marsh Lake to the confluence of the Pelly River at Fort Selkirk.

THIRTY MILE / YUKON Photography