Let me start by saying that we were in Whitehorse for less than 96 hours, so we only had time for two short hikes if we were wanting to complete everything on our to-do list.
Miles Canyon was the first sight-seeing activity we did when we got to Whitehorse. Notice how I said sight-seeing, because it was not the first thing we did in town. Our trip started at Mark’s (Work Wearhouse) because it was incredibly windy when we got to Whitehorse, and I did not bring a proper jacket. However, I am happy to report that $130 later, I had a new jacket (that I did not need – I have about 10 jackets at home) and a toque, and was ready to start exploring. And if you are wondering, I did check the weather prior to packing, but apparently I still did not clue in that it might be a good idea to be prepared and bring a warm-ish jacket.
Anyway, the first hike we did was Canyon City, which was a ~2.5km out-and-back hike in Miles Canyon. If I am being honest, it was more of a walk than a hike – there was very little incline and I would consider it to be an easy trail. To get to the start of the Canyon City trail, you need to cross over a suspension bridge.
The Canyon City trail offers two options – the first allows you to walk along the shoreline of the Yukon River, which is an absolutely stunning vibrant turquoise colour, and the second is a trail at a slightly higher elevation. We decided to take the higher elevation trail on the way to Canyon City, and walked along the shore on our way back.
According to the information sign, Canyon City was started during the gold rush and was connected to Whitehorse by a tramway. There is an information sign that illustrates what Canyon City used to look like, and visitors can see some remains of the city site (such as the old tramway). To be honest, I almost never read the information signs, whereas Justin wants to carefully inspect every single word. As I am writing this post, I am kind of wishing I paid attention to the information sign, or at the very least, I wish I had taken a picture of it to be able to provide a better explanation! Nevertheless, I would definitely recommend going on this short walk at Miles Canyon as it gives you the opportunity to experience a bit of the Canyon, and the peacefulness of the area. The alternative to this short trail is a much longer 15km hike, which we did not have time for, as it would have taken around three to four hours.
The second hike we did was called Hidden Lakes Loop. As the name suggests, this loop trail was around 4.5km long, and we encountered several smaller lakes along the hike. This was not a particularly difficult trail, but there were a couple hills that definitely increased my heart rate! It was a bit technical, with rocks and tree roots – as Justin likes to say, we almost went “flying” a few times when we were not paying attention to where we were going.
When we first arrived, we took in the views at the “main” lake before heading down the trail to our right. We could see a small bench on the hill across from where we were standing, which I thought would be a great photo op once we got to that point on the trail. The funny thing is that every corner we went around on the trail, I kept telling myself “the bench is here” and I would finally be able to fulfill by photo op… but we never found the bench! We found other benches, and several small lakes, but it turns out that the bench I was looking for was on a smaller loop trail around the “main” lake, so we never came across it.
Even though we did not find the bench, we really enjoyed this beautiful hike and could not have asked for better weather. If you are in the Whitehorse area, definitely head to the Hidden Lakes Loop to take in the beautiful scenery (but remember to always be nature aware)!
Always grateful,
Michelle
Exploring With Gratitude 