Land of the Midnight Sun

This summer, Michelle and I hitched up our teardrop trailer and traveled 2,500 kilometers to Tombstone Territorial Park in the Yukon so that I could experience my dream of seeing the midnight sun and arctic tundra.

Tombstone Territorial Park is only 300 kilometers from the Arctic Circle; at that latitude, the sun barely sets during the summer, and the arctic tundra becomes the dominant ecosystem. To get there from Edmonton, you must travel the Alaska Highway to Whitehorse, then turn north onto the Klondike Highway to Dawson before turning onto the Dempster Highway that heads toward the Arctic Ocean.

Our trip took ten days, camping at small campsites and stopping at Whitehorse and Dawson along the way. The route traveled through long stretches of sparsely populated wilderness with hundreds of kilometers between each small community. It ascended and descended steep hills and valleys, snaked around mountains, crossed rivers, hugged long narrow lakes, and passed boreal forests stretching to the horizon. Along the way, we spotted caribou, moose, mountain sheep, deer, bison, and both black bears and grizzly bears.

The last leg of the journey to Tombstone Territorial Park is a 90-kilometer drive down the Dempster Highway, an 800-kilometer gravel road that leads to Inuvik in the Northwest Territories — the only highway in Canada that crosses the Arctic Circle. Vehicles that venture down this highway must be able to withstand the punishment inflicted by the gravel road and bring extra fuel and spare tires to travel the entire distance. Although Michelle and I traveled only a small portion of the highway, we encountered a motorhome pulled over with a flat tire, and our teardrop trailer was damaged by flying rocks.

The campsite at Tombstone is located just below the treeline, next to a stream fed by melting snow from the surrounding mountains. When we arrived, mountain flowers were in full bloom, and we could hear unfamiliar bird songs emanating from the trees next to the campsite. The only blemish upon our arrival was the haze from a forest fire that partially obscured the view of the mountains.

After we unhitched the trailer, we ended our northern journey by driving further down the Dempster Highway and hiking the Goldenside trail. The hike to reach the mountain ridge is not strenuous but it is one that I will always remember. Tombstone Territorial Park’s tundra landscape was nothing like anything I had seen after over forty years of hiking in the Rocky Mountains: its mountains were more jagged, and instead of being covered with forests, they were carpeted with colorful lichen and arctic shrubs. I looked in awe at the scenery, taking in the full panoramic view. It was so stunning that I did not want to leave.

Was all the driving worth it? Absolutely. Experiencing the vastness and beauty of the northern Canadian wilderness will be something I will always remember. Someday I want to return to Yukon, this time bringing my backpack along to experience Tombstone Territorial Park’s backcountry.