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Yukon Wildlife Viewing & Horsepack Trip in Canada
7 days
This week features a complete and engaging wildlife viewing adventure on horseback. To make carrying much easier we use pack horses for the trip. Be prepared to catch your own lunch of fish from the streams and creeks along the way. Experienced staff will guide you through the pristine wilderness in the coastal mountains of Southern Yukon. On the trail we will spend nights in trapper cabins and wall tents.
Join us on a horseback safari adventure into the wild mountains and valleys of the true north. On our journeys we specialize in finding, observing and photographing the northern wildlife, including Grizzly bears, Wolves, Moose, Wood Bison, Dall sheep, Mountain Goats and Caribou.
Dates:
31 May 2007 to 26 Sept 2008 Departs every Saturday 2 - 6 guests per guide
Single room in Whitehorse Can $116.63 + gst add. Double room in Whitehorse Can.$126.63 + gst add
How This Trip Makes a Difference:
The experience staged here is fittingly harmonized with this land’s history and the meeting of cultures it has made possible since the Gold Rush days. The ranch offers simple comforts without running water nor electricity. We use propane lighting; we burn wood for heat, much like the first visitors of European stock did in the late 19th century. If the rugged northern landscape of the Yukon River basin maintains much of its wilderness character today, this operation only enhances it for visitors.
The trails we ride our horses on are natural animal trails, so we are not making or cutting trails over the land. We consistently draw on a “leave no trace” approach to the environment. If a fire is built, it is cleaned up. Conservation officers come out regularly to monitor our activities, which are licensed by a territorial wilderness tourism regulatory body which requires us to submit annual reports on everything from the number of guides we use and their qualifications, to the number of guests we take over the land and the specific areas we visit with them throughout the year. Trip duration and type, as well as any secondary activity we might engage in while guests are with us are also reported as part of this process.
The environmental impact of keeping the horse on the land is also monitored by an independent board of resource stakeholders which evaluates grazing lease applications on aspects like carrying capacity. If the board has concerns with our activities, it board raise them with us. Prior to structural improvements to the operation, a written proposal has to be submitted for review on any planned corrals, animal shelters or water supply works. This ensures we comply with regulations like the 100-meter minimum distance we respect when laying salt blocks in the vicinity of fish bearing streams.
Because of the way we run our trips, the Kwanlin Dunn First Nation allows us to travel over their land for part of our journeys. We, in turn, give them access to our land. Travel on horseback is an integral element of the local culture throughout Yukon. It allows travellers to look at the land through a different lens, one that engages participants in a profound manner; one that capitalizes on the ancestral relationship between humans and their domesticated equine partners.
Most of the guides are native and long-time residents of the area, they keep coming back to lead trips year after year because of the income, but also because of the opportunity this responsible tourism offering provides the staff and guests to help preserve a tradition that is very much part of the cultural fabric of the Yukon Territory.
Included in Price:
- Transfer to & from Whitehorse
- Last night accommodation in Whitehorse (1night - double room)
- Accommodation in cabins (2 nights - double room), tent outpost camps (1 night shared accommodations), trapper cabin ( 2 nights shared accommodations.)
- All meals including non alcoholic beverages (except dinner day 6 & breakfast day 7 in Whitehorse)
- Use of camping equipment, horses, saddles & tack.
Not included in Price:
- Alcoholic beverages (we buy jointly before tour)
- Camping clothing. Rental of jacket, pants & sleeping bag - $25 Can/item payable upon arrival in cash/visa/travelers cheques.
- Meals in restaurants (dinner day 6, breakfast day 7)
- All expenses of a personal nature.
- We point out that unforeseeable circumstances such as weather conditions, extreme temperatures or illness of the horses may force us to change this itinerary
Package Price: 1860.00 Can./Person 0.00 U.S./Person Currency Converter
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Location: Yukon, Canada Weather: Warm summers cold winters |
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Day 1 Sunday:
Arrival at the Airport in Whitehorse. You will be picked up by our van and we will make a short tour to show you the town of Whitehorse. Here you also have the chance to do some shopping. Afterwards we drive along the Alaska Highway for a 20 minute drive up fish lake road to the base camp at the ranch. You move into your cozy cabin or double room in the main lodge.
You will be shown around as you get a feel for the rich history of Fish Lake. We introduce you to the horses and give you instruction on how to care for and saddle them.
Lunch in the main Lodge. Depending on the weather and time of the day we saddle up the horses and go for a short first ride. After taking care of the horses we enjoy a hearty meal. Overnight at the ranch. (L,D)
Day 2 Monday:
We feed the horses and saddle them up at around 11 a. m. - just the slight sound of the horses and nature around us.
You get to know your horse and start to form a personal relationship. With every stop, and praise for the horse, they learn to trust you and you to trust them.
We will go for an aproximately 3 hour ride to Bonneville lakes for lunch to try some hills before we make our excursion back to the Ranch, where we stay overnight. (B,L,D)
Day 3 Tuesday:
Today we get the pack horses loaded up with all our camping gear and food, and say good bye to civilization. The trail is going steady up and over Mount McIntyre to our working trapper's cabin near Coal Lake. This base camp is rich in history and is still used in the winter for camping and trapping. Overnight in Trapper Cabin or set up your tent or sleep by the fire. (B,L,D)
Day 4 Wednesday:
After a hearty breakfast, the horses are brought up and prepared for the day - the pack animals can be left to graze for the day.
We go up to Coal Lake. If people wish we can take a short fishing break ( lake trout and grayling are easily caught here) before heading up to Moose Flats (and weather permitting) to the top of Double Mountain, were we can have lunch while we observe the world far below.
We circle a high mountain lake usually seeing moose and caribou.
Then we ride the ledges overlooking Coal Lake before heading back down to the cabin for another night. Overnight at Trapper cabin (B,L,D)
Day 5 Thursday:
Horses will be brought up after breakfast and pack horses will be packed for the trail. We will ride down Coal Lake.
The wet lands at the south end of Coal Lake are a series of beaver ponds. We will skirt the edges of this and ride along Friday Creek surrounded by alpine tundra. It is edged by grass meadows with lots of wild flowers surrounded by alder and willow, which will make a sweet smelling fire for cooking meals.
Mountain sheep, moose, caribou, and bears are often seen in this area. We will ride down the valley beside Ibex Mountain to our wall tent camp.(B,L,D)
Day 6 Friday:
For people that can't sleep, you can get up early to watch a sunrise which in June is at about the same time as the sunset. Again we pack the horses to make the fairly long trip back to Sky High, only stopping for lunch, (this time going to the west of Fish Lake to complete the full circle). We will unload the horses and brush them down one last time before saying good bye. You are driven back to town to the hotel to enjoy your last night in Whitehorse.
Day 7 Saturday:
The hotel Van brings you to the airport for your southbound flight or you can join another adventure in the Whitehorse area; canoing, biking or hiking. Or come on back up to the ranch!
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