(Or visit. It’s beautiful, either way)
Getting to the Yukon can be a bit tricky, depending on how you travel. Both Air Canada and Air North have flights into Whitehorse, but only Air North gives you a warm cookie (yes, really)! They also offer a reduced connector fare rate with limited availability per flight. If you can get yourself as far as Vancouver or Edmonton, Air North can get you the rest of the way up here.
That said, it is a truly beautiful drive, weather permitting. Keep an eye on road conditions for the Alaska Highway (1) if you’re coming from the east or west and the Cassiar Highway (37) if you’re coming from the south.
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(Alaskans, you may also want to keep an eye on the North Klondike Highway (2), Top of the World Highway (9), and whether you can cross the Yukon River in Dawson City. If there’s no ferry and no ice bridge, you’ll have better luck coming down through Beaver Creek.)
The highlighted territory is the Yukon. Just in case you had us confused with the Northwest Territories (the one directly to the east of us) or Nunavut (the one just west of Greenland). No shame in that, by the way. It happens to other Canadians all the time.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Yukon/@64.4491735,-142.8878722,5z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x51178198b4528b89:0x2e149cd561cc96ea!8m2!3d64.2823274!4d-135!16zL20vMDg3cjQ?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDEyNS4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D
If you need access to American services, like USA mail boxes or bank businesses, beautiful Skagway, Alaska is just two hours south of Whitehorse.
It’s also the quickest way to access the Pacific Ocean, should the need arise.
If you’re worried about winter weather, I get it. -40 sounds really scary, in both Fahrenheit and Celsius.
Luckily, cold snaps tend to be relatively short in Whitehorse. A good coat and some extra layers will serve you well. Don’t be afraid to include ski goggles and balaclavas in your getup on cold days. We won’t judge.
While it does snow, the hardest part is just picking an appropriate vehicle to get you from A to B. All-Wheel Drive with decent all-season tires are usually adequate preparations for the snow, but you’ll want to get something to warm up your engine block during a cold snap.
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https://weather.gc.ca/provincialsummary_table/index_e.html?prov=YT&page=hourly
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(When checking the weather, keep in mind that Canadians use Celsius to describe the temperature. Water freezes at 0 and boils at 100)
It’s also really dark in the winter months. Sunsets around 4 p.m. with sunrises as late as 11 a.m. It is not uncommon to go to work in the dark and leave in the dark, no matter how long your shift is.
But the flip side to all of that is that things are the complete opposite in the summer. The Yukon is called the Land of the Midnight Sun for a reason, and that reason is that the sun will only set for a few hours starting at about 2 a.m. It’s not nearly as hot as it gets down south, but the air doesn’t cool off much over night. It’s also not as humid as other Canadian locales.