Miles Canyon Hiking and Canyon City (Whitehorse)

We were able to put together an 8 mile loop hiking to Miles Canyon on the Yukon River and the few remaining relics of Canyon City, just outside of the town of Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. We parked at a picnic area along the Schwatka Lake and began our hike. We got to watch a couple of float planes taking off on the lake. The trail meandered along the shore of the lake for a couple of miles before reaching the terminus of Miles Canyon. We followed the Rim Trail along the canyon which provided great views. Near the entrance of the canyon, where the Yukon River begins to narrow, is a suspension bridge which allows for folks who want a shorter walk to Canyon City to cut out some of the distance. It was still a 1.75 km hike from the suspension bridge parking lot (each way) to Canyon City on the Upper Canyon Trail. There are several steep terrain changes, including a short scramble. This hike is not for folks with any mobility issues.

Float plane viewed from trail

Dam seen from parking area

Miles Canyon

Suspension Bridge over Miles Canyon

We finally reached Canyon City, nestled on a quiet eddy and found little evidence that a small settlement was once there, outside of a pile of well rusted cans. Our more exciting find was a steel wheeled tram which used to be pulled by horses to guide boats safely through Miles Canyon and the White Horse Rapids for the Klondike Gold Rush between 1897 and 1900. Prior to this, the area was used as a First Nation fish camp site.

Relics at Canyon City

Tram used to tow boats at Canyon City

Wooded trail through aspen stand

We used the “red” trail to get back to our parking spot. The hike had some nice open stretches and also some wooded stretches, including aspen and spruce areas. We saw a lot of Arctic Lupine and some mushrooms. There were some other flowers beginning to bloom as well. We had great weather with sunny skies for our first hike in the Yukon Territory. We watched a young eagle fishing and saw several ducks, including common mergansers.