The Yukon actually wasn’t ever on my list of places I’d love to go, but if it weren’t for a friend I’d made in Nicaragua teaching up there for the last year, I never would have realized what I’d be missing out on! There is a rich (hah) history up there, with memories and remnants of the Gold Rush. Driving the Klondike Highway, part of the Dempster Highway, as well as the Top of the World Highway back through Alaska and thinking back to when it wasn’t cars that brought travelers and gold prospectors, but steamships and dogsleds, and feet. It was hard to grasp myself how vast the space was, when we had a vehicle! Pausing to think about that past, that was baffling.

Fun facts: population of the Yukon in 2019 was approximately 34,000, in an area 482,443 square km. That’s 0.1 persons per square kilometer, but most of those people live in Whitehorse, 416 square kilometers where there are 25,000 people. Beyond that, there’s just a whole ton of SPACE. Surreal. Beautiful. Virtually untouched.

For a few more photos and print options, visit Christa Nicole Photography on SmugMug.