At the beginning of every year, I sit down with a calendar (and my Milky Way Trip Planner) and map out the big photo trips I want to take for the year. Even if my trips are mostly local, I like to carve some time out for them alongside family trips, stuff for the kids, and such. This year, I was very fortunate to be able to plan a trip to visit Kluane Lake National Park in the Yukon, with my good friends from Offbeat. I’ve always had the Yukon on my bucket list. When I visit a new place, I often go into it with some sort of preconceived notion about what it will be like. I was totally blown away by the small slice of the Yukon I visited. The landscape is beautiful and has a lot of diversity (as you’ll see below). More than that though, the people were wonderful. Every Yukoner (and visitor) I met was lovely and welcoming, and it was refreshing to be among great company in such a beautiful place.

My trip began with a flight from Vancouver to Whitehorse. In Whitehorse, I picked up what was arguably the worst rental car I’ve ever had. I’ve been in the north before and am used to cars being a little banged up, but this car looked like Richard Hammond had taken it for a test drive, and featured three extremely large cracks directly in the field of view, bad alignment, a bearing going out, and to top it off, was bright blue and just plain ugly. No matter though, as it was serviceable, and after a quick stop in town to purchase a new ironing board, I was soon on my way to my first stop, the Mt. Logan Lodge just west of Haines Junction. This lodge was absolutely wonderful and an incredible base for the Haines Junction area! I stayed in the very cool and comfortable Mt. Archibald Pod, which was a little freestanding cabin perfect for one or two. The cabin was just a short walk from the main lodge, where Roxanne, the lodge owner, had breakfast and dinner made every day. The food and hospitality were phenomenal, and it was a great place to relax!

On my first afternoon there, Roxanne recommended a hike to the Alsek River Valley, just a 5 minute drive from the lodge. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I thought I’d give it a try. The hike was on a 4x4 road to a large meadow with a beautiful view of the surrounding mountains. I enjoyed walking through the meadow and admiring the surrounding peaks. I was lucky that a couple from Oregon had parked their converted school bus in the meadow too, which made for a great photo subject. The road further up the valley was blocked by the high water of the river, but that was alright, as I was happy with just a short walk before dinner. After dinner, I took a drive down to Kathleen Lake, about 30 minutes away, to meet up with another participant that was joining the main part of my trip at Kluane Lake in a few days. We talked and enjoyed photographing the sunset, and although the light wasn’t great, it was still a beautiful area!

I had a full day to explore the next day, and decided to head up to Kluane Lake to do a hike. Roxanne had given me another hike recommendation in the area, Sheep Mountain. A climbers trail leads from the Alaska Highway more or less straight up a ridge to the summit, where Dahl Sheep can often be found. It was steep, but I’m no stranger to steep, and I enjoyed the solitude as I made my way up the ridge. About 1/4 of the way up though, my knees starting giving me trouble - a few years back, right at the beginning of the pandemic, I hurt them both in separate incidents and sometimes they can flare up in ways that give me a lot of pain on steep and loose terrain. This was both, as I was about to start up a steep talus field. I was alone and didn’t want to start my trip in the hospital, so I decided to play it safe, head down, and try a different hike, up Sheep Creek.

Looking back towards the lake from just below my turnaround point. You can see the island and the salt and mud flats that feature prominently later in this story.

By contrast, Sheep Creek was a freeway, a large, well-maintained trail through the boreal forest and eventually popping out above treeline. Unlike the other places I had been so far, here I saw quite a few people, as it’s one of the more popular hikes in the area, although “quite a few people” in Yukon terms wasn’t very many people at all. I was hoping to see some wildlife on this hike, but aside from a couple of birds, I had to settle for no wildlife and some great views. Being above treeline in this part of the world is really unique, as you’re often in the willow thickets and can’t see very far close to you, but can see off in the distance for quite a ways. My turnaround point was a great rock at the end of the official trail, where I enjoyed my lunch in the fierce wind. All in all, a great day out.

The A’ay Chu river flows into Kluane Lake, seen here far below from high up on Sheep Creek. It was a very cloudy, rather moody day at times.

Two hikers far up on the ridge above. From my turnaround point, one can access Sheep Mountain along a long ridge.

The next morning was my last morning at the Mount Logan Lodge. My next stop was the Yukon Lake Cabins on the shore of Kluane Lake, and since I didn't have to be there until 3pm, I decided to take a drive south out of Haines Junction towards the BC/Yukon border. This area is quite different from the valley that the Alaska Highway follows, and climbs a high pass with incredible views and ever-changing scenery. I made it as far south as Million Dollar Falls, which was both a waterfall and a campsite. There were lots of places in this area to stop and admire the views and take some photos, and it was a great way to spend the day. But soon it was time to head back towards Kluane Lake, and the next phase of my trip!

The scene near the summit of the pass I stopped at. Trees and mountains for miles, and not a trace of human civilization except the road I was on.

This image nicely illustrates the transition from the brush (mostly willow) to the scree, with lots of steep ridges.

The cabins on the shore of Kluane Lake were in a stunning setting. Our group had the whole camp to ourselves! The cabins were comfortable, and the food was also excellent. After everyone had arrived, we made plans to head over to the south end of Kluane Lake where there’s a large sand and mud flat that features some sand dunes, not unlike what you might see in Death Valley. So cool to have a literal desert environment at 60 degrees north surrounded by tall mountain peaks! When we arrived, the wind was blowing hard, and we found ourselves in a sandstorm. Although the conditions were adverse to comfort, they were wonderful for the camera. The flying dust and sand made for some incredibly moody images just as the sun was setting. Of course, I brought out the ironing board and did a little ironing in the middle of the flats! One of our trip leaders, Kris, was also persuaded to do a little sand surfing on the ironing board too! After the sun had set, I had sand everywhere, but was incredibly happy with the images.

Sandstorm ironing! I set up my camera on a tripod and with an interval timer to get this image, and naturally got a bunch. What’s interesting is that every image looks totally different because of how the sand was flowing across the dunes. It was a lot of fun, but very sandy.

I have a lot of dune images, but I especially love the texture of the sand blowing on the dark part of this one.

Of course, the day was not over yet. After a quick stop lakeshore to photograph more of the sunset and a meal at the lodge, we started a fire in the fire pit to chat and enjoy the atmosphere. Our fire pit was short lived, however, as we quickly spotted the aurora making an early evening appearance. We grabbed our stuff and headed down to the lakeshore. There was a small, derelict boat along the shore of the lake which made a great photo subject. The aurora that evening was subtle for the north, but beautiful and relatively stable, which meant I had time to run back to the car and grab my ironing board for an aurora ironing shot!

The next morning, we were all up early to head back out onto the mud and salt flats, this time closer to the lake. Here again, the mud flats reminded me of the ones you find in Death Valley, and I had a great time exploring the patterns and textures in the flat and watching the sun come up. It was still really windy, just like the night before, and as the sun came up, I realized that there was quite a bit of dust in the air from the sand dunes a couple of kilometers south. The wind and sun were in a perfect position to add some incredible “god rays” to a stand of tall trees on an island in the middle of the lake. These were some of the most intense rays I’ve ever seen, as the sun was directly behind the trees and the sand and dust was in front of and in-between them. It was a phenomenal scene, and I was very glad I had the 100-500 along as getting closer wasn’t an option due to the position of the river. It was really quite an incredible morning!

Crazy sunbeams in trees on the island lit by the rising sun. Such incredible light that morning.

Layers of color in the sandstorm at sunrise.

Those sunbeams again, but in black and white.

The rest of the day we spent exploring different areas on the lakeshore, winding our way north, but turning around before we were too far from the cabins. We wound our way back to the cabins and eventually found ourselves back out on the beach where we were the night before. I went and explored an area where a small creek drained into the lake, and found some really interesting scenes right as the sun set. From this position, Sheep Mountain dominated the horizon and provided an excellent visual anchor for my lakeshore images. I also did a little bit of scouting and added a couple of GPS waypoints for later - I knew that the aurora forecast was looking quite strong, and when the sun set, I wanted to return to this spot. I had found a reasonably large calm area of water that might make for a nice reflection.

Where the river meets the lake at sunset. I came back to this place at night too!

Once again, we had dinner and started the fire pit, and once again the aurora showed up early. The nearly full moon was rising, but that didn’t matter, as the aurora was extremely bright. Everyone quickly gathered their gear and rushed out to the beach. Even though the sun hadn’t fully set yet and it was still relatively light out, the aurora was strong and plainly visible, even to the naked eye. As the sun set, it only got stronger. We were treated to a phenomenal aurora show, probably the best one I’ve seen. The colors were easily visible to the naked eye, but made even better by the camera (the camera picks up color better). Tons of movement and color, in all parts of the sky. I even managed to get quite a few shots of the aurora directly overhead, which had been a bucket list shot of mine for a long time. The show lasted for a long time, probably two hours, and I found myself often with my camera just running and taking images while I sat back and enjoyed it with my own eyes. It was a really spectacular experience!

Suggestion: try to look at these images on a bigger screen, as a phone doesn’t really do them justice!

A sky full of aurora over Sheep Mountain.

Green and purple opposing each other as the storm kicks up.

I am a serious photographer. I am also not ashamed to admit that the first thing I said when I saw this was “it looks like a giant 8==D” :D

More reflection as the aurora goes into a slight lull on the left, but is strong as ever on the right.

The next day, we all slept in a bit since we were out late shooting aurora, and after breakfast found our way down to Kathleen Lake again. I had visited previously at sunset, but during the day provided a different look that suited both black and white and long exposure photography. It was fun to explore the lake with a different perspective and I came away with many images I liked. I was also excited because a thunderstorm was developing to the north and east of the lake, and after we left the lake, we were treated to some incredibly dramatic clouds over a river. The distant rain and the play of light on the mountains looked rather apocalyptic!

One light hill, one dark hill, and a thunderstorm.

After we finished in that area, we headed back through the stormy weather to the cabins. It got quite cold on the way back, and when we were only a few kilometers from the cabins, we all pulled over because a fresh coat of snow had fallen on Sheep Mountain, and the light was hitting it in an incredible way. It was an amazing scene, as the clouds were still swirling about, giving it a very foreboding vibe. We continued exploring the area to take advantage of the conditions, stopping again near the sand dunes to see the fresh snow on the surrounding peaks. Even when we were back at the cabin, the interplay of snow, clouds, and light continued. A distant peak covered in snow on the other side of the lake made for one of my favorite images from the trip just because of the light and color! We were planning to head down to the beach again to shoot more at sunset, but the lodge owner had spotted an old and emaciated grizzly bear in the area that wasn’t very interested in leaving, so we decided a relaxing evening in the lodge was a better choice than being bear food!

Sheep Mountain with a fresh coat of snow. This scene made our entire line of cars pull over and stop!

This mountain we could see from camp pretty often, but it had a fresh coat of snow when we arrived.

I really love this image for the texture and the colors. It reminds me of something but I can pin what it is.

For my final day at the lake, we headed back out to the sand dunes and mud flats, to shoot sunrise in entirely different conditions. There weren’t any clouds in the sky, but the alpenglow was strong and I enjoyed exploring the flats and the backwaters of the river that flowed through them. There was still a fresh coat of snow on most of the mountains so they were especially reflective of the alpenglow. As the sun came up, the colors changed again and the same scenes took on a new look. I even broke out my inflatable unicorn rider costume for another ironing shot on the dunes! Back at the lodge, we said our goodbyes and packed up our things for the drive back to Whitehorse. But the lake had one more surprise in store for us - the grizzly bear the lodge owner had spotted the day prior had popped out of the willows, and we were able to get a few long-distance shots of him rummaging around in the brush. It was a great way to end the trip!

Just a little unicorn ironing in a big world!

Overall, the Yukon was an incredible place, and I am already thinking about a return trip. The variety of scenery I encountered was very surprising. At times, I remarked how much it was like photographing either in the desert, or on the coast, but at other times, it felt like shooting in the mountains an hour from my house. And of course there’s lots more to explore, as I only scratched the surface on the far southern reaches of the territory. Further north there’s even more variety! The thing that really sticks with me though are the people. I was fortunate to share meals and cabins and cars and shooting locations and once-in-a-lifetime experiences with some really kind folks. I hope our paths cross again sometime!

I hope you’ve enjoyed these photos and hearing about how I made them. If you see anything here that you think might look good on your wall, or any other image on my site, you can get a print made and shipped to you! I’m eagerly looking forward to printing several of the images here to hang in my own home!

Journal

Heading North: Yukon and Kluane Lake