Free Museum Day in Whitehorse

Whitehorse is the capital of the Yukon Territory, population 24,000. It sits on the Yukon River and developed, as much of the Yukon towns did, during the gold rush of 1898 as a supply base to the gold fields to the north.

On the way into town, we finally got some decent radio reception and we learned that because of the national holiday, Victoria Day, all museums would be free on the day of our arrival. With that enticement, we spent some time enjoying the Beringia Museum, which highlights the ancient history of the region when it was connected (with Alaska) to Russia. The museum has skeletons of all sorts of now-extinct beasts like mammoths, giant beavers and mega-sloths. More interesting; however, was the transportation museum, which gave excellent description, photos, and re-creations of all of the means of transport up to the gold fields.

At Whitehorse, one has the choice of heading west along the Alaska Highway into the interior of Alaska, south to Skagway, Alaska (at the head of the famous Inside Passage, where the cruise ships sail) or north to the Klondike, the infamous gold mining area. After seeing the xcellent exhibits in the museum about the gold-seekers making their way north from Skagway, we decided to head south for a side trip.