The south end of the beach at Hua Hin, Thailand.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Hua Hin, Thailand.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Maldives on March 23rd.

Friday, June 22, 2018

Fantastic scenic flight over Yukon's jagged Tombstone Mountain Range

We had to be at Dawson City Airport for 8:45am Thursday morning. The airport is located about 17 kms (10.5 miles) east of town, so we gave ourselves about a half an hour to get there just to be on the safe side. We parked up Sherman at the area where it said "No Overnight RV Camping", but of course we weren't parking overnight.

It's a big enough airport considering the town of Dawson City has only about 2,000 permanent residents. Although they say that the population goes down to about 800 during he winter! Air North does regular flights to Whitehorse from here, as well as Inuvik and also other communities that are only accessible by air.

But for our particular flight this day, we were looking for the offices of Great River Air.

Dawson City and the immediate area certainly isn't flat, but there aren't really what you would call "mountains" here either. The nearest mountains are a jagged range called the Tombstone Mountains which start about 40 kms (25 miles) north of Dawson City. When we begin heading up the Dempster Highway (likely on Sunday) our first stop will be Tombstone Territorial Park where we plan to doing some hiking in the Tombstone Mountains.

We were really excited to do this flight, because it would give us a different perspective on what we will be seeing from the ground when we're hiking next week.

We found our pilot Gord, and he brought us out to the small 4 seater airplane.

Ruth, ready to go!

The first thing of interest that we saw was the tailings left over from the dredging of the Klondike River that happened between 1913 and 1959.

Left over tailings from Dredge #4.

It's taken over 50 years for some greenery to start to grow.

The town of Dawson City from the air. 
The Yukon River is muddy, but the Klondike River is clear.

Looking south, you can see the Klondike Highway and the pools left over from the dredging.

The Yukon River.

That's where we're heading!

The entire flight from the airport to the mountains was spent climbing in altitude. The mountains are at 7,000 ft, so we needed to get at least that high to get over and around them!

Still climbing.

Scenery along the way.

Now we're getting up there.

And of course while you are climbing, the mountains are getting higher and so it seems like you're not climbing.

Wow. We love the mountains.

Jagged rocky peaks.

Now, we're flying in between the peaks.

I honestly didn't expect us to be flying so close to the peaks. But we were really lucky and there were no weather issues or turbulence and the skies were very smooth so our expert pilot Gord was able to fly fairly close to the rocks. I was in the back seat because there are windows that open for camera access and I just had a big grin on my face. I love flying, and I love the mountains so this was the  best of both worlds combined.

Our little four seater airplane sure seemed tiny up there!

This is the actual Tombstone Mountain.

Yukon mountains.

Looking back at Tombstone Mountain.

Wow. Beautiful.

Mount Monolith.

Still lots of snow up here.

Mount Monolith from a different angle.

More scenery.

Things are getting greener in the valleys.

Still frozen. When it thaws, it will have a beautiful greeny blue color.

Looking north, the Dempster Highway. 
We will be taking this road when we leave here.

Back on the ground.

Absolutely amazing. And even more special to us because we will be viewing these same mountains from the ground while hiking Tombstone Territorial Park in upcoming days.

You can book your own scenic Air Tour in the Yukon by contacting The Klondike Experience at (867) 993-3821 or [email protected]

Huge thanks to Yukon Tourism for supporting this adventure so that we can show you how beautiful and rugged the Yukon is. They've got more adventures coming up for us over the next six weeks or so, so stay tuned!


33 comments:

  1. W...O...W.. !!! just WOW .. breathtakingly beautiful !

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    Replies
    1. It was an amazing flight. The scenery was gorgeous. :-)

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  2. Absolutely gorgeous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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    Replies
    1. Yes, it was gorgeous and amazing all at once!

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  3. Love these pictures! Thank you!

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    1. You are welcome it was our pleasure to bring them to your screen. :-)

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  4. Spectacular mountain scenery! Soon it will be-so many trails, so little time.

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    1. It was spectacular. It is just so hard to do the scenery the justice it deserves. We can't wait to see what the mountains will look like from ground level.

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  5. I always wonder what flora and fauna is down there on those mountain tops. To be lowered and spend a night would be incredible. Great pics and it looks like a lot of fun.

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    1. When I lived in Colorado the ground above timberline was covered with flowers in season, but so tiny you almost had to get down on hands and knees to see them.

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    2. Chris, you don't have to wonder what it is like, they have hiking trails to some of the mountain tops where you can backcountry camp.

      Yes, even here in the Yukon there are a lot of pretty wildflowers up on the mountains, and some are very small indeed.

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  6. Mt. Monolith looks like its giving the finger to the world!!.

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    1. We sort of thought the same thing when we saw it! ;-)

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  7. Simply beautiful photos. Cooled me off in this 96F. heat in Carolina just looking at them. With that kind of beauty, it's time for one of you to get your pilot's license.

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    1. Thank you Dee! The flight was amazing, it is not everyday you get to have such a close up view of the mountains from above.

      I would be lovely to have a pilot's license but that takes money and once you have it, it takes even more of it to actually fly.

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  8. Replies
    1. Absolutely spectacular scenery! Love every minute of it. :-)

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  9. Breath Taking Views that will add to your upcoming adventures.
    Be Safe and Enjoy!

    It's about time.

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    1. Absolutely fantastic. A memory that will last a lifetime for us, so glad that we had the opportunity to share it with everyone.

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  10. Amazing flight and gorgeous pictures. Looking forward to your hike of this area. Enjoy!

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    1. We are looking forward you to our hikes of the area as well. :-)

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  11. Replies
    1. It is absolutely fantastic scenery. Glad that we could share it with you. :-)

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  12. Your aircraft, C-GAMB, was built in 1974!.

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  13. Ohmygosh, the tailings! Yikes. I loved the Tombstone Mtns photos -- very photogenic! Was the flight over the mtns fairly expensive or fairly inexpensive (just wonderin')?

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    1. $219 pp including transportation from Dawson City to the airport.

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  14. I am absolutely awe struck by your fly over pictures of the mountains! I couldn’t be more happier and proud for you to do this and share it with us! Thanks again and continue with your safe travels.

    Btw, good to see some more greenery growing on those tailings...there was hardly anything there in 2013.

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    1. It was an absolutely fantastic flight over the mountains. We were able to get so close to them and see so much detail. An excellent flight and one that we will always remember. So glad that you enjoyed the pictures from our flight.

      After all these years I am still surprised that there isn't more greenery growing on them. :-(

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  15. Fantastic views. Great pictures. Something to add to our bucket list. :)

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    1. We would highly recommend the flight, not cheap but definitely worth it.

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  16. Thanks for the flight!..Last week I was able to fly in an open cockpit 1942 Stearman at Erickson museum in Madras Oregon...
    What a rush to fly in a small plane, compared to an aluminum tube..
    I like the smiles on your faces!
    Upriverdavid

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    1. So glad you enjoyed the "flight", I know that we sure did!

      Wow, you were lucky to be able to have got a flight in an old plane like that. It would be quite the thrill that is for sure. The planes back then sure had lots of character to them.

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