Tour Details

Overview

An evening on the Yukon River invites you to a quiet boat tour through untouched wilderness. Drift silently past spruce and aspen, where moose wade and eagles glide under a softening sky. The river’s calm mirrors the fading light, its gentle flow revealing nature’s raw beauty. No chatter—just the water’s whisper and occasional birdcall. Our guide stays reserved, offering key facts only when needed, always ready to answer your questions. Feel the Yukon’s serene power, soaking in its vastness and subtle wonders. This is a journey of stillness, reflection, and connection with the wild.

Easy booking Pick-up offered Mobile ticket Optional bilingual: English, German

What to Expect

Safety Instructions ▼

Welcome aboard our guided boat tour on the legendary Yukon River! Every tour with us starts with a short, but important, safety briefing consisting of instructions for an emergency, behavioral rules and some interesting knowledge about the river and its specific features.

The Yukon River - An Introduction ▼

Stretching over 3,000 kilometers from British Columbia to the Bering Sea, this mighty waterway unveils a tapestry of history, culture, and nature. Prepare for an unforgettable adventure blending discovery, thrill and learning experience in a journey on one of the world’s most famous rivers. Hear about its seasonal changes, learn about the river dynamics and its shaping forces.

Channels and Sloughs, Sanctuaries off the Mainstream ▼

As we navigate the Yukon River’s braided channels and quiet sloughs, we enter sanctuaries teeming with life, shielded from the main stream’s swift currents. These offshoots—over 2,000 islands and side channels—create havens where biodiversity thrives. In Steamboat Slough and countless others, slow waters nurture wetlands, hosting beavers, otters, and spawning salmon. Overhead, bald eagles perch, while moose graze in reedy shallows. Scientists study these ecosystems, noting how silt and shifting banks foster unique habitats. Away from the Yukon’s roar, these tranquil sloughs cradle a vibrant web of life, revealing nature’s resilience and richness.

Animal Territory - Wild Life in the Evening Hours ▼

As the sun angle lowers and the moisture rises over the Yukon River, its banks and sloughs transform into a bustling animal territory. In the fading light, beavers glide through quiet channels, crafting dams that shape wetlands. Owls hoot from towering spruce, while bats dart above the water, snatching insects. Along the shore, black bears forage for berries, and elusive lynx prowl silently. Salmon ripple in shallow eddies, drawing hungry eagles to low perches. This twilight symphony, set against the river’s gentle lapping, reveals a vibrant ecosystem where creatures thrive in the cool, dim hours, their movements weaving a timeless dance of survival.

Photography treasures ▼

The Yukon River’s wild beauty beckons photographers with endless visual riches. Shoot the soft dawn light shimmering across those sloughs’ glassy surfaces, framed by towering spruce. Zoom in on the rugged textures of braided islands and shifting banks, their patterns sculpted by silty currents. At dusk, adjust your lens for vibrant skies, capturing silhouettes against a fiery horizon. Every vantage point—whether a quiet channel or a sprawling vista—delivers striking compositions, inviting you to observe and immortalize the river’s untamed landscapes through your viewfinder.

Atmosphere and Monumentality ▼

The Yukon River exudes an awe-inspiring atmosphere, its monumental presence carved across a vast, untamed landscape.Soaring cliffs frame its sinuous path, their weathered faces standing sentinel over a riverbed of shifting silt and braided channels. The banks, rugged yet lush with spruce and willow, stretch toward horizons that feel infinite, dwarfing all who traverse them. At dawn, mist swirls above the water, lending an ethereal hush; at dusk, the sky ignites, amplifying the river’s grandeur. This is a place of raw scale and timeless power, where the Yukon’s flow commands reverence, its vastness etching itself into memory.

Setting Foot on a River Island ▼

Our expedition boat nudges the silty beach of a Yukon River island, one of thousands in its braided network. Stepping ashore, you can experience the fine sediment, strewn with driftwood and willow clumps that is the substrat of a river carrying much more than just water. Exploring the island’s edges, you trace its shifting outline, sculpted by the river’s relentless currents. Sparse grasses and low shrubs dot the interior, hiding faint animal tracks. The surrounding channels hum softly, isolating this transient land. Features like eroded banks and piled logs reveal the island’s impermanence, a raw snapshot of the Yukon’s dynamic, ever-recarving landscape, where nature’s hand is both creator and eraser.

Zen of the River - An Experience of Silence, Flow and Change ▼

The Yukon River’s silence wraps you, broken only by water’s murmur or a far-off rustle, tuning your ears to the wilderness’ quiet pulse. Observing its vast, untamed sprawl, you sense the river’s restless flow—strong and lesser currents intertwining, forcing life to shift, never still. Uprooted trees, washed ashore like life’s fleeting incidents, lie stranded as markers, stepping stones for eagles to perch before moving on. As our boat drifts through changing channels, this ceaseless dance of erosion and creation mirrors existence itself, its silent flux offering clarity: life, like the river, forever flows forward.

WILDERNESS

Duration

2.5 - 3 hours

Price

CA$99 /adult

CA$69 /teen

CA$39 /child

Season

May to

September

Book now

Book here or call +1 (867) 687-4023

Location

Dawson City, Yukon Territory, Canada

Meeting and Pickup

Dawson City Visitor Center (~15min before tour start)
River front, directly at our boat dock

What’s included

Professional guide/s (English and German speaking)
Boat ride
Safety equipment
Dry toilet outhouse stop (optional)
Trained professional in Swift Water Rescue, Wilderness First Aid, Marine Safety, certified commercial captain

What to bring

Rain gear (can be provided)

For obvious reasons, but rain gear/wind breaker also help greatly deflecting upcoming stronger winds.
Warm extra clothing

This is the Yukon, severe temperature drops due to weather changes should always be expected
Beverages

Boating causes more air movement on your skin - which means more evaporation and the need for replacement of water loss in your body. Bring a good amount of drinking water.

SILENT EXPLORER