Yesterday I drove through the White Pass where Klondike miners carried a ton of gear to get to the Yukon River headwaters. It is unbelievably rugged territory. No wonder so many miners turned back when they saw it. I also took the White Pass & Yukon Route historical railway from Skagway to the top of the White Pass. Amazing!

We passed through Dead Horse Gulch, a plunging chasm that drops about 300 metres to the bottom. During the gold rush, so many horses fell over the edge that it was named Dead Horse Gulch. According to some people, the bottom of the chasm is lined in horse bones.

Allen Macartney is completing a solo trip on the Yukon River to retrace the route of prospectors in the days of the Klondike gold rush. Read more of his blog posts and learn about his Royal Canadian Geographical Society-funded expedition.