Nature, Wildlife & Hiking: A Road Trip Around the Yukon & Alaska

After you've picked up your hire car, head to meet your guide for a half-day of canoeing on the Yukon River. Paddle your way along a small portion of this 400+ mile long river and enjoy the pristine and wild scenery that surrounds you, enjoying a picnic lunch at the end to refuel.

The rest of the day is yours to do as you wish, whether it's simply exploring this pocket-sized city; visiting the Yukon Transportation Museum or the MacBride Museum, which specialises in Yukon's natural history; or heading out to the Yukon Wildlife Preserve, home to caribous, bisons, lynx and mountain goats.

The winding road passes through interesting subarctic landscapes of pine forests, hills and lakes and takes you up to Keno, a charming, small mining town with old clapboard houses that makes you feel like you're stepping back in time The bar/restaurant/antiques shop that is the heart of the town is steeped in history and run by Keno's mayor, the son of an Italian family who came to work at the mine in its heyday.

After a day exploring, spend a night in Keno in a charming, modern and very comfortable hotel.

You'll drive for around three-and-a-half hours north-west following the Silver Trail, which once had silver mines all along it, and along the way, take the Dempster Highway, which crosses the tundra-covered Tombstone mountain range, home to abundant wildlife.

On arrive, check in to your downtown hotel that has retained some of the style of the Gold Rush era for two nights.

Today, it's a charmingly rustic place with wooden houses dating back to the Gold Rush and dirt roads lined with raised boardwalks. There are plenty of bars, where you can play blackjack while watching chorus dancers in colourful costumes as if the Gold Rush was still in full force.

While you're here you could also go to see author of Call of the Wild and Whitefang Jack London's cabin, plus take a visit to Bombay Peggy's Inn & Pub, a former brothel that tells the tale of a time of 'Gold Rush and Golden Girls'.

Your destination, the small town of Tok just over the Canadian-USA border into Alaska, is where the roads to the cities of Fairbanks and Anchorage meet.

Spend a night in a friendly B&B with small cabins that are rustic, comfortable and offering all the amenities.

Your destination is a small, rustic cottage near Kathleen Lake on the edge of the Kluane National Park and Reserve which is surrounded by mountains. This route follows the Alaska Highway for just under 300 miles through alluvial plains and glacial valleys until you reach home for the next two nights.

You'll spend tonight in Haines on the shores of one of the deepest fjords in the world - the Lynn Canal. The views here are truly unbelievable, with rugged snow-capped mountains reflected in the glassy water of the fjords where sometimes you can see orcas and humpback whales play.

Also worth a visit while you're here is the former Native American village with its Tlingit totem poles, and the Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve.

You'll have the chance to don your hiking boots today to explore the surrounding area, including the Chilkook Trail which is next to the ghost town of Dyea. This trail stretches 33 miles from Alaska into British Colombia in Canada and you can explore on a multi-day trek, but most history-loving hikers choose to walk just a small section between Dyea to Finnegan's Point, which was an important camp during the Gold Rush and is a moderately challenging four-and-a-half-hour round trip. Access to the trail is limited to 50 hikers a day but we can secure your access ahead of time.

You'll be spending the next three nights in a cosy, warm and friendly cabin nestled in the forests and mountains, close to the Yukon River. It's the perfect place to relax in front of the fire in winter, or on the large terrace on summer days. The lodge also has a spa and a Finnish sauna for those who want to end their adventure with a touch of pampering.

If you're after more things to see and do in the area, you can hike and cycle, explore the Southern Lakes region and visit Carcross - the smallest desert in the world.