This canyon stopped the sternwheelers.

We started out at Miles Canyon, just a few minutes from the RV park. The Yukon River get extremely narrow for less than a kilometer here. During the 1896 Gold Rush, sternwheelers came up to either end of the canyon and men then transported their contents from one end to the other end of the canyon. Anything for gold.

The water is a beautiful turquoise flowing between red ochre cliffs. The City of Whitehorse put in a small dam downstream in the previous century to prevent flooding and to generate some power. As a result, the water in Miles Canyon is now twice as high as it was before the dam was built. Knowing this, the view point suspension bridge is a favourite place to jump in on a hot day and float to the end of the canyon where you can get out of the water. Not recommended, but people do it.

As I peered over the railng of the suspension bridge, I could not imagine jumping off that bridge into the whirlpools and eddies of the Yukon River. The swimmer would have to be truly 90 percent fit and 10 percent crazy.