Arctic Range Adventure — Attraction in Whitehorse

I joined Arctic Range Adventure's multiday tour with 3 aurora viewing nights, city tour, wildlife preserve, and hot springs. I also added 2 more nights and a full day snowshoe at Kluane National Park. On the first night, the Auroras made a spectacular show, it was so satisfying that I felt like I could go home after that! The Auroras weren't as amazing on my 2nd and 3rd nights, but they were still there and visible at some point. Their Aurora Centre has a warm cabin with cookies and hot drinks, while their yurt/tipi has a campfire where you can roast marshmallows. There is also a waterless washroom just 30 second walk from the cabin if needed (cleanest and best smelling one I have ever seen!). All the tour guides were friendly and helpful anytime I had a question. For the wildlife preserve, the tourguide drives the bus through, and stops at each animal for you to get out and take photos. At the hot springs, photos are not allowed, but the view of the mountains from the water baths were amazing. Would've been more peaceful and relaxing if there weren't groups of chatty people everywhere, but that is always a hit and miss anywhere you go. During free time on the multiday tour, the hotel they put you in is near the Yukon River, so I walked along there a few times, admiring the scenery. The drive to Kluane National Park included a stop halfway both ways for quick bathroom break and sight seeing. Waterless washrooms again, pretty clean for being so remote. They have sanitizer on the bus if you forgot your own. Upon arrival at the park, they gave us a brown bagged lunch containing a sandwich, banana, and a granola bar. After snowshoeing on the lake, they provided hot drinks and cookies. The view while snowshoeing on Kathleen Lake was beautiful! So much space for just our tour group to explore. Not enough time. I would definitely join another tour with Arctic Range in the summer. Everything is very organized and they are punctual based on the start times they give you on the itinerary printout. The admins are also very helpful and easy to communicate with. The guides are stellar. Thank you for a great time visiting the Yukon! I will...

Definitely would not recommend in spite of some good things.

1. Of course the aurora is a natural phenomenon and you need clear skies + solar activity. But they don't tell you that even when you DO have those conditions, you likely won't actually see the aurora yourself - only through a camera. It may look green on camera but it'll look like a faint grey haze to you. Multiple people including guides told us it's only about once a month that the aurora is actually strong enough to see yourself.

2. Many of the guides have such a poor command of English that it was difficult to understand them, let alone have a conversation. One of them couldn't even explain the rules (rather important!), and when trying to ask a question to another guide, she replied that she was 'still learning English and couldn't understand the question'. Of course they're all trying their best but the company needs to hire people that can communicate competently in English/French as well as tourists' languages. Shockingly, Anglo/Francophone Canadians were the worst served group on all the tours we were on.

3. On one of the tours, the guide Marco(s) said that the Yukon was owned by First Nations, making it a territory not a province, and that they had more power than the federal government. This is factually incorrect. The federal government has more power over the territories than the provinces. And legally, land ownership is unrelated to territory status.

4. We bought a few photos taken with their professional cameras. The non-watermarked versions were 450 KB each - basically WhatsApp quality. That is unacceptable at $20 each.

5. On a dogsledding tour, the driver was so inexperienced that she hit a rock and caused my mother to fall out of the sled and hurt her shoulder. From what we understand the dogsledding company has taken action with the sled driver but they also mentioned she'd had accidents before, which really means she should not have been driving in the first place.

Other than that no issues with timing, organization, logistics, etc. - all very well...

We did two tours with Arctic Range: Wildlife Preserve & Hot Springs (Feb. 22, with Bárbara) and Kluane (with Shungo and Bárbara). First, I'm grateful to the office staff of Arctic Range (namely, Jessica, Karin, and Skylar) for their prompt email replies and bearing with my many schedule and tour changes!

Our guides, Bárbara and Shungo, are kind and knowledgeable, and both tours were really worthwhile! I especially enjoyed the Kluane tour. It was just the two of us so we essentially had a private bus/guide! The majestic scenery aside, Shungo was such a fun person. He shared a lot of his experiences and kept us entertained throughout the trip. I wanted to go a bit further and see more scenery (like I had done during the earlier Tombstone day tour) and they easily accommodated my request by shortening the snowshoeing time, which allowed us to drive until Dezadeash Lake, which was truly amazing for a panoramic view. It was also fun to be taken a photo of us sitting in the middle of the near-empty highway!

The Yukon Wildlife Preserve and Hot Spring are also must-visits! Bárbara drove for the most part and provided commentary in English and Spanish. She is friendly, enthusiastic about the animals, and were able to answer our questions. However, a suggestion for improvement - it'd be great if we were provided with more background information about the animals and the hot spring (for example, while we were waiting for a previous group to finish before entering the preserve).

Otherwise, I had a great time. If you get Bárbara as your guide, make sure to ask her about her adventure in Beijing! And if you get Shungo, Ask him about his bear encounter! Would love to take a tour...