This trip fulfilled a long lived dream of mine: a twelve day paddle trip on the Big Salmon River, despite the fact that I was an utter greenhorn at canoeing.

Adventure Tours keeps their tour dates in synch with the flight schedule between Frankfurt and Whitehorse, and this avoids unwanted idleness. A cheerful welcome by our hosts sets off the well-planned itinerary.

Under the professional instructions of our tour guide Rainer, we practiced proper paddling strokes and honed our skills on the lakes, to master the river the next day. Being very organized on the river and in camp, Rainer inspired everyone to add to the overall success of the trip.

Let lose on the Big Salmon River, we paddled through a magnificent landscape where we could spot eagles, moose and beavers, and at the river bank we could discover tracks of all sorts of wildlife, not least of bears and wolves. Rainer´s routinized handling of the wild provided us with a sense of security and he trained our vision for the finer details in nature. The weather on the trip had everything on offer, from sunshine to hail stones, thunder and lightning and rain showers. Nevertheless, nothing could dampen our spirits, especially as Rainer would know when to indulge us with a culinary treat.

Similarly, he impressed with his profound knowledge of fauna and flora and we could sense the deep-seated connection he shared with the land, and which came alive in his explanations. All too soon did this fantastic tour come to an end.

Caution: this trip is addictive.

This was a truly breathtaking experience. I will never forget being surrounded by endless unnamed mountains as I watched the float plane disappear after dropping us off in truly pristine wilderness.

We were a party of six, in three canoes - a perfect size. We saw dall sheep, caribou, grizzly and moose. The mountain and canyon scenery was spectacular, and the Wind River was so crystal-clear, that there were times when I didn’t even bother filtering my drinking water.

Our guide’s competence (he lives year-round in the Yukon, built his own cabin, hunts his own meat) is such that we could fully relax and trust him to get us safely to our take-out. Will never forget him efficiently getting a fire started after an all day rain that had soaked all the available wood ... which is scarce on the tundra!

My friend and I (women in our 60s) were the oldest people on the trip, and could have used the 2 rest days that were originally billed as part of this 10 day canoe trip (with optional mountain hiking offered). So we found it physically demanding when we lost those rest days, climbing mountains on shorter paddle days. But we did lose a day due to our put-in flight being delayed because of weather, and such things are beyond anyone’s control.

Bottom line: trip of a lifetime (cliché but true).

We did a three week canoe tour from Nisutlin campground to Carmacks. Our trip was perfectly organized by Adventure Tours Yukon Wild. The shuttle service to Nisutlin Campground and the pick up at Carmacks was perfectly in time. The rented equipment was super for this great wilderness. Before we left Whithorse, Rainer gave us helpful and important tips for our trip. After our trip we spend some days in the cabin of Adventure Tours Yukon Wild. It was the right place for relaxing and hiking in the woods.