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Focus on a Canadian Territory
A little larger than the state of California, the Yukon covers an area of 482,443 square kilometers (186,272 sq miles). The territory is shaped like a triangle and shares its western border with Alaska. Yukoners joke that there are only two seasons in the territory: this winter and last winter! Because the climate is also very dry, snowfall is not usually heavy.
The northern portion of the territory, along the Arctic Coast, has an arctic climate and is much colder than the south. This arctic land is called permafrost, meaning the ground is permanently frozen year-round, so very few plants can survive there. In far northern Yukon, it is dark for almost the entire winter. However, during the short summer months, the sun doesn't set at all.
Here are some more interesting facts about the Yukon:
- The Yukon is home to the world's smallest desert. The Carcross Desert is a stretch of sand dunes that covers an area less than 260 hectares (642 acres).
- There are six times as many caribou as people in the Yukon!
- The Signpost Forest in Watson Lake began in 1942 when a homesick U.S. army soldier working on the Alaska Highway put up a sign with an arrow pointing to his hometown and the number of miles to get there. The idea caught on, and today more than 50,000 signs decorate the highway.
- In the summer near the Arctic Circle, it stays light outside so long that Yukoners can read outside at midnight without a flashlight!
- More than two thousand glaciers are found in Kluane National Park, including Lowell Glacier, which is 65 kilometers (40 miles) long.
- The word Yukon means "the great river" in Athapaskan. The Yukon River is, in fact, the fourth longest river in the world at 3,600 kilometers (2,300 miles) long.
Read more about the Yukon in our new CultureGrams Provinces Edition. |
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