The Yukon is one of the remotest and wildest places I've ever been. I met very few other walkers and sometimes went a week and more without seeing another human being or even signs of one. This is real wilderness. As well as magnificent mountains, rivers and forests I saw wolves, bears, moose, eagles and more.
Towards the end of my walk I was in the Peel River Watershed, just north of the tremendous Tombstone Mountains, which I have since revisited on a ski tour. The Peel Watershed is now under threat of industrialisation for coal, oil and gas. This would an appalling destruction of a pristine wilderness. There is a campaign against this that all lovers of wilderness and nature should support. You can sign a petition here.
Your book got me to the Yukon myself to take a look, I was not disappointed. I was struck by the tension too there between it's wilderness and the desire to exploit its natural resources, but I guess that's always been in the land of the Klondike gold rush. I'm afraid for the Territory consequently, I think this Canadian government is fairly rapacious when it comes to development, look at Alberta and Tar Sands.
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