Chasing Aurora at Whitehorse, Yukon (Which local tour group should you book with)

Seeing the Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights was on the top of my bucketlist and I was fortunate enough to be able to tick it off last Christmas 2016.

My parents have already seen the Aurora Borealis in Fairbanks, Alaska and lucky for my brother and I that they also want to share the experience with us.

According to my father, the Aurora Borealis during 2016 was the brightest and people would have to wait for around 10 years for it to become bright again.

We spent Christmas that year in Canada and when my father told me to look for places where we can see the Aurora Borealis (without making our wallets cry) I was able to come across a territory in the west part of the country – Yukon.

I found articles on the best places to see the Aurora Borealis in Canada and the top two recommended territories are always Yellowknife and Yukon. Yellowknife was always number one on several lists but the overall price that we would spend would be too expensive thus we opted for Yukon.

After deciding for Yukon, we booked our domestic flight from Vancouver to Whitehorse via Air North. We chose this airline because the flying dates were flexible and the price was “cheaper” than the others. (also, Air North gives out warm cookies during your flight ♥)

taken using an iPhone
ps. that’s my mom’s hand

After booking flights, my father and I booked activities that we can do in Whitehorse (which I will write on a different post) and the tour groups that will take us to remote locations where we can see the Aurora Borealis.

So we booked December 30 and December 31 because according to some research the Aurora Borealis will be the brightest when there is a new moon and it so happened that it will be a new moon on December 31 and the reason why we also booked December 30 is so we can test our camera settings and we could get good photos on December 31.

Oh and a little heads up, tour groups for Aurora Borealis viewing are usually between 10pm – 2am so it’s better to have a quick nap after dinner to save up on some energy.

The first group that we booked for December 30 was with Aurora Hunting (http://www.naturetoursyukon.com/winter-tours-yukon/aurora-day-trips). You don’t have to worry about “how to get there” as you will be picked up from your hotel but I do not recommend this group as the person just took us around random places.

We were brought to different remote areas and we had to walk through several layers of snow and wait out in the cold for the Aurora Borealis. Although the experience was not pleasant, we were still lucky to see the Aurora Borealis. The photos are not as nice as the ones I was able to take during the second night but I still wanted to share them with you.

taken using GoPro Hero 4

The second group that we booked for December 31 was with Arctic Range Adventure (http://www.arcticrange.com/en/tour/arctic-day-aurora-borealis-viewing-evening.html). You also don’t have to worry about “how to get there” as you will be picked up from your hotel but I highly recommend booking with this group!

Reasons to choose or book with Arctic Range Adventure:

Cheaper than Aurora Hunting
Own remote area for Aurora Borealis hunting
Big tents with heater, tables, chairs, hot cocoa, food and best of all, TOILETS where you can wait for the Aurora Borealis
Tiki tents where you can stay and keep yourself warm (they have firewood inside)
Very organized group