What's Up Yukon contributor Doug Sack, 71, is the former sports editor of the Yukon News and the Whistler Question and longtime columnist for Ski Canada magazine. Before that, he was young.
You should check out Doug's six-part series "The Yukon's Magnificent 11" on Yukon highways.
Credit: courtesy of the Government of Yukon
There is a precise and exact spot on the Alaska Highway between Watson Lake and Teslin, a little way northwest of Rancheria, where you cross the Continental Divide for the last time on your long journey to the northern hinterlands of our continent. more
Issue: 2018-08-01, PHOTO: Sue Meikle on behalf of the ElderActive Recreation Association
"The Territory exploded onto the scene in 2004..."When the Canada Senior Games (CSG) were inaugurated on a small scale in Regina in 1996, the Yukon Territory was nowhere to be found because "Yukoners hadn't heard about these Games yet," according... more
Issue: 2018-07-18, PHOTO: courtesy of the Government of Yukon
All Yukon RV campgrounds were not created equal. The territorial government operates and services 42 campgrounds from Watson Lake to Rock River on the Dempster, and Snag Junction on the Alcan, but the Feds (Parks Canada) have just one, Kathleen... more
Issue: 2018-07-04, PHOTO: Becauseeditor via wikimedia commons
Sammy Shelor, 55, of Meadows of Dan, Virginia, in the central Blue Ridge Mountains of northwestern North Carolina and southwestern Virginia, was literally born to play banjo on October 10, 1962. Both of his grandfathers were banjo pickers; and one... more
Issue: 2018-06-27, PHOTO: Jerry E and Roy Klotz via Wikimedia Commons
Of all the cities, towns and villages in northwestern Canada, Atlin's journey through the turbulent 20th century was more dramatic than most. It went from a golden boom town, in 1898, to a burnt-down town in 1901, then another boom until the fire... more
Issue: 2018-06-06, PHOTO: Rear Admiral Harley D. Nygren, U.S. Government
There are so many good places in Alaska to go RV camping; it's a bit of a fool's errand to select just one to kick off our new six-part summer series on RV Hotspots in Alaska, Yukon, northern B.C. and N.W.T. That is the challenge at hand—a dirty... more
Issue: 2018-05-23, PHOTO: Pixabay
Recently, while researching the census statistics accompanying an editorial in the spring issue of Sourdough Chronicle (YCOAYukon.com), I was astonished to learn that the Yukon Territory currently is without a card-carrying centenarian, male or... more
Issue: 2018-05-16, PHOTO: courtesy of the Government of Yukon
Quiz Question In 1884, Haines, Alaska was named for: A. A sea captain B. An Army general C. A female missionary D. A trading company governor E. A reclusive fur trapper more
Issue: 2018-04-18, PHOTO: courtesy of the Government of Yukon
The Top of the World Highway is neither on top of the world nor is it a highway, but is certainly one of the most memorable drives in both Alaska and the Yukon. Technically, it runs 127 kilometres from Jack Wade Junction in Alaska, which is the... more
Issue: 2018-04-04, PHOTO: New York Daily News 1920
It's possible baseball sluggers George Herman "Babe" Ruth Jr. and Joseph Jefferson "Shoeless Joe" Jackson bonded because of the similarities of their impoverished childhoods. Ruth was raised primarily in an inner city Baltimore orphanage, even... more
Issue: 2018-03-28, PHOTO: courtesy of the Government of Yukon
On Friday, February 18, 1949 under a bold headline reading: “No Excuses, Please,” Horace E. Moore, publisher of The Whitehorse Star, wrote a scathing editorial directed at federal and territorial politicians in which he reminded them 1949 was an... more
Issue: 2018-02-21, PHOTO: Government of Yukon
The Robert Campbell Highway (Highway 4), which runs diagonally across southern Yukon from Watson Lake on the Alaska Highway (Highway 1) to Carmacks on the North Klondike (Highway 2), is certifiable proof that all you needed in 19th century Canada... more
Issue: 2017-12-20, PHOTO: courtesy of Government of Yukon
From a comfortable, 21st century perch, the casual Yukon visitor might mistakenly assume The Klondike Highway (Highway 2) was planned to be a Skagway to Dawson tourist route, roughly following the journey made by the stampeders in 1898, but... more
Issue: 2017-11-22, PHOTO: Luigi Zanasi
Your humble word servant has wanted to write the following series for more than 40 years, but was pathetically unqualified to do so because there are 11 magnificent numbered roads in the Yukon and he had only been on nine of them... more
Issue: 2017-11-01, Photo: foter.com/National Library of Ireland on The Commons
The night before the official opening I was surprisingly nervous and had trouble sleeping, not because this time I would be carrying for the greatest golfer of all time, but because I've had a lifelong fear and loathing of crowds and I knew the... more
Issue: 2017-09-27, PHOTO: Bowman Gum - Heritage Auctions, Public Domain
Other than Samuel Clemens, who wrote as Mark Twain, few historical Americans are more oft-quoted than former New York Yankees catcher Yogi Berra, who died in 2015 at the age of 90, but will live forever for the things he said while he was alive... more
Issue: 2017-08-30, Quotation: Doug Sack
If anyone ever tries to tell you the first legal casino in Canadian history – Dawson City's fabled Diamond Tooth Gertie's Gambling Hall – was a raging success from the moment the doors first opened in June, 1972, perhaps you should clip and save... more
Issue: 2017-08-16, PHOTO: United States Mint
Although I can't absolutely verify the factual accuracy of the following "claim to fame," if I'm not the only person who had the unique opportunity to caddy for Jack Nicklaus both before he won his first professional major (1962 U.S. Open) and... more
Issue: 2017-08-09, Photo: Caitlin Press
If there is any failing in Terry Milos' excellent memoir North of Familiar: A Woman's Story of Homesteading and Adventure in the Canadian Wilderness, it is this: nowhere within these wonderful 208 pages does she get around to physically describing... more
Issue: 2017-07-12, PHOTO: United States Library of Congress
It occurred to me while watching the 2016 World Series between the Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians with my grandchildren – their first World Series – that I wasn't doing a very good job of explaining the game to them because we were all too... more