A great northern river of the Yukon and Alaska, frozen for much of the year.
Length
3,190 km
Source
Llewellyn Glacier, British Columbia
Mouth
Bering Sea (Alaska)
Continent
North America
Countries
Canada & United States
Did you know?
During the Klondike Gold Rush the Yukon was the main highway for tens of thousands of prospectors heading to the goldfields.
Little-known fact
It freezes so solid that for decades its spring break-up has been the subject of a famous betting contest in Alaska.
Highlights
- A great sub-Arctic river
- Highway of the Klondike Gold Rush
- Subject of a famous ice-break betting game
Life in the Yukon
The fish and animals, waterbirds and water plants — including some of the rarest — that this water supports.
Animals & fish
Atlantic salmon
The “king of fish” — it is born in a river, grows at sea, then fights its way back upstream to spawn where it hatched.
North American beaver
Nature’s engineer: its dams create wetlands that reshape whole river valleys.
Northern pike
A long, torpedo-shaped ambush predator that lurks among weeds across the cool rivers and lakes of the north.
Waterbirds
Mallard
The familiar green-headed dabbling duck — ancestor of most domestic ducks — found on waters worldwide.
Interactive · 3D journey
Journey of a river · source → sea
Every river runs the same great journey — from an icy mountain spring, down through gorges and looping meanders, to a wide delta where it meets the sea. Tap a stage to follow the water downstream.
Tip: hover to tilt the valley · tap a stage to float downstream
The Source
Every river begins high up — in a mountain spring, a melting glacier or a boggy upland. The water is cold, clear and fast, tumbling down the steepest ground of its whole journey.
Landforms here