The start of the Goldensides hike in Tombstone Territorial Park

Goldensides Hike in Tombstone Territorial Park

One of the great and super accessible hikes to do in Tombstone Territorial Park is the Goldensides hike. It wasn’t even on our radar until a ranger showed up while we were putting up our tent in the campground. He was trying to drum up support for a ranger led hike starting at 7 PM.

The Goldensides hike sure beat sitting around our picnic table so we decided to go. (As a side note, during the summer, there are ranger led hikes most evenings. Check the hiking schedule at the Interpretative Centre.)

The Goldensides hike in Tombstone Territorial Park
The Goldensides hike in Tombstone Territorial Park

Would you like to save this?

We'll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!

Goldensides hike trailhead location

The hike starts at KM 74.5 on the Dempster Highway. The trailhead is well-signed and easy to find. From the Tombstone Interpretative Centre it is at most, a 10 minute drive north.

The hike itself is only 3.4 km round-trip – the perfect length for an after dinner hike. It climbs a total of 210 m and can be done in about 90 minutes.

If it’s a nice day you’re going to want to give yourself more time to explore and take photos at the top. Even though it’s a short hike, it’s prudent to take warm clothes, rain gear, water and a can of bear spray.

Hikers on the Goldensides trail
Hikers on the Goldensides trail
Superb scenery and stunning fall colours on the Goldensides Hike
Superb scenery and stunning fall colours on the Goldensides hike
Looking south towards the campground
Looking south towards the campground
Spectacular fall colours on the Goldensides hike
Spectacular fall colours on the Goldensides hike
I'd never seen anything quite like this landscape before
I’d never seen anything quite like this landscape before
View from the high point of the Goldensides hike
View from the high point of the Goldensides hike
You could sit here all day admiring the view
You could sit here all day admiring the view on the Goldensides hike
A blast of red on the Goldensides hike
A blast of red
Heading back to the trailhead
Heading back to the trailhead at the end of the Goldensides hike

If there is still some daylight at the end of the hike, then a drive to one of the many informal viewpoints along the Dempster Highway would be worthwhile, especially since dusk  (and dawn) is when you’re most likely to see wildlife.

Wide, open roads with not another vehicle in sight
Wide, open roads with not another vehicle in sight

Further reading on travel and hiking in the Yukon

Click on the photo to bookmark to your Pinterest boards.

An easy hike on the Goldensides Trail in Yukon's Tombstone Territorial Park off the Dempster Highway

Check Out These Next

34 Comments

  1. I want to hike in tombstone trail by myself as a independent hiker.
    one thing that I do worry about is that I might lose my way in the middle of trail.
    Is the trail quite visible?
    so I can fine the way easily without GPS?

  2. Wow, these photos (and your Grizzly Lake hike ones) really make me want to go back and visit again in late August. The fall colours really are stunning. We wanted to do the guided hike to Goldensides, but we were never in the area on the right day.

  3. What beautiful photos of a beautiful place. Does anyone know if bear spray actually works? I did a hike next to the Mendenhall Glacier outside Juneau once and our guide seemed quite concerned about bears—or he just did that to get our group to stay together.

  4. With extended daylight and long summer and fall evenings, an after-dinner hike sounds like a nice idea :-). The colors looks gorgeous! (We did some short after-dinner hikes in Jasper over the summer – amazing that you can hike right till 9 pm in the summer!)

  5. I can see why it’s called Goldensides. The wildflowers blooming everywhere are so pretty. This sounds like a hike that even I can do. I’ve always wanted to visit the Yukon, mainly because of Yukon Cornelius from the classic Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer TV show.

    1. @Michele This is totally a family friendly hike. Yukon is wild and beautiful – and an exceptional place to visit with a family. Our first visit with kids was when they were in highschool.

  6. No we’ve not been there. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a colourful landscape. Perfect timing with the Ranger. 🙂

  7. wow, some of these photos look like chalk drawings. breathtaking. i think i just added a destination to my bucket list.

  8. Hi Leigh. What an amazing landscape. The colors are out of this world. For some weird reason I’m reminded of an exaggerated paint-by-number! 🙂

  9. Your photos are truly amazing, I hope you don’t mind if I set one of them as my new super wallpaper in the pc 🙂

  10. That’s really an incredible landscape! What a gorgeous park… Can’t wait to visit this time next year!
    Thanks for sharing

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.