Other Sights

Across from the Watson Lake Visitor Information Centre [1], the Northern Lights Centre (867/536-7827, May–Sept.) is dedicated to the enthralling aurora borealis, also known as the northern lights. The highlight is a planetarium-type theater that shows a stunning one-hour presentation of northern lights footage shot in the Yukon [2]. It runs several times daily from 1 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. The center also has a live feed to the Hubble telescope and a SciDome space show.

Take Eighth Street north a few blocks up from the Alaska Highway to Wye Lake, where a trail encircle the lake, complete with a boardwalk platform from which to view migrating shorebirds and resident grebes. If you’re traveling with kids, make a stop five kilometers (3.7 miles) south of town at Lucky Lake (June–Aug.), a day-use recreation area complete with a waterslide that will land them into the surprisingly warm lake.