Tombstone Territorial Park

About this place

Tombstone Territorial Park lies in central Yukon, near the southern end of the Dempster Highway between kilometre markers 50.5 and 115, and its centre is about 70 km in a straight line north-east of Dawson City. It protects more than 2,100 square kilometres of rugged peaks, permafrost landforms and wildlife, including parts of the Blackstone Uplands and the Ogilvie Mountains, and is named after Tombstone Mountain, which resembles a grave marker. The area is geologically unique and ecologically diverse. It is split by the divide between rivers draining to the Yukon River and the Bering Sea and those draining to the Mackenzie River and the Beaufort Sea. The divide lies along a belt of granitic igneous rock, and north of it the edges of old glaciations give way to gentler permafrost landforms that escaped the ice, such as pingos and ice-wedge polygons. Jagged dark granite peaks such as Mount Monolith and Tombstone Mountain rise above wide tundra valleys and small lakes such as Grizzly Lake, and in late August and September the shrubs and tundra turn red, gold and orange. Dall's sheep, caribou, moose, black bears and grizzly bears live here, along with about 150 bird species. Visiting is free, and the park has an interpretive centre and a campground on the highway. The road is long and gravel and services are very few, and the weather changes fast even in summer, so carry extra fuel, warm clothes and bear spray.