Kusawa Territorial Park

A Territorial Park On A Long Glacial Lake In The Yukon Backcountry, With A Campground At The South End, Paddling And Boating Routes, Mountain Views, Fishing For Lake Trout And A Kwanlin Dun And Champagne And Aishihik First Nations Co Managed Landscape. A Remote Day Trip Or Camping Base From Whitehorse · Whitehorse, Yukon

Kusawa Territorial Park protects the southern end of Kusawa Lake, a long glacier-fed lake in the Yukon backcountry about 80 km west of Whitehorse (confirm). A gravel road leaves the Alaska Highway near the Takhini River and runs through spruce and aspen to a small campground and boat launch on the shore. The water is pale blue-green, ridges of the Coast Mountains rise on every side, and the air carries the smell of wet gravel and poplar. The park was set up in 2018 and is shared with First Nations governments, so it feels more like a managed corner of the land than a developed resort (confirm which Nations co-manage it). Anglers come for lake trout and grayling, paddlers for the sheltered bays, and families for a quiet camping weekend that is still within a long morning drive of town. Services inside the park are few, the access road can be rough after rain, and there is no cell signal. Allow half a day for a visit or a night or two if you camp.

Kusawa Territorial Park, on Kusawa Lake about 80 km west of Whitehorse, reached by a gravel road from the Alaska Highway near Takhini River; coordinates approximate, Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada

The park is open as a natural area and the lake can be reached at any hour, but the campground and boat launch follow a summer season, generally from about mid May to mid September (confirm dates). The access road is a gravel road that is not plowed in deep winter, so the park is best treated as a summer destination, with winter visits only for people who know the road and carry full cold weather gear. There is no gate attendant and no visitor centre, so the information board at the campground is the only source of notices (confirm). Daylight lasts almost around the clock in June and shrinks quickly through September, and ice usually leaves the south end of the lake in late May or June.

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