Sergeant Preston of the Northwest Mounted Police and his trusty dog, King, fill the TV memory of my adventurous youth. Now, those old black-and-white images spring to living color far below our floatplane.

Tiny yellow, purple, red and black lakes glow like jewels on rumpled green velvet.

A herd of mountain sheep traverses near-vertical black slopes like a string of pearls. Higher still, the Kaskawulch Glacier, a superhighway of silver, wraps around the rough-cut peaks of Kluane National Park. And on the western horizon, Mount Logan, Canada's highest peak, is a satin swirl of white.

This is Yukon Territory, where thousands of miners came searching for gold more than a century ago. For us, the promise of a wilderness experience with a touch of luxury is the lure. During the next week, we will visit three superb lodges for some of the territory's best fly-fishing, hiking, kayaking and dining.

Tincup Wilderness Lodge

Winging toward our first stay -- at the Tincup Wilderness Lodge -- we experience an exciting 90-minute flight northwest from Whitehorse, the Yukon capital. Our pilot and lodge owner, Larry Nagy, circles above tranquil Tincup Lake, with the lodge's gleaming red rooftops a welcome sight in the middle of nowhere.

Larry's partner, Jose Janssen, greets us with a big, warm "hiya" before leading the way knee-deep in wildflowers to the cabins and lodge.

Klondike Kate and Gold Tooth Gertie may have catered to 1880s goldminers, but here at Tincup, Jose dishes up a more pure Yukon hospitality.

"Yup, fly-fishing is men's best kept secret," she says while deftly flipping muffin batter into tins and stirring the soup. "Up to now," she adds with a wink, offering us freshly baked cookies.

Catering to guests is no small task in such a remote setting, where all supplies except water and fish have to be flown in. But for Jose Janssen, the Dutch-born chef and former owner of Whitehorse's successful Chocolate Claim Bakery, helping run Tincup is a challenge she enjoys.

Janssen also offers cooking classes for guests and, when not busy making breads, stews, roasts and yummy desserts, she perfects her fly-fishing technique.

Nine-mile-long Tincup Lake, filled with Arctic graylings, trout, whitefish, salmon and pike, attracts a who's who of fly-fishing, like Dutch fishing expert and fellow guest Hans Van Klinken.

He's a large man with hands like baseball mitts, so I am amazed to see the delicate flies he has tied, some the size of mosquitoes.

Donning hip waders and armed with fly rods, we trudge after Hans for a few pointers: "Stiff elbow, 10 o'clock, 2 o'clock, 10 o'clock, 2, feed out the line." It all looks so easy and the water is so clear you can see the fish swimming up to the barbless hook.

Afternoon stretches into evening, the only sounds the click and hum of reels, the splash of fish jumping, and an occasional "I got one!"

Next morning we join First Nations guide Ron Chambers for a vigorous hike up a mountain dusted with volcanic ash from nearby Alaska. He relates some local lore while we watch for medicinal plants, moose, grizzly and black bear. For years, Ron's mother set trap lines and live traps for research, often spending weeks out with her dog teams. She stopped trapping five years ago -- at age 82.

"Sometimes we would have otters or a wolverine living in our house while we waited for cages to arrive," he muses.

With almost 19 hours of daylight in midsummer, we have plenty of time to fish, paddle, hike, look for that elusive moose, soak in the hot tub, sweat in the sauna or just curl up with a book. As the sun dips behind the mountains, guests swap fish tales and laughter over feasts served family-style. One evening Mother Nature treats us to a sound-and-light show with lightning and rolling thunder.

Tincup Wilderness Lodge, open mid-June to mid-September, offers one-week stays for 12 guests in three very comfortable, double-room cedar cabins with twin beds, ensuite bathrooms, cozy terrycloth robes and survival jackets.

The package includes all transportation from Whitehorse, all meals including wine with dinner, fishing gear, use of watercraft and two-day guide -- everything except fishing licenses and alcohol other than meal wine.

(Note: Getting from Whitehorse to Tincup Lake requires a four- to six-hour drive to Haines Junction, then a 20-minute floatplane flight to the lake. Or, for added cost, you can take a 90-minute floatplane trip directly from Whitehorse to the lake.)