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Little Salmon Carmacks First Nation
Trystan Unterschute
Trystan Unterschute says he was a late bloomer. He didn’t get into sports until he was 16, but he’s more than made up for it in the years since. As the recreation coordinator for the Little Salmon/Carmacks First Nation, he’s now responsible for programming everything from hockey camps and Mount Sima ski trips, to white water rafting adventures and basketball games.
He ended up in the role in 2024 after half a dozen people told him, “Trystan, apply, you’d be perfect for it.” Providing recreational opportunities for youth is something that’s important to him because he remembers what happened for him when he discovered hockey as a kid. Being introduced to competition through sport helped him thrive and discover himself.
Over the years, Unterschute has come and gone from the community where he lives with his wife and son. But he’s always ended up back in the village because of his connections with friends and family (“I basically know everybody in the community,” he says). He also loves the location for the landscape and activities that are available outside the local rec centre.
The Carmacks Ridge Trail hosts a popular 5-kilometre race each year and it offers a relatively easy hike for those who want great views of the Nordenskiold River with minimal climbing. The boardwalk in town makes for an easy two-kilometre walk along the Yukon River. A visit to the interpretive centre both shows and tells the history of the First Nation in the area in both English and Northern Tutchone. And those are just some of the year-round activities, he says. Each June, the town comes alive as the halfway point for the Yukon River Quest paddling race; in February there’s a huge hockey tournament; and in March there’s Winterlude.
“There’s so much to do,” he says. “I’m involved with most of it and I can’t even remember it all.”
