The wilderness around Carcross will never be the same again after the loss of one its legends.

Dan Kemble, 64, fell to his death last Thursday in Pooley Canyon, near Carcross.

He was guiding a small group of hikers at the time, in what one of his oldest friends called a “challenging” area.

The party had separated briefly to investigate their own interests. The members searched for Kemble when he failed to reappear, and eventually found his body.

Kemble had lived in the community since 1973, Dick Eastmure told the Star Tuesday.

Eastmure and Kemble grew up together in the Toronto area. They met when they were each in Grade 3 in the early 1960s, and formed a friendship that lasted a lifetime and even led them to the Yukon together.

As boys, Eastmure said, they were both outdoorsy, haunting the green ravines around the city, camping and fishing and exploring.

In 1973, Kemble headed to the Yukon and Carcross to take a job at the Carcross Education Centre.

Eastmure said he followed a year later, largely spurred on by the tales Kemble was telling of the area.

Both worked at the school, and used it as a springboard to explore the territory.

“It was a unique school,” Eastmure recalled. “We did everything.”

While the outdoors was Kemble’s haven and sanctuary, Eastmore said the “great passion of his life was bird-watching” from a young age.

“I did some as well, mostly because of him, but not like he did,” Eastmure said.

Later in life, the two men began taking annual birding trips together to places like Haida Gwaii in British Columbia.

“He told me there were only two rules: I had to bring binoculars, and I had to start a life list,” Eastmure said with a laugh.

Slowly, the group expanded its ranks and even Eastmure became more interested in birds.

Kemble, he said, remained as a Carcross resident for most of his life, even as his interests expanded.

“He was a true Rennaisance man,” Eastmure said. “He was interested in many things.”

Kemble, though, had his quirks.

Eastmure said he had a total aversion to modern technology. He was an avid man of letters – handwritten, of course.

“He wouldn’t have a cell phone. He wouldn’t turn on a computer. He wouldn’t use word-processing.

“All of his communication was done by hand. He wrote lovely letters by hand,” Eastmure said.

That stubborn streak of traditionalism likely factored into one of Kemble’s interests in his later years.

He became a restoration carpenter, working on historic sites all over the territory.

That included the SS Klondike, where, in the early 2000s, he spent several years working on the restoration effort.

Kemble was interested in virtually any aspect of outdoor living and recreation. He hunted and fished, Eastmure said, with the same abandon as he hiked and paddled.

When he was younger, he said, Kemble was a bit of a wild man or daredevil on the trails.

“He used up his nine lives and then used up nine more,” Eastmure said.

Kemble had mellowed a bit as he aged, Eastmure said, and slowed down a bit.

That’s why it is somewhat ironic that he died in an unexpected fall in a region he was more than familiar with.

Eastmure said he couldn’t begin to speculate on what happened to Kemble. Rocks could have crumbled and fallen without warning, he said. Kemble had been examining old ruins, and could have fallen through some weathered boards.

“There’s no way of telling. He died doing what he loved, though,” Eastmure said.

Kemble will leave an enduring gap in the community, though.

“He touched so many people’s hearts,” Eastmure said.

A Facebook page has been set up for tributes to Kemble, and many of the messages are poignant.

“I absolutely adore my uncle!!” wrote Serenity Jones. “I remember being told I was like him as a child (I was absolutely fearless) and feeling so proud of that comparison. I wish I had stayed a little more like him over the years, brave and adventurous with a level of freedom that not a lot of adults hold on to.

“Uncle Dan not only played a huge role in my childhood, with Christmas dinners and trips to Carcross in the summers to taking my sister Amy and I up to the cabin (which is still one of the scariest and most amazing memories I have), but has also made sure to include my boys in as many of his adventures as I’d allow.

“Only one of my boys (Ryder...who reminds me of his great Uncle) got to experience the hike up to the cabin with Dan...but I would love to get all three up there because I know how happy that will make him!’ Jones wrote.

“I am beyond thankful for the privilege of being Dan’s niece, and for the adventure and fun he brought to our lives!

“My promise to you, Uncle, is to get out and explore more, take more chances and truly live in the moment! And, I gotta find me a good exploring hat and a decent Frisbee! I love and miss you!”

Bob Appleton posted a lengthy tribute to Kemble, excerpted here.

“To attempt a concise article about the adventurous life of Dan Kemble would warrant a novel or anthology of stories from dozens of contributors and I hope that happens.

“Dan was a true Renaissance Man. A modern day explorer, adventurer seriously experienced backwood trekker, hunter, canoe tripper, skier, birder.

“An all season, all weather out in the element guy. He was also an excellent wordsmith. Creator and orator of great stories. He would compose and recite a poem, sing a song, pull a face.

“An avid history buff, voracious reader and well spoken in many many areas. His smile and laughter, earnest and his spontaneous wit and humour were incredibly original.

“His mind as sharp as his hunter’s eyes, his spirit strong and resilient, his manner kind, helpful, inclusive, giving, friendly and ever so social.

“With perfect handwriting his personal letters on lined paper are treasures,” Appleton wrote. “These and a landline phone, his chosen mode of communication.

“Never a text, never an email. No computer … just wasn’t going to happen.

“The Yukon was his love, his home and the foundation for the life he wanted to have. The soul of Dan Kemble is stitched permanently into the fabric of the spiritual quilt that blankets the Yukon.”

The Yukon Coroner’s Service confirmed Kemble’s death. on Monday afternoon. He had been hiking in the Pooly Canyon area with two friends, the office said.

“The three had hiked a distance in an area described as ‘technically challenging’ and then separated to do some individual exploring of the area,” the Coroner’s Service said.

“The two other hikers re-grouped after about 45 minutes and went to join Mr. Kemble, who had expressed an interest in exploring the historic buildings in the Pooly Creek Canyon area.

“The friends found that Mr. Kemble had fallen into the steep walled canyon below the area where he was last known to have been.”

Carcross RCMP were notified late last Thursday night.

Kemble’s body was recovered early last Friday morning with the help of the RCMP’s search and rescue team.