July 20: Canyon City Camp km 12.1

What an exhausting first day on the trail! We started from the Dyea campground/ trailhead and hiked just over 12km… all uphill. Well, it seemed like a lot of up. Steve had boot trouble again which he tried to remedy with the miracle fixer- duct tape (we will know tomorrow whether it works or not). So far on the trail we have come across the left over artifacts of the Klondikers and settlers of the area – rusty tin cans, old cook stoves, broilers and an oddly misplaced car door. It doesn’t seem possible that people carted this stuff here.

The landscape is mostly coastal rain forest and a lot of the trail at this point reminds me of the Bruce trail back in Ontario. The three of us are exhausted and feeling a bit out of shape. I’m sure that will be remedied by Wednesday…summit day!


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Highlight of the day:

Steve – Making to camp (he has to be carrying the heaviest pack although could be tied with Ken, but Steve’s is definitely the biggest);

Ken – Watching harlequin ducks playing in the Taiya River;

Cam – Also watching the ducks and using my hydration bladder for the first time.

We are sharing our campsite with about 15 people. Most we will see again tomorrow at Sheep Camp.

July 21: Sheep Camp km 20.3

Approximately 8.4 km’s hiked today.

Still felt like a lot of up today but the scenery was much better with glimpses of mountains, river crossings, and waterfalls. We have yet to escape the trees but that should change tomorrow.Our packs seemed a bit lighter today and we weren’t nearly as tired when we made it to camp. A few more folks in camp than last night. Most are fellow Canadians from Vancouver and Grande Prairie. It rained on and off today so no chance to dry out but we did take advantage of the warming tent at Sheep Camp.

Highlight of the day:

Steve – Popping his blisters (ew) and the scenery on today’s hike;

Ken – Getting dry in the warming hut;

Cameo – Seeing the steam rise off Steve’s head at Pleasant Camp and laughing so hard my sternum hurt at Ken’s attempt to put his pack back on.

Tomorrow is the big day as we will summit the Chilkoot and after that it is all downhill.

Approximately 13 km’s logged today though it feels a lot longer than that. I know why it is called Happy Camp – As soon as you hike around a curve in the trail and see a tent a great feeling of happiness pushes you on.

July 22: Happy Camp km 33

What can I say about today but “Oh my God”. We were all expecting a good climb but we got much much more than we bargained for. We started the hike around 8:30 am passing some lovely waterfalls, and traversed some stream crossings before the ‘up’ started. Lots of bolder patches and fields to scramble up which always made me think Cascades were starting…wrong. The scales are where it started. Lots of rusted old items remain in the most awkward of places and lots of uphill climbing before you see the Golden Staircase which were only stairs back in the goldrush days when some young entrepeneur decided to make some money by carving stairs into the snow. It would have been nice to have the stairs today as it is quite the scramble to the summit. Our summit bid was shrouded in clouds, continuous drizzle, strong winds and occasional white-outs. Steve and I made it to the Pass by 1:30 pm and Ken was waiting for us in the warming tent on the Canadian side. After warming up and refueling we pushed on for another 5 hours to Happy Camp. The Canadian side of the trail is definitely prettier (or would be if the sun stayed out for any length of time). We got a few nice photos of the alpine lakes but for the most part the cloud and mists stayed with us. We saw it all today – coastal rain forests, snow, mountains, and alpine landscapes.

Highlight for the Day:

Steve – Making it to and over the pass as well and snacks at the Scales;

Ken – Making it over the pass;

Cameo – Making it over the false summits and still having enough energy to push on to camp (right beside a huge snow patch in the middle of July!).

We are unbelievably exhausted and we still have two days to go. At least it is downhill to Bare Loon Lake.

July 23: Bare Loon Lake km 46.7

13.7 km’s hiked. Wow! That is about the sum of this incredibly long day on the trail. Of course it was very wet and chilly when we packed up camp so Ken was a bit cranky about that. We hit the trail around 10:30 am and again the trail seemed to continue up for quite awhile. Aren’t we supposed to be descending?? The sun did make a few appearances and the all too brief glimpses of the vistas were amazing. Steve has many blisters on his feet and so it was a slow day for him. We took a break at Deep Lake which was absolutely gorgeous and would have been an excellent place to stay for the night. From there we continued on to Lindeman Camp where we picked up “You did the Chilkoot” certificates and took a look around the interpretive tent. The last leg of the days hike was just under 5 kms and was the toughest. We are back in the treeline so no more stunning scenery. At least we made camp by 5:30pm. Wme people over and over so e keep meeting up with the sait is nice to see we have all made it this far. One group from Grande Prairie has been kind enough to give us some of their trial mix for the last day as we underestimated how much we would need. It is around 9 pm and time to hit the hay as we have to get up at 6 am in order to make our train at Bennett Lake. Thank goodness the rain has started yet again.

Highlight of the Day:

Steve – Deep Lake and the sun allowing him a perfect view;

Ken – The sun making a brief appearance and not bringing the Focus as we were informed by some hikers coming the opposite way that Dyea is flooded which means the Land Rover is sitting in some water right now (yikes hope we have a ride home);

Cameo – Being able to dry out and making it to Bare Loon Lake without collapsing. Lake Bennett tomorrow, catch the White Pass train to Skagway (showers, food, beer).

July 24: Lake Bennett km 53.1

A relatively short 6.4 km’s today. We woke up at 6 am (actually we were up earlier thanks to the seagulls), and again packed up our wet gear. Mother Nature did not want us to experience dry gear on this hike. After packing we had a quick breakfast and hit the trail leaving Bare Loon Lake behind us. We had a nice campsite at the lake that reminded me of the shores of Georgian Bay but on a smaller scale. Ken was worried about the Land Rover being stranded in Dyea and Steve’s feet continued to be a mess of blisters and his ankle was now bothering him. I was worried about making the train in time and feeling a bit light headed due to lack of sufficient food provisions. This day was off to a great start.

The scenery was much like that of the previous day – in the tree line, lots of glacial erratics and not too much in the way of mountain views except for the odd peak poking through the overcast skies. We thought we were descending into Lake Bennett however it always seemed we were climbing hills. Even though it was overcast the rain did not fall on our last day on the Chilkoot trail. After about an hour into our hike the trail changed to ankle deep, boot sucking sand. It wiped me out! It seemed harder to walk through than over the boulders that we had become accustomed to. The hike to Bennett was surprisingly short and thanks to the trail mix Ken and I had plenty of energy to carry on and after awhile Steve got into a rhythm where his feet did not seem to be bothering him. We made it to Bennett by 10:30 am and with plenty of time to make the train. We had two hours until the train so we explored the campground and rustic train station on site. In all it was pretty anticlimactic for finishing the trail. Had we been klondikers of the era this would have marked the beginning of a 900 km river voyage to Dawson City YK. We passed the time in the chilly wind swapping trail stories with some of the other hikers. While we didn’t see anything larger than a squirrel some did come across a black bear on the trail.

The train was a bit early (yay!) and to make things even better they had free hot chocolate and tea waiting for us on board. The ride back to Skagway took about 3 hours. It was pretty nice even though we nearly froze our butts off in the outdoor car, available to those of us that were hiking the trail so as not to offend the noses of those there were taking the train for a leisure trip. We stopped at the customs office in Fraser BC and changed trains before continuing on to Skagway. Steve and I stayed in Skagway while Ken and a couple of other hikers picked up a taxi to the Dyea campground to retrieve vehicles. Ken was much relieved to find the Land Rover safe and sound however, others weren’t so lucky as the parking lot had been under 2 feet of water and their interiors where still flooded. The group asked if Ken could wait until everyone got their cars sorted out. As it turned out he brought back a member of the group as her car refused to start apparently water logged.

We set up camp in a local RV compound and after much needed showers and laundry (double yay!) we hit Skagway and ate at the Wild Alaskan Brewery were we each had a 5 sample beer tray and halibut (yay!). No need to mention that we slept very well that night.

Highlight of the Day:

Steve – The feeling of achievement upon completing the trail, having a well deserved shower and a nice meal with a beer;

Ken – Getting the Land Rover back with no damage (now we can get home);

Cameo – Free hot chocolate on the train from Bennett and throwing back some M&M’s before jumping into a hot shower!

Read Chilkoot Trail Part 1

Read Chilkoot Trail Part 3



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