Chilkoot Trail

Skagway is next to the start of the famous Chilkoot Trail, the start of the journey for prospectors looking to strike it rich during the Klondike Gold Rush. I've always heard that it's a great trail, and pictures i've seen look pretty nice.

I decided i wanted to go follow the stream to it's source and see Chilkoot Valley on the other side.

Somehow, though, i couldn't see this lake from the road, so after i parked and walked this far i realized i would have to walk all the way around the lake before i could continue on.

Towards the final years of the gold rush the White Pass Railway was completed. The railway traveled from Skagway to Carcross via White Pass, one valley over from Chilkoot Pass. They say the Chilkoot Trail takes up to a week to complete, and most of that time is spent walking through the forest in the bottom of the valley. Since i was more interested in the lanscape above treeline, i decided to hike over to Chilkoot Pass from White Pass, just for the view.

There were two hanging valleys to choose from, and i chose the one that was more to the south. It looked like i might attract attention from the Canadian border patrol for getting to close to their water supply if i chose the north valley. The southern one was in no man's land in between the two U.S./Canadian customs offices. Technically, i think i was right on the edge of British Columbia the whole day.

One of several lakes with unclear outlets. The sound of running water was everywhere under the snow in this area.

The walk from the road to the higher pass i had chosen was generally easy but longer than i expected, until i hit an area of frozen lakes and snowfields. It was July 3rd, and i was burning up in the snow. Down the hill in Skagway they were having a record breaking 85 degree day and up in the mountains the snow was melting so fast that ponds were forming on top of the snowfields. I had to walk around numerous lakes and make use of a lot of snow bridges over the streams before reaching a high point. I don't know if it is common to get that hot down there, but up around Anchorage i've never been in that kind of heat at that altitude.

Above all the frozen lakes right up at the pass i found this moose carcass. It was sad to think it had made it up this high and then critically injured itself. It looked like it had a broken leg. I imagine it must have died late in the fall, maybe slipping on ice. I think it had just melted out of the snow, as it still had a lot of 'organic liquids' in the carcass.

Looking over at Chilkoot Pass.

I was also looking at a storm building up over the area i had come from.

I kept thinking it was going to blow by but at this point i decided i needed to leave quickly.

The view into Chilkoot Pass and it's glacier backdrop was impressive. I stayed up there for about 45 minutes. On one side i was listening to a glacier constantly crumble over a cliff, and on the other i was watching thunderstorms build up in the heat. Eventually i had to flee as the wind changed and blew the storms overhead. For a good 1/2 hour i had to move quickly over the snow, in pouring rain, while lightning struck the peaks around me. It was surreal to be in a lightning storm while navigating by frozen lakes. Likewise, i was baffled to be stripping off layers of clothing while trudging through snow in thick rain and wind. Again, I've never been in an alpine environment, moving through bad weather, with those kinds of warm temperatures.

The rain started to move on, then it got downright muggy.

This area was fun to navigate.

I realized eventually that the pass area is littered with fault lines and i had to walk through one to get back to the road. Here you can see the fault coming down from higher on the ridge...

....and continuing on down valley. The whole lake i had to cross initially is only there because of the fault. Farther down valley the road crosses over the fault on a bridge over a deep chasm. The bridge looks funny because it is connected to only one side of the fault. The idea is that in a major earthquake it won't be torn apart.

White Pass may be the most impressive car-accessible pass i've ever seen, other than Logan's Pass in Montana. It is by far the biggest. It covers many square miles of table lands dotted with sparse patches of trees scattered among an huge, intricate lake and canal system literally creating a maze. All those lakes make up the part of the headwaters of the Yukon River. From the pass it's only a 16 mile drive down to the ocean, but the Yukon River heads in the opposite direction for 1,980 miles until it hits the Bering Sea.