September 3-5
After a quick overnight in Whitehorse to swap out my enormous SUV for something more economical and to replenish my supplies, and to eat an enormous dinner at the very popular Klondike Rib and Salmon restaurant that looked like THIS:
I headed west to Haines Junction in the foothills of the towering St. Elias mountains. The approach to Haines Junction is dramatic as the snow capped monsters are obscured by smaller mountains until you make the last turn, and there you are. The town itself is sparse but has most amenities you would need after a day of hiking or a week of back-country camping. Most impressive of the place is the backdrop of mountains in front of even higher snow-capped mountains. The scene feels like stepping into a medieval gothic cathedral and your eyes need to adjust to the layers of detail in the vaulted ceiling above you.
My destination for the night was Kathleen Lake just inside Kluane National Park. I set up camp and headed off again to hike the St. Elias Lake trail. The trail was not that challenging and perhaps a little disappointing, but it helped me work off the gluttonous feast of ribs I had the day before in Whitehorse.
The next day I decamped as my plan was to relocate to a campground I saw on a map in northern BC on the Haines highway to pre-position myself for a hike there. But first I would hike the King’s Throne mountain near Kathleen Lake. The trail takes you halfway up the mountain to a ledge. At 550m up from the base and with the summit looming another 710m above you like the back of a colossal chair, you felt like you’re on a throne of sorts. The view of the valley was impressive. Seeing a trail continue up toward the summit along the shoulder of the mountain, I decided I would give it a go. I began the assent and realized that my boots could not grip properly on the fine gravel. I kept climbing slowly along the sharp ridge but after gaining another 250m of altitude with unsure footings and my fear of heights starting to kick in, I began doubting my decision to climb further. Add to that there was not a soul in sight anywhere to assist if I got into trouble and the weather seemed to be turning worse. Reason got the better of me and I gingerly crept back down to the safety of the throne with feet slipping out from under me on several occasions. I heard later that if I had just kept going a bit further I would have reached the more levelled off part of the trail and the summit would have been a piece of cake. D’oh! Stupid reason!
Back on level ground, and after completing a 12km hike with a 800m gain in altitude, I figured it was time to head for the campground in BC. Sadly the weather turned cold and the rain began to fall. I figured I’d hit the road to BC anyway in the hopes that the weather would improve. It didn’t, so on a spur of the moment I decided to drive to Haines, Alaska (the only town in that direction) to spend the night to wait out the rain.
Haines (not to be confused with Haines Junction in Yukon) is not the wretched Disney scene of Skagway. It’s a real town tucked away in some lush coastal forests and surrounded by snow-capped peaks. All in all, pretty stunning. The town feels like a real place, with some industry, a few 1950s-style motels and brewery. With the rain still raining, I decided to treat myself to a motel for the night. The friendly manager recommended a good restaurant across the street called the Bamboo Room. The halibut and chips were stellar with four battered bowling ball-sized chunks of fish. I washed it down with a tasty local brew and, to reward myself for all the exercise that day (and to basically negate all its benefit) I had a slice of strawberry-rubarb pie the size of my head. I settled back to my motel room in a food coma.
Next morning I got up early as I knew the sockeye salmon were running and, where there be salmon, there be bears. I made my way to the nearby river to check it out. Now if you’re going to deliberately put yourself in eyeshot of a grizzly, do it when they are fat on salmon. The grizzlies are happy and don’t bother anybody so long as you don’t get all paparazzi on them. I saw a total of six grizzlies but all of them in the fog and way beyond the range of any camera shot (so I could just be making all this up as I have no proof). As for the salmon, they’re cool to watch too. They congregate by the hundreds behind rocks in the river, waiting to recover enough energy to run the next set of rapids. You can almost touch them. It is in this scene that they are the easiest of pickings for bald eagles and grizzlies, and why the former and the latter are numerous in the Alaska panhandle.
I departed Haines just before mid-day and headed back up to BC to find my Samual Glacier trail. I got there around 2:30pm. The trail guide says it’s an eight hour hike – 20 km round trip. It’s tight – I don’t want to be out on a trail as night starts to close in. At the same time, it’s finally sunny and it may not be tomorrow. I decide to go for it, reasoning that I’ll watch the time and that I can always turn back.
The hike was relatively easy – mostly flat – a few glacial streams to ford. I made good time but started to get antsy about the time as I closed in on the last kilometre. I might have gone for it but that last kilometre was without trail and I would have had to cut a much slower path through wet, boggy terrain. I made my way a few hundred metres closer but decided to turn back as the bog became increasingly boggy. The view was cool though!
Tired from the walk and a little too much sun, I headed back toward Haines Junction (Yukon) and settled in for the night at Pine Lake campground where I met a very chatty German tourist who filled me with beer and kept me up until 1:00 am. So much for my hopes of an early night, but luckily we solved all the world’s problems.
sedativegunk 