Recent Comments

This is the trip report of the Chilkoot Trail Outing that took place July 15-23, 1999. It was published in the WNG NEWS; Vol 7, No. 4; Fall, 1999.

CHILKOOT TRAIL TRIP REPORT
by Dick Ambrose

There are only a few trails in the country that are designated "National Historical Trails," with the Chikoot Trail being one of them. It's a bit difficult to reach the trailhead, but it's well worth it. You first catch a plane to Seattle, then transfer to the only airline that flies into Juneau, which is Alaska Air. From there, you catch the Alaska Maritime Highway ferry to Skagway. In Skagway, you pick up a rambling taxi to the trailhead, located a short ways out of town.

The trip's itinerary was a five-day backpack covering about 33 miles. A fair number of people hike this trail every year, most of them hiking the same direction on the trail that we were...from Alaska into the Yukon in Canada. Almost everyone also hikes it in the warmer months, unlike the original prospectors who trudged through deep snow in the winter of 1898, braving temperatures way below zero. We had 24 people in our group, 14 men and 10 women. We came from Georgia, Florica, Ohio, California, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire. The diversity in our group was due to the fact that we invited other sports clubs in the country to participate. The large gay and lesbian club in Boston, The Chiltern Mountain Club, joined in with 13 participants.

Our first two days on the trail were a real pleasure...great weather because of an unusual dry spell that Alaskans had been experienceing for about a month. We hiked through what was called a boreal rainforest, a high latitude generally-damp forest with big trees, lots of ferns and mosses, with no lack of water in the streams. Along the way, every now and then we saw remains of gear left by the old prospectors: various tools, stove implements, parts of wagons and such. Back in the 1920s, when this trail was originally proposed as a National Historical Trail, Congress refused it this status until the "trash" left by the prospectors was cleaned up. Later in the 1980s, this trash was recategorized as "artifacts" and allowed to remain, as it gained its rightful status as a Historical Trail. In fact, it is now against the law to remove any of the "artifacts." Life is indeed strange!

The night of the second day, it began to rain. This was the one thing I feared most at this point in our trek -- Why?...because the third day was the longest; and, in addition, the first two days had modest climbs in elevation while the first 3 miles of the third day climbed over one-half mile in elevation. This was the infamous climb from the "Scales" up the "Stairs" and over the Chilkoot Pass that the prospectors dreaded. So, in small groups we left camp and began our ascent. the rain changed to sleet at times as we scrambled over the high and very steep bolder field to the summmt of the pass...with each of us carrying over 40 lbs packs. I was very gratified to find later in the day that the entire group had made it...no one had turned back, which was always an individual option. We had indeed functioned as teams, with each helping the other over the Pass. The remainder of the day was spent hiking above treeline past lakes with small icebergs floating in them...remember this is still the month of July.

The final two days were more cheery...with generally blue skies and bright alpine days. Our final day was spent on the shores of Lake Bennett in the Yukon, in the middle of nowhere, where we were picked up by a train (the White Pass and Yukon Railroad) which carried us back to the start of our trip in Skagway. This railroad is touted as one of the 10 engineering marvels of the world, right up there with the Eiffel Tower and the pyramids, because of the feat of laying rail in such inhospitable mountainous territory. In was indeed a scenic trip back.

Some of us spent an additional few days after the Chilkoot backpack to explore Kluane National Park in the Yukon. Located not far from Skagway, the giant wilderness is only viewed by most people from a distance because it is so vast. There are no roads or trails into the interior. Our day hikes around the periphery were awesome...we even saw a lynx on one hike...a very rare animal indeed!

All in all, the trip was a great success. We started with 24 people, and 24 people arrived back home after a great adventure. That's what we want.