Advertisement
Published: July 21st 2005
Edit Blog Post
Kindness is more important then wisdom, and the recognition of this is the beginning of wisdom. ----Theorode Isaac Rubin
July 5, 2005, Tuesday. We traveled by train this morning on the White Pass and Yukon Route to the summit. Today is the sunniest, brightest day since we have been in Alaska. The scenery along the trip was spectacular. The climb was about 3,000 feet and of course, we started at sea level. I never tire of looking at the mountains, waterfalls, and pine trees. It is hard to imagine the prospectors slogging along this steep, narrow trail with horses and the hopes of becoming RICH!
Back at the station, we had some lunch and began the second part of our day. With permit in hand and our backpacks ready, we drove to the trailhead for the Chilkoot Trail. The Chilkoot Pass was used by thousands of stampeders in search of Yukon Gold in 1898. The Chilkoot Trail is part of the Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Park and the Chilkoot Trail National Historic Park in Canada and is administered jointly by the U.S. and Canadian Park Services. Hikers must be outfitted with tent, cookstove, warm clothing, raingear, appropriate footwear, pack, extra food and fuel and whatever personal items one wishes to add to the weighty
pack.
The trailhead is outside Skagway in Dyea, where we parked the Bothan. We registered at the beginning of the trail, and began a VERY steep incline, with LOTS of rocks to scramble over. That combined with a heavy backpack made the going slow. This is only my third time backpacking, and I began to wonder if I had over estimated my ability. I just couldn’t get the backpack positioned properly so the weight would be on my hips, for some reason my shoulders were taking the brunt of it all. As Bob says, “If nothing else Kelly is persistent.” Well persist, I did and after some readjusting the pack seemed, I can’t say comfortable but, tolerable. After about a mile and a half, the trail leveled off and the hike was more pleasant. We hiked and sang, hopefully alerting the bears, “We are here!”
“THIS IS BEAR TERRITORY!” reads the signs. Before obtaining the permit the Ranger was emphatic about proper behavior in Bear Territory. Some instructions incude: Make noise on the trail, At the campsite cook only in the shelter, Put food and clothing used while cooking in a “Bear-proof Box”, or suspend it from a
pole with cord. If approached by a bear, talk to the bear, if he advances move back diagonally, if the bear attacks scream and fight. This is the second time I have had the drill. HOWEVER, we will be in a paper-thin, nylon tent, SLEEPING, talk about being vulnerable. I tell myself lots of people have hiked this trail and are well and happy today, but….
With all this info in mind, we arrive at our reserved campsite, Finnegan’s, (NO not Finnegan’s Wake) Finnegan’s Point, about 5 miles from the trailhead. Well, it has a tent-like structure with a wood burning stove, bench, and cooking area. As we walked up the hill there were three tent platforms, as well as an outhouse. The bear-box was heavy metal and locks tightly.
The location is wonderful next to a babbling creek, facing a mountain with a glacier, and quite private. We kept waiting expecting more folks to come and camp here, but only one group stopped and moved on to the next site 2 miles down the trail.
Well we got the tent up, had dinner, put away the cooking “stuff” and clothing, even brushed our teeth away from the tent area,
but this is July in Alaska so it is bright and sunny, it doesn’t seem like bedtime. I keep looking for Mr. Bear in the woods. Within minutes Mr. Bob is sound asleep, I however am still looking and listening. The platform we sleep on(?)is a wooden floor, nice and soft for the old bones. At this moment, the lightning strikes and the sky opens up with a downpour, the rain continues all night. I lay with Bob’s knife waiting for Mr. Bear, telling myself I don’t have to go to the bathroom!? It was a long night and one day I may laugh at it.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.063s; Tpl: 0.016s; cc: 8; qc: 23; dbt: 0.0311s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb