Tag: Hiking in the Yukon

Road Trip to the Yukon – Gear, Life on the Road, and Some Stats

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Yukon had been on our list of places to travel to for a bit, and after a year of pandemic, and continued international restrictions, it seemed like the obvious time to take this trip.

At first, we researched campervan rental options, but looking to rent for over a month, it ended up being quite expensive. Since we were already equipped with all the appropriate camping gear, and had a solid vehicle to undertake this trip, we figured we could just car-camp our way through it, with a few airbnb/hotels here and there to reset.

As we had never gone on a road trip that long, we did take a look at our gear and made a couple of key additions.

Rooftop box – seemed like an obvious one, so we could pack everything comfortably in the car, especially since we wanted to take our two inflatable kayaks along. They didn’t fit in the box, but we kept them both behind the passenger seat and almost forgot they were there the whole time.

Screen House/Sun & Bug shelter – If we were going to be camping most nights, we figured we might still want to have some sort of roof over our heads as protection against the elements – namely bugs and rain. We found a Coleman Instant Screen house 10×10 on Facebook Marketplace for $100 and it turned out to be the best addition to our gear we could make. Very effective against bugs, a bit less so against rain due to its tapered shape, but we threw a tarp on top and we had a very decent (albeit not glamorous) rain shelter.

 

It was super quick to set up and take down, and fit over all the campground picnic tables. Once we got into our groove, it only took us a few minutes to take all the gear out and set things on and around the table, and regardless of where we were, we felt at home.
Brice had purchased a string of small usb-powered fairy lights (the kind you see in any “vanlife”/”camplife” popular IG account), which turned out to be very good for overhead lighting (we kept it rolled up and attached it to the roof of the tent, as stringing it around the sides just wasn’t something we cared to do every time we set up).

Food storing – we put all of our dry food in plastic filing boxes, easily stackable in the car. We had two boxes for food and one for cooking equipment. We also brought a cooler bag with us, but to be honest we didn’t need much cooling for most of the trip and ended up using it without any cooling packs or ice. It still kept things like milk and cheese a bit fresher if we consumed them quickly.

Sleeping Gear – we used more or less the same gear as when we took our trip through Patagonia. We’ve had our Sierra Designs tent for 5 years now and still love it. It’s easy to set up and a good size for two people without being too big. We had brought a second tent along which we ended up not using as it was a bit bigger and nights tended to be on the colder side. But since we had the room it was good to have a spare, in case anything happened to the first one. We were happy to see that our yellow tent was still very capable of handling rain and wind, although the elastic cordage that connects the poles together started to show sign of stretching. It didn’t prevent the use of the tent but made the setting up/take down a bit slower. (We’ve since sent the tent back to the company, and they replaced the cordage as well as the main zipper at no cost).

 

For mattresses, we initially had our two Tensor Insulated Nemo Pads – Brice has the wider/longer model. Mine unfortunately got a puncture along the way, but we had a spare mattress that I was able to use for the last 2 weeks of the trip. We also brought our Sierra Design Backcountry Bed 20 Duo, a double sleeping bag with pockets to fit both mattresses in, so you basically end up with a double bed while still using lightweight gear. I have to say I love this double sleeping bag, as it allows me to take advantage of all the body heat Brice generates (he’s like a human radiator), while I often have a hard time staying warm.

Cooking gear – Nothing fancy here, we used a basic two burner Coleman stove and our backcountry camping pots, but made the brilliant addition of a large non-stick ceramic pan, easy to cook with and clean. Keep in mind that doing dishes with cold water is kind of a nightmare, so an easy-to-wipe-down pan was the best thing we could bring along.
Speaking of doing dishes, we also had a collapsible bucket, something we’d gotten into a swag box a while back and hadn’t really used, but it proved to be very helpful for dishes or any sort of hand washing. For water we had a big 20-liter F-style jug, and drank all our water out of our Lifestraw Go water bottle, since those meant we could basically drink any water anywhere without boiling it first (many of the campsites advised to do so).

As much as we tried to keep our car tidy, and we did for the most part, there are always random bits and bobs that end up shoved in corners or in between boxes (like shoes especially, or bags of chips), but once we got the right set up for the boxes, we managed to keep things relatively in order.

Tent-camping in a different place every night still required a bit of work, even though we got pretty quick at it. We had to set up both tents, blow up the mats and fit them into the sleeping bag. Boxes of food and cooking gear needed to be taken in and out of the car multiple times between snacks, diner and breakfast, since you shouldn’t leave any food outside for wildlife to find. Brice would get a fire going every night and that’s always a bit of work to start and maintain.

And then there was the travel recording aspect. We took a lot of photos every day, and Brice would spend some time in the evening backing-up SD cards and footage and sometimes working on a few photos. I would write in a travel journal what we had done and places we’d been (crazy how fast you forget where you were a couple of days earlier when you’re traveling everyday), and spend a bit of time organizing photos for IG Stories. Don’t get me wrong, it was a vacation, but we didn’t actually spend a huge amount of time just chilling, there was always something to do.

 

Campgrounds & accommodation

As I mentioned in our itinerary post, there were loads of campgrounds along the way, and we were able to just drive into one and find a spot pretty much every night. I think traveling into the end of August certainly helped, as some spots might have been busier if we’d been there in July for example.

We were generally very impressed with the campgrounds. We found showers at a good number of them (usually the private ones, with prices per night around $26). All had a table and fire pit and the out-houses were always spotless and stocked with toilet paper (even at the most rudimentary rec sites). In the Yukon, Government campgrounds, which are peppered throughout the Territory, were only $12 a night, including firewood!

Since we stayed almost exclusively in official campgrounds, we had other people around us most nights, but only on a couple of occasions did we have loud neighbors. A big majority of the people staying in campgrounds were travelers in big RVs, a lot of them retirees enjoying the life on the road.

 

On the other hand, finding other types of accommodation proved to be a bit harder. We had booked three Airbnbs ahead of starting our trip, based on our initial itinerary – about 1 indoor stay per week, so we could take a break from the camping life and do things like laundry and sleep in a real bed.

When we tried to book a hotel room in Dawson City after our Tombstone trek, we found no availability anywhere (it was a Saturday night). And when I looked for a last minute Airbnb between Watson lake and Dawson Creek, the closest I only found were a couple of options in Fort St John – there were a couple of motel options but we ended up skipping those and splurging on a house stay instead. So the last-minute indoor options were a bit more limited and I was glad we booked the first three stays in advance, especially the night just before Tombstone.

Dressing for the Weather

Our friends Adele & Thierry, who had taken a similar trip a few years back, had warned us that they had gotten a lot of rain during their trip. It was a good thing to know about. Traveling in August, I was still expecting to experience a bit of summer, and packed a bunch of shorts and t-shirts – which I ended up not wearing. We had nice weather the first couple of days, but after Smithers, we got some  pretty much 3 out of 4 days, and when it didn’t rain, it was often very overcast. Temperatures hovered around 14-16 degrees Celsius at the highest, and we had some drops into the single digits as we drove north into the Yukon. We even had light snow on our last day in Tombstone, on Aug 21st. The weather only got a bit better once we started driving back south, after Fort St John.

Needless to say, I was glad I brought all the layers along, puffy jacket and hat for warmth, goretex jacket and shoes for the rain, fleece layers, down to long johns for the night. And all the merino socks.

Some Trip Stats

37 days on the road

9,729km

1,082 liters of gas

31 nights under the stars ( 5 indoors)

24 campgrounds

9.5 propane/butane bottles

15 different animal sighting

1 cracked windshield

1 rainbow crossing

71 locally baked goods

 

 

Road Trip to the Yukon – Itinerary Recap

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I first established our itinerary based on researching areas of interest on the internet, and finding posts about specific road trip itinerary, or suggestions from friends.
I always end up mapping out an itinerary on paper, in calendar-like view, indicating the place to visit/stay every day. I looked at distance/time to travel between places and where we may want to stay for more than one night. It’s easy to pack too much into a trip and I often have a bit more on paper than what I know we will realistically do.

As I mentioned in other trip journals, we’re not very good at getting up early (unless there’s a specific reason we need to) and cram a lot into one day. And especially when camping, getting ready in the morning tends to take a bit more time, just because things have to be set up or taken down. So any time we wanted to do a day hike, I knew to plan for 2 nights in that place, as it was unlikely we would travel far and do a hike on the same day.

The nice thing about this trip was that we had a bit of flexibility with our return date, and we ended up adding 2-3 more days to the trip than initially planned, just through shifting some things around or adding a side trip here and there.
I had planned some of the itinerary with the hope that we could cross the border into the US (a couple of scenic loops in the Yukon take you through Alaska). But as we quickly realized, even if we could cross, the whole ordeal of getting tested (if even possible, at the time antigen tests weren’t yet a thing!) before coming back just wasn’t practical. So I re-adjusted some of the route accordingly, and it didn’t feel like we missed out on anything. The only set item on the schedule was the trip through Tombstone, as we had booked the campsites in advance and it would have been tricky to move those dates around. But we were able to work other adjustments around these dates. For example, we re-evaluated our itinerary based on weather – moving the time we went to Kluane to later, after seeing the forecast for our initial-planned time.
In the end, having a planned but flexible itinerary worked out great, allowing us to have clear directions but still with room to adjust as needed.

I used a bunch of different reading material on a daily basis to guide us.

The Milepost was my go-to for anything to see along the road, as it has a detailed log of everything and anything worth stopping for on the Alaska highway but also all the other circuits connected to it. I used the official visitor guides for Northern BC and Yukon for a bit more details on hikes, camping and local attractions. We’ve used for many years apps like Navmii to determine distances and locations to drive to, and Ultimate Campgrounds or IOverlander to find places to camp. That said there was no shortage of campgrounds both in BC and the Yukon, and you would rarely drive more than 100km without coming across a recreation site or a provincial park/Govt campground. Beyond that, visitor centres were a great place to pick up further info on local attractions. I relied heavily on paper guides as service was very spotty, if not non-existent, in a lot of areas along the way, and I maxed out of phone data a few days before we got back.
Outside of border crossing, Covid certainly had an impact on some of our itinerary, due to a number of places being closed – mainly cultural centres or any other places run by First Nation communities. As a result we spent a bit less time in some places that we otherwise might have.

Main Hiking areas

I always enjoy building an itinerary, and becoming familiar with the map of a place I’ve never been. I’m a visual person and I start getting a better understanding of where things are and visualize what our trip might look like. Taking on the journey always feels like uncovering the areas of a video game map (for those that might have played Zelda or any other game of this type). After the trip, we’ve now unveiled areas of the map and can go back to it later for any unfinished business.
Despite covering a lot of ground, I feel like we still have only skimmed the surface of some of the most notable areas we’ve visited. These are some of the places I could go back to and spend more time exploring:

Smithers – There are a few mountain ranges around Smithers that seem to offer a nice variety of hiking, between the Babine Mountains, the Seven Sisters Provincial Park, and the nearby Brian Boru Peak or Mount Thomlison. Plus Smithers is an appealing small town with a strong outdoorsy vibe, so it’d be easy to spend a week hiking by day and brewery-ing by night.

Kluane National Park– This is one of the largest wilderness areas in the country and we mostly saw it from the road! There are a number of multi-day hikes or guided adventures that could be done, and I would love to come back for an extended stay.

Tombstone Territorial Park – Although we covered the official backcountry circuit, there are a number of other day hikes that could be done, as well as more backcountry exploring. Definitely enough to spend another few days there.

Northern Canadian Rockies – this area between Muncho Lake and Fort Nelson was spectacular to drive through. Looking at Alltrails and other hiking sites, there is no shortage of beautiful hikes in the area.

Tumbler Ridge Global Geopark – this one was an unexpected discovery. Not initially on our radar, we added it as a destination for one last day hike before heading home. Their visitor guide was super comprehensive and listed a good number of hikes – including multi day ones – that would be worth another visit.

Faro – another last minute addition to the route, we only explored the local trails around the campground, but there seems to be some good alpine hiking around Faro that could be worth another side-trip for, if we found ourselves that way again. The trail network is also meant to be suited for witer activities like cross-country skiing.

Other stops along the way:

The Hazeltons – For its spectacular setting, and the rich history of the Gitksan and Wet’suwet’en people

Nass Valley – A beautiful drive along the Nass river, Volcanic landscape shaped by drowning forests and lava flow, and discovery of four communities of the Nisga’a Nation.

Stewart, BC – a quirky settlers town at the end of the road, located at the mouth of a fjord on the border with Alaska

Boya Lake Provincial Park – turquoise blue water just begging to be paddled

Keno City – A tiny hamlet at the heart of the silver trail, remnant of a booming mining era

Dawson City – the quintessential Gold Rush town, and north-most town in the Yukon.

Haynes Junction – the getaway to Kluane National Park, and the western section of the Alaskan Highway

Carcross – Home of the Carcross/Tagish nation, the carcross Common showcases a great variety of indigenous arts and culture.

Liard Hotsprings – a tourist stop but well worth it, to enjoy the warm waters surrounded by lush vegetation, and potential moose sightings.

 

Muncho Lake – Incredibly scenic lake in the spectacular setting of the Northern Canadian Rockies

Dawson Creek – Mile 0 of the Alaska Highway

Tumbler Ridge – To find out about Dinosaur activity in BC

Chetwynd – Incredible display of chainsaw wood-carvings

 

Discovering the local History

Both Northern BC and the Yukon have a remarkable history, born of the determination of its earlier visitors to fight against the harshest of conditions (terrain, weather conditions, wildlife) to – sadly – claim territory and land that wasn’t theirs to begin with. But traces are everywhere of the grit and persistence necessary to build the roads that tourists such as ourselves are now able to leisurely travel on. A trip through the Yukon cannot be completed without learning about the construction of the Alaska highway, or the Klondike Gold Rush.

Along the road, we encountered remnants of the Gold Rush of the late 1800’s. As we traveled North, we were slowly piecing together the facts and history of that era, collecting fragments of how men and woman traveled to the North, settled and lived up there.

Eventually when got to the Silver trail and later to Dawson City, we could see the bigger picture. The steam wheelers, the claims, the machines engineered to replace human labor, the towns built to house all those populations, having migrated to these extremely harsh regions in search of different, better life. But also the Indigenous Peoples who helped settlers survive the conditions, who joined in the trades and the workforce on the road or the river, who ultimately were displaced, and their forever altered, nearly lost culture and way of life.

While the Gold Rush and the Alaska Highway are the main historical attractions highlighted for tourists to see, the history and culture of the 14 Yukon First Nations is very much present, with cultural centers in most every town, and opportunities to learn about the different communities’ origin and traditions, their ties and relationship to each other and some of the notable figures that have had an integral role in the history of the Territory. A trip to the Yukon would not be complete without learning about the Indigenous Peoples who have lived on this land since time immemorial.

Road Trip to to the Yukon – Part 9 – From Haines Junction to Watson Lake

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August 27 – Drive to Conrad lake

It was pretty cloudy when we got up. We had entertained the idea of trying to paddle on Kathleen lake, but seeing how overcast and windy it was, we decided against it.

We drove back to Whitehorse and grabbed lunch at the Alpine Bakery – which we found out later claims to be German, despite all the French people working there and frequenting it?
We hadn’t really spent anytime in Whitehorse the previous couple of times we drove through, so we decided to give it a go. The downtown area wasn’t all that appealing – not a whole lot of stores, or maybe we didn’t spend enough time ?

There was one massive outdoor outfitter store, and then we found a block that had a gallery with a few things – “artisan” souvenirs, a bakery, a couple of home decoration shops, a yarn store.

We walked a few blocks along the small downtown strip, then North along the river. We visited the Cultural center for some insight on the local Kwanlin Dün First Nation.

We left Whitehorse mid-afternoon and drove south towards Carcross. Someone had recommended Tutchi Lake as a place to spend the night. We first drove into Conrad Lake Gvt Campground and seeing how busy it was (it was after 5pm on a friday night), I worried we would drive to Tutchi, 20 min away, to find no available spot (our campground apps indicated only 5 spots there) then drive back to Conrad and find a full campground.

So we set up camp in a spot that was actually quite nice, with view of the lake and a short trail leading to the shore. The light was really nice, hitting the mountains across the lake. It was quite windy when we first arrived but the wind died down in the evening so we had a rather pleasant camping experience that night.

August 28 – Visiting Carcross and Teslin

It rained pretty heavily at night and didn’t stop in the morning. I didn’t feel like rushing so I indulged in some morning reading before getting up. We kept breakfast simple (cereals) to avoid having to do dishes in the cold and rain, and packed everything all wet. Our first stop of the day was in Carcross – formerly named Caribou Crossing.

The town has developed as a popular tourist stop thanks to a mix of preserved old-timey cabins, the remnant of a sternwheeler boat, the SS Tutshi, and the fairly recent addition of the Carcross Commons, a space of 20 artisan shops, with interpretive signs of the different clans from the Carcross/Tagish First Nation, who have lived in the area since time immemorial.
Sadly because of Covid, all but one shop were closed, but the space was still neat to see, if only to learn about the history of the town and the structure and names of the clans that live there.

Daklaweidi (Killer Whale)
Kookhittaan clan (Crow)
The Deisheetaan clan (Beaver)

The Carcross/Tagish First Nation is comprised of six Clans, separated into the Crow and the Wolf Moiety, or social groups. The Crow Moiety includes Deisheetaan, Ganaxtedi, Kookhittaan, Ishkahittaan and the Wolf Moiety includes the Daklaweidi and the Yan Yedi. Each of these clans plays a vital role in the governance of the Carcross/Tagish First Nation.

The original inhabitants of this area are the Tagish people who belong to the Tagish linguistic grouping of the Athapaskan language family. The area also became the home of Tlingit traders from Southeast Alaska who were venturing into the interior of the Yukon for trade purposes, perhaps for 200 to 300 years prior to contact in the Yukon. Today many of the Carcross/Tagish First Nation people are descendants of both Tagish and Tlingit. As of January 2006, the Carcross/Tagish First Nation is a Self-Governing First Nation

(Taken from the Council of Yukon First Nation)

We took a rainy stroll around the historic cabins and to the boat remnants. The sternwheeler had been under renovation for close to 15 years, and nearly finished, when it tragically burnt down. Only the Stern wheel and the very charred bow remain, and in-between are just 2 open floors with no walls to indicate its former size.

The town is located on the shores of Nares Lake, and features a swing bridge built in 1990.

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Ironically, Carcross has one of the lowest amounts of precipitation days in Canada, so i guess the fact we had a rainy day made it somewhat special?

The local coffee shop was open so we gladly grabbed a hot sandwich, coffee and pastries before heading back on the road.

Next we drove to Teslin to visit the George Johnston museum (we had tried to stop by on our way in a couple of weeks prior but it was closed that particular day).

The museum was very well done, with information on the Inland Tingit peoples of Teslin, as captured by George Johnston. He was a self-taught photographer, who also became famous for being the first person to bring a car to this area, at a time when there wasn’t even a road to drive on.
He used the car for hunting and as a taxi service, after he cleared out about 5 km of track to travel on. That track later became part of the Alaska Highway.

The museum offered screenings of the movie Picturing a People: George Johnston, Tlingit Photographer, which we started watching but had to leave unfinished as the museum was closing (the film is available to watch online on the NFB website). The museum also had an area about local wildlife and how it was traditionally perceived and used as resource by the Inland Tlingit community.

It was still raining when we left the museum. We debated checking into a motel, but the options were limited so we eventually decided against it and settled on the nearby campground. It pretty much rained all night, with temps around 5-6°C  (admittedly my mood wasn’t the greatest, especially after I’d seen that there was rain on the forecast for the following 3 days). We did book an Airbnb for 3 days later, splurging on a house near Fort St John (the closest available airbnb we could find along our itinerary). It was something to look forward to if the rain persisted. We also decided we would have dinner at a restaurant in Watson lake the next day, so we could have some dry time then and not have to worry about making dinner in the cold and wet.

Once we’re under the tent and into our sleeping bag, it’s always cosy even in the rain, but everything else becomes a bit of a process when dealing with wet gear and cold.

August 29 – Watson lake

We didn’t have much planned on that day, other than drive the 250 or so kilometers from Teslin to Watson lake. There isn’t much to stop and do on that stretch of road, which was fine because it was still raining heavily after we packed up. We did stop at the Yukon Motel & Restaurant to make use of their washrooms. Nothing like washing my face with hot water after a few nights of cold, wet weather!

We drove for a bit and had lunch at a side-of-the-road rest stop. I didn’t have the motivation to prepare much in that weather, but thankfully we had two cans of tuna + quinoa salads, which we ate in our seats, with a side of chips and m&ms. That’s also the reality of road trips, there’s not always a scenic, sunny spot to stop at and that’s fine. As long as we can fill our bellies with food, the mood usually stays high.

We arrived in Watson Lake mid-afternoon and went to the Visitor Center, for warmth, wifi, dinner recommendations, and somewhere dry to sit for a little bit.

They had a small exhibit on the construction of the Alaska Highway as well as a 20 min movie. The 1600-mile long Alaska highway was constructed by military effort in 1942, as a way to connect Alaska to the rest of the US. Prompted by the attack on Pearl Harbour, it was completed between March and October of that year, in roughly 8 months. About 11,000 soldiers worked on the project, in very harsh conditions and across incredibly challenging terrain. While putting this post together I came across two interesting articles on the construction of the road, so if you’re so inclined, below is a bit more information on the mammoth task that its construction was, and the men who made it happen.

Why Building of the Alaska Highway is Still an Epic Feat 75 Years Later

The Construction of the Alaska Highway, 1942: The Role of Race in the Far North

Next we got some food from the grocery store – it seems even when we don’t “need anything” we can’t seem to go into a grocery store without coming out with a handful of items. Then we drove back to the Watson Lake Campground, the same we had stayed at  2 weeks earlier, and after setting up camp, we chilled for a bit until dinner.

Somehow the rain stopped and we even got some shy rays of sun through the trees as we were setting up.
To escape the weather that night, we decided to go to a restaurant since there were a few options in Watson Lake. We chose the New Nugget, a very Westerner-tailored Chinese restaurant (they didn’t even bother offering chopsticks). Their wonton soup and vegetable fried rice were really tasty and we left with a full belly.

Although this stretch of road wasn’t the most scenic of the trip, we still learned a lot about the area, the people that live there, and how the road came to be. This trip overall definitely had a good mix of scenery, outdoor activities as well as history and culture to discover.

Road Trip to to the Yukon – Part 8 – Kluane National Park and Reserve

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August 24 – Drive To Haines Junction

We got up and drove to Whitehorse, where we found a much-needed carwash and re-stocked our food supplies. On the way out, looking for a liquor store we stumbled upon the Yukon Beer store, so we bought a few to try out.
Then we headed towards Haines Junction, a couple of hours west on the Alaska Highway.

When we got there we stopped at the Visitor Center and went through the exhibit about the Kluane National Park and Reserve, which is a designated UNESCO World Heritage. The Park is home to 17 of the 20 highest mountains in Canada, including the tallest, Mount Logan, at 5959 meters. The park also features the largest non-polar icefield in the world.
We watched a short movie also covering the topic, the land diversity, fauna, and work being done in collaboration between the Kluane First Nation, Champagne and Aishihik First Nations and the Park Staff/Parks Canada administration.
Next to the visitor Center is the Da Kų Cultural center which showcases First Nation Art and Culture, but it was closed due to Covid.

Next we drove to Kathleen lake, where we’d planned on spending the next few nights, while we explored the Kluane Area.

August 25 – Drive Out and back to Burwash Landing

The forecast suggested rain that day, and nicer conditions the next, so we decided to take the drive to Burwash Landing and wait for the nice day to do a hike.

The drive along the Alaska Highway offers great view points on the Kluane mountains and Kluane lake. We stopped near the southern end of the lake, to take a stroll on a sandy area right off the road. The desert-like landscape is due to the retreat of the Kaskawulsh Glacier. As a result, its meltwater which previously fed two rivers, the Kaskawulsh River and ‘Ä’äy Chù’ (Slims River), now only flows into one. This phenomenon has apparently happened several times in the past, but current state of global warming suggest it is unlikely that the Glacier will re-advance, and that both rivers will run again. It was quite unexpected to see such a landscape surrounded by mountains. 

We then stopped at the Thachäl Dhäl Visitor Centre and had lunch. The park ranger there was very friendly and pointed out to us a couple of herds of Dall Sheep that could be seen (through binoculars) on the slopes of the nearby mountain. They were pretty far, so even through binoculars they looked like tiny little white specs. Would this qualify as wildlife sighting?

We continued on the drive to Destruction Bay and Burwash landing, where we once again, we found the museum closed due to Covid. The drive was still worth it though, for the scenery along Kluane Lake and the mountains around.

There are a number of hikes you can do into Kluane along that stretch of highway, some of them multi-day treks. I would definitely be interested in coming back for a multi-day adventure, as some of the trails reach the edge of the icefield, and promise a pretty spectacular sight.

There are also various guided adventures to be taken, from flying over the glaciers to white river rafting up close to them. Too much to do and see in just a couple of days! But it was great to get a glimpse at the area and know what to come back for.

On the way back we stopped at Village Bakery in Haines Junction for some pastries and free wifi, then headed back to camp.

That night we changed things up a bit by making tacos – zucchini, bell peppers, avocado & tuna, with a dash of green pepper hot sauce. That was a nice variation from our other camping meals so far, and one we might even repeat at home.

August 26 –  Hiking the King’s Throne trail

We set off for King’s Throne, a hike that was recommended to us by our friend Adele, as well as 2 or 3 other random people we saw on other hikes. The trailhead is actually at Kathleen Lake so it was conveniently near our campsite. Alltrails had it recorded at 12.7km, while I had seen it at 15km in some Yukon guide, with an estimated time of 8 hours.

We started relatively late at 10am. The trail is pretty wide and flat for the first 2 kms in the trees, then it starts climbing steeply up the mountain side. We got to the alpine within 3km from the start and had great views of Kathleen lake from there on. One option I’d found was to hike 5km to King’s “seat”, basically the bottom of the cirque at the base of the ridge. My watch only read about 3.6k though when we got to that point after only about 1 hour of climbing (maybe a bit more), so we continued straight on to climb the ridge.

 

That portion was probably the most challenging (both up and down) as you climb very steeply on loose gravel. It was slow going up and a bit slippery on the down.
Looking up we could see that the higher section of the ridge was completely covered in clouds but we figured we’d keep going until we felt like it didn’t make sense anymore.

There were some pretty windy spots on the way but alternating with some sheltered ones. We had a snack part-way up and we were debating whether to continue.

Another couple was following us from not far behind so we let them go by, to see if the next portion was strenuous or not, based on their progress. Turns out we were pretty much at the top of the steeper climb, and from there the trail followed the ridge relatively smoothly.

The trail split at each “bump” with option to go up or circumvent at the base. The ground was made up of larger rocks and traveling on that section was actually quick and easy. We went over 3 or 4 prominences, every time wondering if that was the summit, and every time it wasn’t, another bump showing up silhouetted further in the clouds.

The official summit is technically the far end of the ridge, opposite to where we climbed, and we debated how far to keep going as we were basically traveling in a cloud, with little to no view. We did get a peek at the far section of Kathleen lake, as clouds parted on the other side of the ridge. Eventually we made it to a section where someone had built a small shelter out of stacked rocks.

 

The wind was pretty brutal on the ridge but completely absent in the shelter. We decided this was a good point to turn around. Based on distance, we were at least 1km away from the official summit, maybe more. And at that point, the lack of views didn’t really make it seem worth continuing. A few people passed us, heads down, trudging to the summit, but we decided to turn around without any regrets.

Two hours later when we were back down, sitting by the lake for a snack, and it looked like the summit had cleared but there were still dark menacing clouds above the whole ridge. In any case, we were pretty happy with the hike and the views we got over Kathleen Lake.

It took us 3h20min to go up, with a couple of breaks, and about 2h 20 to come down. I would assume continuing to the summit would have added 1-2 more hours to this. The way down was actually more challenging I found, due to the slippery terrain – And I swear the last 2kmm on flat were way longer than when we started ! (Brice thought so too!). In the end we clocked 13km with 1324m of elevation gain, so a decent day out!

We had snacks at the day use area by the lake, then headed back to camp for the evening.
We had been pretty fortunate with showers so far, finding accessible ones in a lot of campsites or nearby, but nothing of the sort at Kathleen Lake, so sponge bath it was, to rinse off the hike (the lake itself was way too cold and windy for me to go in).

Road Trip to the Yukon – Part 7 – Dawson City

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August 22 – In and Around Dawson City

We packed up the tent and went for breakfast in town. We first tried the Riverwest Bistro, but it had more of a coffee shop vibe and was a bit crowded so instead we sat at the Jack London Grill, inside the Downtown hotel, for a proper eggs benny and waffles type of deal.

 

The plan for the morning was strolling through Dawson City, and go to the Dänojà Zho Cultural Centre – but it ended up being closed on Sunday unfortunately. We went back to the Trading Post, now our favorite store, with its mix of outdoor supplies and miscellaneous antique items. It’s one of those stores that makes you want to buy all the things for your outdoor needs, but we only got propane bottles and an extra tarp, so we could keep both out bug shelter and sleeping tents dry from the rain.

Dawson City is located on the land  of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in first nation, descendant of the of the Hän-speaking people who lived along the Yukon River for millenia. The Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in people traveled extensively over roughly 10,000 square kilometers of land, therefore designated as their traditional territory. Salmon, Caribou and Moose were some of their main source of food and the the land procured a wealth of other supplies, used in trades with neighboring nations. Contact with European settlers presented opportunities for trading of new goods, but also challenges due to the impact and influence on the Han culture, and of course the loss of land.

The discovery of gold and stampede resulted in the displacement of the Han people, and significant impact on their food sources by driving away the game. A highly regarded and respected member of the clan during the Gold Rush, Chief Isaac witnessed the impact of the European culture on his people and entrusted their traditional songs and dances with a neighboring nation in Alaska, to keep them alive until a time the Han could receive them back.

In the 1970’s, Yukon First Nations started the process of reclaiming their lands through negotiations with the Canadian government. Trʼondëk Hwëchʼin’s individual Land Claim and Self Government Agreement was first negotiated in 1991 but the Final Agreement wasn’t signed and put into effect until 1998. Today the Trʼondëk Hwëchʼin are actively working towards restoring their cultural heritage and traditions, while being active participants in the preservation and protection of the land we had the privilege to explore during our time there.

As for the founding of Dawson City and what remains today, its history is tightly woven with that of the Klondike Gold Rush. While settlers were stampeding up the Yukon river to stake claims on land that would hopefully yield them wealth, one business-savvy man, Joseph Ladue, decided to claim an area of boggy marsh land, at the mouth of the river. He figured all these people would need a place to live and expand as a community and sure enough, the town grew to roughly 5000 people within 6 months of Ladue first naming Dawson City. Today the town population is roughly 1600 people, the 2nd most populated town in the Yukon, after Whitehorse, and subsists mainly thanks to tourism.

The day turned out to be quite sunny, which was a nice change, and we had lunch on one of the wooden platforms near the river. In the afternoon we headed down Bonanza Creek road, to visit a few different sites related to the Gold rush.

Dredge n°4 is a huge piece of machinery (the biggest of its kind) which was used to basically turn the river bed upside down to extract gold from it. At the time it was used (from the early 1910’s to the late 1950’s), it was the epitome of placer gold extraction engineering, and the most advanced it got from the original human labor of swishing dirt in a pan, at the start of the gold rush in the late 1890’s.

The design was, in itself, pretty straight forward: a series of huge cast-iron buckets on a chain, similar to a treadmill, would dig through the creek bed and pull the dirt out. As it traveled through the machine and a trommel screen mechanism, the heavier gold would fall down into a container while the rest of the rocks and dirt would get spit out the other end, creating a new mound of dirt where the creek used to be. This method was definitely more aggressive on the environment than manual gold panning, but certainly more efficient as Dredge 4 collected approximately nine tons of gold during its time of operation.

Our next stop was at Claim #6, a section of the Bonanza Creek owned by the Klondike Visitors Association and inviting visitors to do their own gold panning. It felt like a bit of a gimmicky tourist attraction, but since it was free we went along. Turns out there were a couple of groups there already, that seemed to take the task quite seriously, sitting in chairs with rubber-booted feet in the river and pans a-swishing.
If I’m being honest, it kind of reminded me of people walking on beaches with metal detectors, but gratuitous judgement aside, it definitely helped put into perspective the grit and determination of the people who originally came to the area, working for hours in harsh conditions, hoping to luck out on some flakes of gold

Lastly we went to the Discovery claim, a short interpretive trail along the creek in the location where gold was first found, which resulted in the Dawson City stampede and gold rush. The trail provided detailed information about the men who first claimed the area (George Carmack, Dawson Charlie, and Skookum Jim), as well as various tools that were used for mining.

After this deep-dive into the Gold Rush era, we headed back to the motel to check into our room for the night, then had snacks from the coffee shop, and finally went back to the room to rest for a bit and do a load of laundry.

For dinner we first tried Sourdough Joe, whose menu offered more fish and chowder options but when we got there at 8:30pm, it was completely empty. Looking for something a bit more alive, we tried going back to the Sourdough Saloon, where we had dinner the night before, but that was closed. So as last result we went back to the Greek place, the Drunken Goat, which, just like the night before Tombstone, was making “Pizza Only” (which makes me wonder if they actually ever do any actual Greek food?). At least the place was busier, including with the one guy who seemed to show up everywhere we had been each night – confirming I guess that there weren’t many other options for nightlife. The patron in question was actually a very jovial- albeit loud, regular local, acquainted with the staff and ultimately very friendly.

We ordered 2 pizzas and they came much quicker than the first time, except they got Brice’s order wrong and added Pepperoni to his vegetarian pizza. He’s not usually one to send food back, but he’s been voluntarily off meat since the start of the year and that wasn’t something he was willing to let slide, so they made a new pizza.
Finally we went and enjoyed a nice indoor sleep. After the disappointment of not finding a room for the night after we came back from our hiking trek, I had found one for the following night. It was a nice reset to be in a real bed with a real bathroom for a night.

August 23  – Drive back to Whitehorse

We picked up some breakfast pastries from the General Store, then we were on our way.
We pretty much just drove for about 6 hours. The nearest campsite to Whitehorse, without going into town, was Lake Laberge, so that’s where we stopped for the night. It turned out to be one of the best camping night we’d had on the trip.

We found a spot right on the water. The weather was quite nice, not cold, and we didn’t have any bugs. This one gets 5 stars on all criteria. We watched the sunset on the lake, and even though the sun actually set behind the trees, out of sight, we could see the light on the mountains across the lake changing colour as the sun went down, from gold to purple and pink. It was pretty special.
We had our how customary car-camping dinner of Couscous, beans, sardines. and enjoyed a lovely night with the sound of waves in the background.

 

The only thing that spoiled the night a bit was that my air mattress appeared to have a leak and kept deflating overtime. I had to blow it back up it at least 4 or 5 times throughout the night. Thankfully we’d brought a spare mattress for this very reason, so the following night I switched to the spare. It was lucky that it didn’t happen while we were hiking in Tombstone.

Road Trip to the Yukon – Part 6 – Exploring Mayo and Keno, in the Yukon Silver Trail Region

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August 14 – Driving down the Silver Trail to Mayo & Keno City

It rained pretty heavily in the early morning so we took some time getting up.
Brice made pancakes – more successfully than the last time. We had put the tarp on the bug shelter this time, instead of the sleeping tent, so the table was nice and dry for breakfast. Then we started packing things up, which was a bit of a process with everything being wet and untie-ing all the ropes we set up for the tarp. Eventually we took off and drove to Pelly Crossing, where we stopped for a bit to do some internet-ing (emails, instagram…) as there was phone service there.

Then we were on our way. In Stewart crossing further down the road, we turned right to head East on the Silver trail, (Highway 11) for our second side trip – to Mayo then Keno City.
We stopped at a rest area for a quick lunch, and managed to get the tents and tarp 90% dry in the time we ate, thanks to a bit of sun and wind (with all the rain, we frequently took advantage on any dry spell during a stop to hang the tents out to dry).

The stop had a nice view of the Stewart River, which was heavily mined for gold during the Klondike gold rush era, but it also turned out to be extremely rich in Silver (hence the name Silver trail), making it one of the top silver mining areas in North America until it closed in the late 80’s.

We followed the river all the way to Mayo, which is located on the traditional territory of the Na-Cho Nyak Dun First Nation, who have lived there for thousands of years.

Once there, we went for a visit of the Binet House, a restored heritage building with a display of photos and artifacts, showing daily life in the small mining community that occupied the town in the late 19th and early 20th century. There was also as a small section about the geological characteristics of the area. All and all a pretty in-depth view of the mining era, and our first dive into that history, after following the roads that were built to make the mining possible.

Both towns of Mayo & Keno were bustling with community life through the 20th century. Nowadays there are less than 500 souls in Mayo, most of which are First Nation born in the area. Keno, further down the road, has a population of 20!

After the visit, it was still early in the day, so we decided to drive to Keno for the night. The way there was quite scenic, as we climbed the unpaved road surrounded by mountain ranges. The scenery up until that point had been mostly rolling hills with trees, ponds and lakes as far as the eye could see.

We arrived in the tiny town and drove to the small campground located down a short dirt road. We were the only ones there at that point. We set up camp and had a snack, and as it was starting to rain, we decided to drive up to Keno Hill, a viewpoint at 1800 meters accessible by car (4WD  recommended).

That was the best decision! The road there was incredibly scenic, revealing a different mountain range at every turn, and the sky was unreal. Blue with fluffy clouds on one side, dark and hazy, with rain curtains on the other. All the conditions were right to get a rainbow, which we did.

so much for washing the car in White horse 😛

We reached the signpost at the end of the road, a couple of km from the summit, and the views were remarkable. The valley laid below under the dark stormy clouds, a sliver of golden light filtering through along the peaks in the distance – and still some blue sky over peaks in the opposite direction.

The sign post itself was erected for a geological convention of sort some years ago, and the various signs point to the cities around the world where the scientists attending the event came from.

Past the sign post, the trail keeps going to a higher hill, easy to see as the alpine vegetation is all low shrubs. I decided to venture up there on foot while Brice flew the drone up. The summit seen from below was actually a false summit, as I found out when I reached it. The second (presumably true) summit was still some ways away still so I decided to turn around. I still got some really great views from the false summit and I enjoyed running down the wide, rocky track on the way back down.

Once I got back to the car we drove back down to the campground for dinner. It was the first time in a few days that bugs weren’t all over us, and it didn’t rain, so we were able to sit by the fire and enjoy the evening outside the bug shelter.

As a side note, there was a group at the top of Keno Hill when we got there, and sure enough, it was a bunch of French people (Some from France, some from Canada, based on accents). Of course we found them back at the Campground (there is only one) – As we’ve often found in our various travels, no matter where we go in the world, how remote we get, we always seem to run into the French.
I wonder if other nationalities experience that as well and maybe we only notice French people because of the language…In any case it’s become a bit of a joke, and we can sometimes even identify French people just by looking at them…

August 15 – Hiking up Mount Hinton near Keno

We decided to stay one more night in Keno, so we could take time to do a local hike.
After breakfast we drove to the Mount Hinton trailhead. The directions from Alltrails were actually incorrect and took us down some random mining roads. We eventually found the correct directions, which basically consist of driving up the Sourdough trail, to the top of Sourdough hill, and then continue down into the next valley to a creek crossing. At that point, the road gets quite steep and rocky that’s where we started the hike.

The hike follows a wide dirt path along the side of the mountain for a bit, with open views all around since the vegetation is quite low.
On route we passed two RTVs and for once I thought this could have been a better way to get up the trail.

The trail is really the equivalent of a forest logging road, except in the area it would have been carved out for mining. After a few km of circumventing, we reached a split with one trail to the left going straight up to the ridge, while the other to the right seemed to go down.

So we climbed to the left and reached the ridge for a pretty stunning view. Looking back at the Alltrails GPS later, I think we might have gone a bit further on the road and missed an earlier fork to climb to the summit, but we still got really great views.

When we made our way down, we noticed an excavator next to the two RTVs seen on the way up. It was digging a trench into the side of the mountain. We stopped to ask one of the workers who was standing by the vehicles and he explained they were testing the ground for potential gold mining. The excavator was going to dig out a 100-meter trench followed by a 3m hole and they would assess the ground, to potentially come back next year to start mining.

For some reason, I naively thought gold mining was a thing of the past and didn’t expect to see active digging. But it’s very much still alive, and there are apparently reality TV shows about it shot in the area. I wonder what it means for this hike and the surrounding landscape if the area becomes a mining site next year…

Back in town, we took a tour of the a local museum, which gives a very good overview of the beginning of mining, tools used, a bit about geology, the living conditions in the small mining community in the first half of the 20th Century.

Outside of the main building, two other large buildings housed old machines and vehicles used back in the day – examples of intricate engineering that go right over my head but still very interesting to learn about – and marvel at the technology that was developed progressively to facilitate the work.

We were able to have a shower at the community facilities, for a small fee paid at the Museum front desk. We went back to camp for dinner then decided to go grab a beer at the local bar – the only commercial building still active it seems. Other services previously included The Snack bar, famous for its pizza, but it was presumably only open for take-out, and the former hotel across the street from the bar, which had burned down in Dec 2020 (and one would almost say a bit suspiciously, based on chatting with a couple of locals).

Our next travel rig?

We hung out on the bar porch while listening to local patrons chat (that’s how we learned about Gold Rush and other reality TV shows going on at active mining camps nearby). Eventually we came back to the tent for a good night sleep.

August 16 – Drive to Dawson City

We drove a good portion of the day from Keno to Dawson city. There wasn’t too much to see on the way, and the drive was made a bit longer by all the construction zones and having to wait for pilot cars to go through them (we had at least 3). The road near Dawson changes from paved to gravel which slowed us down as well.

We arrived around 3pm and after doing some small gear purchases and doing a reset for our upcoming trek in Tombstone Territorial Park, we headed out for a dinner.

We had a very comfortable night in a cushy bed before our 6 am wake up the next day to drive to Tombstone.