Sun sets on a great Yukon summer

 The nights are getting longer and there are opportunities for stargazing.

There’s a sense of summer making way for the fall.

Chilkoot Trail: Final post. Lunch and return aboard the White Pass

When booking your return from the Chilkoot aboard the White Pass and Yukon route, you can buy a $15 meal in advance. It’s great!

All the hikers gather in a large dining room and there is coffee, stew, bread and apple pie. It’s a feast after five days on the trail.

Thanks for following the Chilkoot updates.

 

Chilkoot Trail: Arrival into Bennett

The Trail leads into Bennett, BC where people historically built ships to sail towards Whitehorse and the Klondike.

Bennett itself is a ghost town, with only an old church remaining and one private cabin. There’s some satisfaction from seeing a Chilkoot Trail sign that points the other way.

 

Chilkoot Trail: Huge landscape

One of the last stops on Day 4, coming into Bennett and looking at the scenery.

 

Chilkoot Trail: Encounter with a black bear

 During the walk from Happy Camp to Lindeman Lake our group came across a black bear.

The bear and a cub were in a blueberry patch. They poked their heads out of the trees and started walking away.

Later that night at Lindeman Lake campground, Parks Canada was holding a question-and-answer session about the trail and life in Old Crow Yukon.

Suddenly the group heard the snapping of branches from behind a tent. It was the bear and cub returning to the camp.

The Parks Canada guides instructed people to walk into a tent and then made noise: First shouting, then clapping,  then an airhorn, then a “bear banger” to scare the bear away.

The bear resentfully shuffled back into the woods.

Here’s the bear! (bottom right behind the bushes)

Chilkoot trail: Happy Camp

One of the different stops along the Chilkoot Trail on the Canadian side is Happy Camp.

It’s a beautiful location to stop for the night. Most campgrounds (with the exception of Lindemann Lake) have wooden platforms for tents.

With the mist and the green mountains many people made jokes about Happy Camp resembling Jurassic Park.

 

Chilkoot Trail: Water crossings

Glaciers and mountain-top snows melt during the summer.  When crossing the Chilkoot Trail a person should bring shoes they don’t mind getting wet. (Or try your luck barefoot.)

Don’t forget to pack extra socks.

 

The Sourtoe: Whiskey in Dawson City with a human toe

 

It’s one of Dawson City’s most bizarre and endearing traditions.

The world-famous “Sourtoe cocktail” is a shot of strong whiskey containing a human toe.

The goal is to drink the whiskey and have the toe slide down the glass and touch your lips. For $5 a Toe Captain will read you the story of its origin when local eccentric Captain Dick Stevenson found the toe in a jar and decided to set up this dare.

“You can drink it fast, you can drink it slow…must your lips must touch the toe,” goes the saying.

Like any club’s initiation the SourToe endures because people love a good rite of passage.

Drinking the sourtoe might take a few beers to “build up courage.” There is dread, building up to one unforgettable second followed by relief and high-fives, pats on the back and common stories about how people almost threw up.

Such are the things that make friends out of strangers and create good stories told years later.

Today on the news it was revealed that an American traveller went to drink the toe and have it touch his lips, instead decided to swallow it. The reaction was loud and many people aound the web have learned about the “sourtoe” today.

 

Chilkoot Trail: Snow in August

Here’s another view of snow in August on the Canadian side of the summit.

After the summit crossing it’s a scenic walk to Happy Camp.

 

Chilkoot Trail: The Golden Stairs

 

  

 

(Notice the two hikers in this image….click to enlarge. They are on the snowy section)

The Chilkoot Trail includes a summit crossing from the US to the Canadian side.

The day begins at Sheep Camp and most climbers will take more than 8 hours to arrive to Happy Camp.  Those climbing are advised to be walking by 6am due to avalanche risk in some seasons and also to mitigate any delays.

The scenery changes from forest to moss-covered rocks with snow. Planning for the Chilkoot includes carrying some cold-weather gear. At some points the climb is at a  45-degree angle over large angular boulders which resemble the long-settled results of a rock slide.

Climbers are welcomed by the Canadian flag and a Parks Canada cabin at the summit.

This climb was the 3rd day of the itinerary.