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We finished our adventure
at Mc Bride Glacier in the Glacier Bay UNESCO world
heritage site, which provided a fitting backdrop to
our challenge. We met lots of families with young
children enjoying this outdoor playground and
giving their kids wild time. Before leaving Alaska I
sat one evening on a beach near Pack Creek, bear
observatory, watching whales surface and hunt with
a campfire dancing and remember thinking life
doesn’t get any better than this.
I promised myself I would return
to this extraordinary land
The ‘call of the wild’ brought me back to canoe the
Yukon River from Whitehorse, Yukon to Circle,
Alaska, a journey of 700 miles. This time there were
four of us with another demanding schedule. We
followed the route of our ancestors who had canoed
down the mighty Yukon River for gold. We navigated
the Lake Labarge and the 5 finger rapids camping in
remote wilderness campsites untouched it seemed
by recent travelers. Much of this land is like the land
that time forgot, when pioneers left sites it was too
cold (winters of -40 to -50 below) to move equipment
and buildings so they were abandoned.
Dawson city, the scene of the Gold Rush offers
incredible history and heritage with old gold
dredges, Jack London’s and poet Robert Service’s
cabins and officially the worst karaoke in a saloon
bar ever. Its not called the Wild West for nothing!
Again you can hire guides to canoe this stretch from
Up North Adventures or get paddling advice from me
via Canoe Trail to make this trip achievable for you.
You might imagine I would be done with long
distance trips in this part of the world but I noticed
that the gap between Juneau and Whitehorse was
only 250ish miles with a 105 mile sea kayak from
Juneau to Skagway and then a hike over the
14
infamous Chilkoot Trail and then another 100 miles
through the Yukon Lake system. I felt compelled to
join up the pieces and connect my previous
journeys. I called for volunteers and since none were
forthcoming I press-ganged my brother to join me.
The Chilkoot Trail was the main route to Dawson City
and prospectors had to carry one tonne of supplies
to cross the Canada border. They risked avalanches,
drowning on the lakes and rapids at Miles Canyon
(now tamed by the dam) and of course freezing
conditions. Our journey by comparison involved
packing slightly lighter, although we carried
Packarafts over the Golden Staircase and pass into
the Yukon to raft the 105 miles. The sea kayaking
was spectacular with whales breaching, lighthouses
to explore and big open crossings. Skagway, partly
now a historic tourist destination proved a great
staging post before hiking the trail.
The Chilkoot Trail proved to be one of my toughest
adventures with walk boards giving way to boulder
fields and then becoming snow pack before
traversing avalanche fields. Our packs were just too
heavy and we regularly fell through the snow up to
our waists. I think the sense of history in the hills
and camp areas rich in artifacts and stories helped
me to push on. We still had it easy compared to our
forefathers. The lake paddle we looked forward to as
we descended to the Lake Bennett trail head was
quickly crushed as the heavily laden Packarafts
were slow in the lakes with zero flow to push us
along. If you want to simulate this then get yourself
a bathtub and try paddling 100 miles.
Most people who hike the Chilkoot Trail complete it
at Lake Bennett and take the White Pass and Yukon
Route Railroad back to Skagway which in hindsight
seems a much easier plan. So for those counting
there the final trip took place last year. You can
watch the video trailer of that expedition which