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| Charlotte and her three sherpas: Orion Bukantis, Bill and Greg Wiens |
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After being rained, hailed or snowed upon in every other
activity I’ve done this summer, my luck turned around for our Chilkoot
backpack. The weather was perfect
or as nearly perfect as I’ve seen in Skagway. On Day Two we had two brief rain showers and that was
it!! It couldn’t have been a more perfect backpack!
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| Mist over the river |
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| Greg at the beaver ponds |
On our first day we hiked to Finnegan’s Point after I got
off work. The trail had flooded a
few days before so we wore sandals through the beaver pond area.
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| Typical Orion pose: what's that? what's that? |
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| Greg stretching |
The Chilkoot Trail is a thirty-three mile hike over the
Klondike Trail of 1898.
Where once
thousands of stampeders lugged 1500-2000 pounds of goods to the Yukon, now
about two thousand hikers from all over the world do it every year.
Our little group consisted of seven
Canadians, a German and the four of us:
Bill, Greg and Bill’s high school bud, Orion Bukantis, plus me.
The twelve of us bonded every night
during our yoga exercises on the tent platforms, either there and in the cook
tent/cabin with a bit of Yukon Jack.
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| Every night the Canadian gals led us in yoga |
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| Leaving the Scales and starting up the golden staircase. Can you spot Bill? |
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| At the Scales, just before the Golden Staircase |
Day two was as far as Sheep Camp.
It was tiring because of the mud and roots and rocks.
The third day we got up and out of camp
by 8:30 (Mercy!) to make the long day over to Happy Camp.
The stream crossings were low and
safe.
We had plenty of energy left
after the Long Hill.
At the Scales
we regrouped and struggled up the Golden Staircase which is neither golden nor
easily climbed.
It reminded me of
scrambles with the Seattle Mountaineers.
I didn’t find the steepness frightening but I did get a little
overconfident and land on my back.
Like a giant turtle, I had
trouble righting myself in the boulders which grabbed onto my pack and held me
down.
The ptarmigan and pika just
laughed.
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| Golden Staircase |
,
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| At the top |
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| Top outhouse |
After a comfortable lunch at the summit cabin and outhouse,
the remaining five miles to Happy were absolutely stupendous. It got up to 75 degrees which had most
of us jumping into lakes and streams to clean up and cool off. I hold every minute of that day and every
mile as a special memory.
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| Crescent Lake |
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| Crater Lake |
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| Guy tracks across the broken up ice. Notice there are no Mom tracks! |
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| Happy Campers! |
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| Orion, the picky eater: NOT! |
Day four was through equally dramatic countryside with
plenty of toads, berries and supposed bears.
At Lake Lindeman the ranger
served u fruit juice and cookies because Greg had returned an e-reader. She told us more and more Super Seniors and women were now
hiking the trail. Me, a super
senior? After that, we hiked to
Bare Loon Lake which made me homesick for Montana because it was very similar
to the dry countryside of home.
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| Closest we could get to the wildlife |
Day five we hiked to Lake Bennett and took the train out to
Carcross where our group met once again to sit around the bakery and share
stories. Then the boys and I took
off to Whitehorse to see a bit of the Yukon and, in their case, drink some of
its microbrew.
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| Bill going feral with a Berengia beaver in Whitehorse. This is what happens when you have too much microbrew. |
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What made this trip different than other backpacks was the
new realization of my limitations.
Jackson and Laura both complained that they wanted to think of me
without limits but, folks, guess what, I’m showing my age.
My sherpas carried the tents and most
of the food. For group supplies I only carried a stove, fuel and the
drinks.
My pack was only around
thirty pounds, perfect for my sixty-four years.
Also, the boys were now checking up on me;
where was I?
how did I feel?
everything going okay?
What
a role reversal to be cared for this way
.
I looked at this change and have
decided I like it.
Again, as in
Belize I had nothing to worry about.
I can trust my children to be sensible, make good choices and help me if
needed.
How lucky I am!!
