Chilkoot Trail

Chilkoot Trail – 53 km multi day hike

Day 2 of the Chilkoot Trail is a cool day with good visibility and amazing views:
Mike: “If I lived in Whitehorse, I would hike this trail every year”.

Day 3 of the Chilkoot Trail is rainy and foggy.  We had to climb up “the golden stairs” in the thick fog that made the rocks we were climbing wet and slippery and then had to “hike” on snow in the downpouring rain.

Kim: “This is ridiculous. I can’t believe people hike this trail”.

Don’t worry though. Day 3 on the Chilkoot Trail was more like type 2 fun (not necessarily fun while you are doing it but fun to talk about afterward). The Chilkoot trail has definitely been one of the highlights of our trip so far.

Let me start at the beginning though. For those unfamiliar with the Chilkoot trail (as I was before hiking it), it is a historic trail that starts in Skagway, Alaska (or technically Dyea, Alaska) and ends in Bennett Lake, BC. It is managed by the National Park Service on the US side and Parks Canada on the Canadian side. The “summit” is the border crossing (and where toilet paper is no longer available in the outhouses – more on this later).

The trail is made famous as it roughly follows the route the “Stampeders” took back in 1897-98 in their quest for gold in the Yukon (or more specifically Dawson City). Who are these Stampeders? They were people from all of over North America who heard about gold, took a train west from wherever they were from, took a boat from Seattle (or Vancouver) to Skagway, had to buy a ton of goods (or the Canadian Police would not let them cross the border), haul it by horse or dog sled or tram or by their own strong back along the trail in the middle of winter, climb the golden stair case multiple times, build a boat (I don’t think any of them were boat builders) that could navigate the Yukon River to eventually bring them to Dawson City and gold. Unfortunately by the time they got there (if they survived the harsh conditions, avalanches and rapids that resembled “white horses”), there were no more land claims to be had so ultimately – no gold for them. I think one of the hikers from this year put it best in the guest book when she said “The Stampeders would be pissed to know that 3000 people/year now hike this trail for fun”).

The hike is truly historic though. There is still remnants of the trams, the “stuff” people left on the trail because it was too heavy to carry, the interpretive signage throughout as well as a historic talk at one of the campsites by a ranger. The scenery is also amazing – you start in coastal rainforest, climb up into the alpine and tundra and then end in the boreal forest. And the golden stairs? I guess it is the part of the trail you will always remember but it really is sketchy doing it in the rain. You are literally climbing up rocks using hands and feet. It is not rock climbing per se (that would have been type 3 fun) but it is also not a steep “hike” anymore. When the Stampeders did it, it was winter so they carved stairs into the ice (hence the name “golden staircase”).

What also made this trail unique to Mike and I was the social aspect. Our multi day backpacking hikes have previously been on trails that don’t get hiked nearly as much as the Chilkoot (ie Mantario Trail (on the border of Manitoba and Ontario), Cape Chignecto (in Nova Scotia) and Pukwasqua National Park (near Marathon Ontario). We would maybe see one other group out hiking these trails the entire time we were hiking (which was normally 3-5 days). On the Chilkoot though, there are approximiately 35-50 getting on the trail daily. And because you tended to stay at the same campsites sharing picnic tables or were hiking with them, you got to know those other hikers. After doing the summit in the pouring rain and sharing a warming hut that is the size of our van, you really got to know people quite well! And everyone was lovely. Each with their own story of where they were from, why they were hiking the trail and where they were going next. So thank you to our fellow hikers from North Bay, Barrie, Canmore, Logan Lake, Holland as well as the boy scout group from Fairbanks. What a great experience to have shared with all of you.

And finally the toilet paper issue. Don’t get me wrong, both the National Park Service and Parks Canada does great work keeping this trail clear of fallen trees and well marked. There are lovely campsites with pit toilets, picnic tables, tent platforms, covered shelters and warming huts along the way. It is just interesting hiking a trail that has half the trail and campsites on the US side and half on the Canadian side. There are a few differences in what to do with grey water but the other difference is the  National Park Service (US) supplies toilet paper in the outhouses and Parks Canada does not. Which is not a big deal unless you have just arrived at the summit in the pouring rain and you need to pee. When you get in the outhouse and sit down –

Kim: “shoot – I am in Canada now”.

Haida Gwaii

If you read no further, here is the gist of Haifa Gwaii: it is awesome and you should go.

In case you are like us and are mostly unaware of Haida Gwaii, it’s an archipelago that lies 80 km off the west coast of BC. It consists of 154 islands which are sparsely populated with people but heavily populated with flaura and fauna. It has huge old growth trees, rainforests and beaches that stretch as far as the eye can see. It has many species that are unique in the world because of its remoteness and the fact that it was spared from being covered by the huge ice sheets that covered the rest of Alaska, BC and northern states.

We took BC Ferries to get there, which as you may have read in Kim’s post, was an adventure in itself. We were one of the last vehicles to be loaded so we ended up being one of the first to unload (the ferry only has one loading bay so we had to back onto it). As we drove the first couple of kilometers towards one of the main towns, Queen Charlotte, there was a break in the clouds and a narrow ray of sunshine illuminated the bay. It was breathtaking! We were told that it was a magical place and this seemed to confirm it.

We met up with our high school pal Pete who works for Parks Canada in Gwaii Haanas National Park. He moved their about a year and a half ago for work and they fell in love with the place. They have now anchored themselves in and bought an Inn and his parents have joined him and his family. They were awesome and let us camp out in their driveway and leech off their utilities and indoor plumbing. :) Pete, Alison and the kids were also awesome for tips on where to travel and what to see. Pete even joined us for a day on the west coast to visit the beaches of Rennel Sound and hike into Yakoun Lake. It was great having a terrestrial biologist on hand to answer our questions.

We hiked a few of the trails around Queen Charlotte and checked out their awesome museum. One of the highlights was an hour long totem pole tour. It really opened our eyes to the cultural importance of totem poles and gave us some insight into how to interpret the animals and stories that are carved into them.

After spending another night with Pete and his family, we headed north and made our way up Graham Island towards Tlell, Port Clements and Masset and up towards the northern end of Naikoon Provincial Park. The eastern and northern edge of Naikoon is pretty much all beach which is pretty incredible! The route I've highlighted below is pretty much the only paved road on the island other than streets in towns and there are very few roads other than logging roads that access the western shores.

By chance, we happened to be in Haida Gwaii at the same time as our friend (and our dog's vet) NIcole. It was a fun reunion and we got to catch up while we spent the day hiking around North and South Beach and Tow Hill.

The next day we headed south and hiked the famous Golden Spruce trail. There is a book by the same name that chronicles the history and demise of the Golden Sitka Spruce at the hands of a disgruntled forestry worker. The trail is short and kind of anti-climactic as it leads to the place where the tree used to stand.

We spent our last few days doing some more hiking around Queen Charlotte and took the ferry over to Sandspit to check out a few more trails and beaches. The highlight was hiking up a trail called Sleeping Beauty which took us up a steep climb through the trees and then continued above the tree line up to a peak which had 360 degree views of the surrounding area. We had a warm clear day so there were very few clouds obscuring the view.

Unfortunately we didn't make it down to Gwaii Hannas National Park. It is only accessible by boat or float plane so you need to book a tour. We didn't really plan to be there this early so we didn't have anything booked, plus it's a bit of a logistical challenge with the dogs. But that's okay, we'll just have to make another trip over there! :)

North on Highway 37 to the Yukon

Terrace, BC to the Yukon

When planning a trip for a year we tended to have general ideas of where we wanted to go (west then north then south) but we really don’t start planning out details and looking more closely at maps until we near a place that we have to make a decision (ie a fork in the road). The decision to travel north on highway 37 to Yukon/Alaksa (rather than the Alaskan Highway) was made back in Prince George where we went west towards Burns Lake, Smithers, Terrace and Prince Rupert rather than north east towards Dawson Creek (which is Mile 0 of the Alaskan highway). This doesn’t mean we are not going to do that portion of the Alaskan highway. We will just do it when we come back south from Alaska/Yukon.

So back to Terrace we went after getting off the ferry in Prince Rupert. Again Terrace is a great place to get all your “travelling errands” done. Rather than back tracking all the way back to Kitwanga (where the yellowhead #16 highway meets highway 37), we decided to do a little side trip to the Nisga’a Memorial Lava Bed Provincial Park. This place is pretty crazy. I didn’t even know Canada had had a volcano eruption recently (ie recently as in 1750). If you’ve ever been to Iceland – the 3 things we felt were similar were the lava fields, natural hot springs and places that we are sure we were mispronouncing (Laxgalts'ap, Gingolx,Gitwinksihlkw, Gitlaxt'aamiks are the nations that comprise the Nisga’a nation. We had similar trouble pronouncing these places as we did the cities and towns we visited in Iceland).

If you’ve never been to Iceland and are roadtripping in BC, then this would be a great preview for you for Iceland (and just a really interesting and beautiful place to visit in Canada and a nice day trip from Terrace).

From Nisga’a provincial park, the GPS and maps were telling us to take “highway” 113 in order to avoid backtracking to Terrace and then another 100 km to Kitwanga to get on highway 37. However, that was the worst stretch of gravel road we have driven on yet (and we have been driving on a lot of gravel roads). We made it though and turned onto highway 37 to start heading north. However, not long after getting on highway 37, we took a side trip to Stewart, BC. A beautiful drive into this remote town with a glacier and waterfalls at every turn. The town itself is just this small little place that welcomes the tourists and then sends them on their way back out the highway. Across the border (without an actual border patrol on the US side) is Alaska. So amazingly enough, we had already been to Alaska before we even got to Yukon. Hyder looks and feels like a ghost town although there are still some houses and 1 or 2 stores that seemed to be open. They would also be okay with me writing that they are a "ghost town" because the sign welcoming you to Hyder says “Friendliest ghost town”. We were a bit early for the salmon run but they do have a viewing platform for the people that are there now. Although the platform is not to watch the salmon, but to watch the Grizzly Bears that comes down to feast on the salmon. We drove another gravel road about 40 km to reach another viewing platform for the salmon glacier and it is jaw dropping beautiful. (I suggest just going there yourself as any picture I post will not do it justice).

Salmon Glacier (north of Hyder Alaska)

Bear Glacier (on the drive to Stewart, BC)

Back onto highway 37 and I really don’t have much else to say. There are “towns” on the map but really they are just lodges to get gas, stay the night or get a bite to eat as you drive north. Highway 37 was a long, long drive down a narrow road which sometimes had a yellow line in the middle and sometimes didn’t.

Our last rest stop before the Yukon border was Boya Lake Provincial Park. This is probably the prettiest provincial park we have been to in BC.  We had lunch, walked the dogs and I had a cold refreshing plunge into the lake (I think you have to be in the lake longer than 5 seconds for it to be considered a swim). We could have stayed the night here but knowing that the Yukon was close and being excited to get there, we drove a little longer (when you have 18-19 hours of daylight, driving later into the evening is actually pretty common) to make it to Yukon. 

Lunch stop at Boya Lake Provincial Park just south of the BC/Yukon border

Dogs on the road

We had never really travelled with our dogs (except on trips from Thunder Bay to Kenora) until this trip. We usually left them with Thunder Bear Boarding Kennels to hang out with Art and Irene or more recently with one of my friends and her family. For longer trips, my parents had come to Thunder Bay to look after them. We knew Maverick and Dawson would travel well while we were driving as they always just tended to sleep when we drove to Kenora. We had also done a trial run with the van on the north shore of Lake Superior in the fall of 2017 and things had gone well so we were optimistic.

So after 9 weeks on the road, I feel pretty confidant saying that Dawson and Maverick seem to be quite settled into this van routine. Initially Dawson would get anxious being left in the van whether it was for 20 minutes or 1.5 hours (as mentioned we do have a good fan in the van for air flow and we don’t leave the dogs in the van if it is too hot outside). At first we could hear Dawson barking or whining as we walked (or biked) away from the van and he also got into the garbage bag a few times (before we started consistently remembering to put it away). But now both of them seem to know that we will be back and that the van is our “home”.

The longest they have been in the van is about 6 hours when we took the Haida Gwaii ferry to/from Prince Rupert. I was a bit nervous leaving them so long and even just being on the ferry which is different than just being parked in a parking lot. It was also a night ferry so although there is an opportunity halfway through the ferry ride to check in on them, I slept through it and didn’t go down. What tore at my heartstrings about this experience is when we walked away from the van to head up to the passenger deck, Dawson was sitting in the front seat watching us. 6 hours later when we came back down to the vehicle to get ready to deboard, Dawson was still sitting in that front passenger seat watching for us – I honestly don’t know if he slept that night. 

For the day to day van life, there is lots of exploring for the dogs when you stay somewhere new every night. We are constantly walking around with them whether we are hiking trails, checking out towns/cities or taking a walk around the campground we are staying at so there are new smells and people to meet all the time. So many people have commented on what beautiful dogs they are and always want to know “what breed”. It is funny because husky shepherd cross is pretty much the standard rescue breed in Northwestern Ontario but here they kind of stand out.

Some of the challenges with having the dogs with you is when it is hot. You are hot and they are hot but there isn’t a lot of indoor places you can take them so you can both get out of the heat.  If there is a beach that allows dogs, we try to head there (Haida Gwaii was great for this - more on Haida Gwaii soon....)  We will also try to find parks with trees so we can hang out in the shade. The dogs usually just sleep while Mike and I read or look at maps and guidebooks planning where we are going to go next. Rainy days are actually okay because the dogs will just hang out in the van while we do errands or visit a museum. 

But the main point of this blog is to say the dogs are good and we are happy to have them with us.  Here are a few of my favourite pictures so far:

Eating on the Road

Imagine you have 1 bar fridge and 3 shelves for food and these shelves have to include your snacks (no more storing snacks in the centre console of your van because you don’t want to be hanging out with the mouse again). It’s doable but it definitely means eating very similar foods every day.

Breakfast

Usually oatmeal. The Yummy Life (www.yummylife.com) has good recipes for camping oatmeal which we have used on our multi day hiking/backpacking trips so I usually use some version of it depending on what we have in stock.

1/3 cup oats
1 tbsp flax
1 tbsp oat bran
1 tbsp protein powder
dried fruit or a banana mixed in

Lunch

Usually a wrap. Lettuce, tomato, cucumber and avocado are the staples. To add some flavour/variety, we got some delicious homemade pickles at the Terrace Farmer’s Market and recently picked up some home made “sea asparagus” from friends in Haida Gwaii.

Suppers

Usually soup. Amy’s Soups are quite good (I think they are all vegetarian) and available at most grocery stores and health food stores we’ve been to in BC. Then Mike will add extra water, vegetables or noodles to thicken them up. Mike has also fried up veggie burgers and veggie sausages with veggies.

Snacks.
Trail mix. It is just easy when you are hiking or driving.
Sunflower seeds. This is Mike’s night time snack.
Cliff bars. Usually if we are on a long bike ride or hike.
Energy Balls I started making these after one of my friends brought her energy balls to our hockey game. This is the recipe I’ve been using on the trip:
1.5 cups oats
1/3 cup flax
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp protein powder
½ cup honey
½ cup peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla (I haven’t been using the vanilla as I didn’t bring any with me)

Loaf
I have pretty much used this same recipe this whole time but I do need to find another one as I have some baking powder that is not getting any use.

½ cup oil (I started with canola oil but now we have olive oil – it works too)
½ cup brown sugar
2 tbsp flax + 6 tbsp water (this is my substitution for eggs which we thought would be too hard to find from a local farm, too hard to keep the egg shells for composting and takes up too much space in the fridge)
1 ¼ cup flour
¾ cup oat bran (or you can use oats)
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup bananas (or when I don’t have bananas I just add 1/3 to ½ cup milk)

The recipe calls for 350 degrees for 40 minutes but in the lunch box I usually “cook” it for 75-90 minutes and then let it sit with the lunch box unplugged for another 20 minutes.

In BC we were shopping mostly at Bulk Zone and Save on Foods (which has a great bulk selection as well). We just entered the Yukon so Whitehorse will probably be our stock up city and then not sure what the groceries stores are like when we hit Alaska.

The BC Ferries Blues

I am writing this blog post on a BC Ferry heading from Prince Rupert to Haida Gwaii. This process took 5 phone calls, 5.5 hours on our first stand by attempt to get on the ferry. 2 nights in Prince Rupert, 4 5 hours on our second stand by attempt and $220 when we finally got on. It’s stressful going stand by. I think I am finally starting to understand people who live or have lived on Vancouver island (or Haida Gwaii or the Sunshine Coast) feeling you are always at the mercy of the ferries.

We are not innocent in this chaotic adventure though. Haida Gwaii has one ferry that runs to it and it doesn’t even run daily. We called BC Ferries on June 20 from Smithers because at that point we were a 4 hour drive away so thought if we could get on in the next 4-5 days, we’d be good. However, the earliest they could get us a reservation was 9 days away. So yeah, we probably should have called 2 weeks earlier. Then we thought we’d take our chances going stand by (although we called daily asking if any reservations had become open). The day before we were due to arrive in Prince Rupert, we learned about getting on a wait list. Uh, yes please (although why this wasn’t offered to us the first time, who knows). So we show up on Sunday, June 24 at 7:00 am (departure was at 10:00 am) and learn we are 10^th on the wait list but when they call the people about 1.5 hours before departure who are on the waitlist, 3 haven’t shown up so we are now 7^th. This is good right? AT 10:00 am (departure time) they tell us to buy our tickets. Great!! This means we are going! I start texting a Thunder Bay friend who is going to be in Haida Gwaii June 29 and tell her we are going to be there too! 1.5 hours later and we are not on the ferry (it hasn’t left yet) and we are now told the ferry is full and we are not getting on (our tickets were reimbursed). Ahhhh.

Okay so we spend the night in Prince Rupert again and show up the next night (Monday night) at 7:30 pm. We were initially 7^th on the wait list but moved up to 4^th due to some no shows. They tell us to buy our tickets right away but we are not buying the optimism until they tell us to load. We sit in line and a person who was 6^th on the list gets to go on (they had a smaller vehicle). Ugh. Not again. But miraculously at 10:30 pm, they give us the go ahead to board. A huge sigh of relief. We made it.

Fast forward 1 week later and we have a reservation to come back from Haida Gwaii for Tuesday, July 3 at 10:00 am. However Monday morning we get an email saying our reservation is cancelled due to mechanical issues of the ferry and has been tentatively rescheduled for Wednesday at 11:00 pm. Bonus day in Haida Gwaii for us but as there is only 1 ferry that makes the crossing between Prince Rupert and the Haida Gwaii. There were people scrambling for accommodations and the grocery stores started running out of food. The positive in the last adventure is that our ferry crossing (which would have been another $220) is free. 

Prince Rupert to Village of Queen Charlotte

The Yellowhead Highway - Prince George to Prince Rupert

 Prince George to Prince Rupert

I love travelling by train. I used to travel on it with my mom and brother to visit family in Saskatchewan but I think I was 4 years old so I don't remember much). The 2 times I have travelled by train as an adult was the Winnipeg-Vancouver route and a few years later the Winnipeg-Churchill route. If you aren’t worried about being somewhere at a specific time (as the VIA trains always seem to run late), then I highly recommend it. During the trip we played cards, read books, hung out in the dome car, had dinner, took naps all while still moving towards our destination (except when we were stopped to let freight trains go by). So why I am telling you all about train travel when I am currently travelling in a van? Because I think the Jasper to Prince Rupert train would be a really beautiful and relaxing way to see this area. And when you get to Prince Rupert, the via station is also the ferry station so you might as well catch a ferry somewhere. Options would be either the 6 hour ferry to Haida Gwaii, the 16 hour ferry to Port Hardy (on Vancouver Island) or a ferry to Alaska (I didn’t look into the Alaska ferry but I think catching one would likely be a budget version of an Alaskan cruise so why not?).

The train trip is now on my bucket list and I think I will take that Alaskan ferry and see where it goes.

But let’s get back into the van and the highway from Prince George to Prince Rupert. If you remember the heat from our travels Saskatchewan and Alberta, well, it’s back. According to the locals, these are not usual temperatures for this part of BC...ever. We are talking 30-32 degrees Celsius for almost a week. And during this heat wave we still don’t have air conditioning in the van. So in a way my experiences in these towns are a bit tainted by being cranky and hot but this is why I can come back in 10 years on my train adventure and see them then.

Burns Lake. Really nice little tourist town. We stayed at a BC rec site (those free sites) with the biking trails literally beside our campsite. We did a few biking trails together and Mike did a shuttle run to the top of the trails for a fun ride down (I likely would have hiked a bike so chose to stay back at the van with the dogs). Burns Lake also had the nicest community gardens we have seen this trip (yes we still try to visit them and empty our compost bag).

Burns Lake Rotary Bike Skills Park

Bike trails next to the campsite

Smithers. A town with a real alpine feel (and yes there is a ski hill close by). Beautifully laid out downtown, nice walking trails around the city and some pretty hikes where there was still snow at the top of the climb in June so you know you are in the mountains. Smithers was day 4, 5 and 6 of the hot weather. We arranged to get the air conditioning fixed on day 6 only to drive an hour to Terrace later that day and have the temperature drop 10 degrees and the clouds move in. That was 2 weeks ago and we haven’t used the air conditioning since.

Terrace. This was a great little town to do all of our errands. Within in 4 blocks, there are 2 groceries stores, a laundromat, pet store, 4 banks and a health food store. Plus if you are there on a Saturday, walk another 2 blocks and go to their farmer’s market to stock up on homemade bread, canned pickles and chutney and listen to live music while you walk around. The mountain biking in this town got steeper and more technical compared to Burns Lake so Mike was on his own.

Prince Rupert. The city where we waited to get on a ferry to Haida Gwaii (see next post). Having come from some serious mountain biking in Burns Lake, Smithers and Terrace we were surprised there was no biking in Prince Rupert. We did do some pretty (and popular) hiking trails through what felt like a rain forest and our first exposure on this trip to those huge sitka spruce and cedar trees but other than that we pretty much just killed time waiting for that ferry…