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Deb & Walt on the Chilkoot Trail Day 1: Dyea to Sheep Camp |
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| So far so good. Deb tries on her gear the night before we start. The Westmark in Skagway. Comfortable rooms... A bed... A bathroom.... For the next three days all that would be on our backs... except the bathroom, of course... There would be no bathing... |  |
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Walt
must have a guitar, and so he does... A Martin backpacker. Its
portable, but doesn't make much sound. The real question
is... Will he ever actually play it? Or just carry it over a
very rugged 33 miles?
Skagway has a deep water port and is 9 miles away from Dyea . The Chilkoot Trail starts in Dyea. and goes over the mountains into the Yukon Territory. |
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This
is the start of the Chilkoot Trail at Dyea. Notice the flat, lazy
Taiya River. That will change as we head upstream.
Dyea is just a ghost town now, as there was no decent port here. In 1899, when the railroad was built into Skagway, everyone soon abandoned Dyea. But in 1898, at the height of the Gold Rush, Dyea was the place to be, as the Chilkoot trail was the only practical route to the interior. |
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The lower trail is covered with thick canopy. This coastal rainforest is so dark that the camera would flash even in the middle of the day. That makes the picture look even darker than it really was, as I staggered across the myriad roots on my way to the Klondike... |
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In 1898 we would have had to walk across a few hundred yards of mud that would have sucked the boots right off our feet. Fortunately the Park Service has put in these boardwalks... |
| Our first lunch at Finnegan's point, 4.9 miles from the start. A beautiful glacier hangs above as I enjoy the sun and play a few tunes on the gravel banks of the Taiya. I didn't really want to play all that badly, but I was afraid that once I got serious into hiking, the guitar would never come out again. So I played it here and made sure it got out of its bag at least once! |  |
| This
is the bridge over the river that leads to Canyon City. Canyon
City was once a good size town, now only a few artifacts remain.
There is a nice campground here, but we are continuing on a few more
miles to Sheep Camp.
But first, we took a one mile side trip to see what's left of Canyon City. After all, we were almost done for the day... Gotta see Canyon City, Right? |
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Here
is Deb by an old cookstove.
Was this downtown Canyon City? Maybe, there really wasn't much to see. I think there was a lot of stuff off in the bushes, but we kept on going to see whole town... It was only a mile out of our way to get to the highlight... |
| The
boiler!
Some enterprising people brought this huge boiler to run a tram from Canyon City to Sheep Camp. How in the heck did they get this enormous thing all the way up here? And why? (As I stand here smiling, I have not yet asked myself why anyone would go to all this effort to build a tram up to Sheep Camp.) We crossed back over the bridge, and started back up the trail. Only a hundred yards or so from the bridge we ran into a cliff... |
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| The
problem was that the trail went straight up a cliff. It was so
steep that you had to use tree roots like ladder rungs. I regret
that we didn't get a picture of that first one... It wasn't that
high, only fifty feet or so, but we were both carrying over 45
pounds... But then there was another... and another...
eventually we lost count. Each one looked like it could be the
last... Teasing... Torturing... The picture shows a long
one... probably a hundred vertical feet. Steep as stairs...
Ouch, ouch, ouch!
We were now in "The Canyon"; so narrow that the trail couldn't run by the river... So it goes way, way up the side. This part of the trail is what the tram avoided... Now I understand... Eventually we were more than five hundred feet higher than the river. The trail was narrow and kept going up and down through rugged, rocky terrain. At some point the humor of it eluded me. |
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| But
Deb is always smiling! What an Angel!
In 1898 the Stampeders would often twist a sapling into a circle to mark the trail. This one survived and still marks the trail.. |
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| Not
knowing we were going to be so far from the river, we had neglected to
refill our water and eventually ran out. Now, strangely, for a
long while, there were no decent side creeks to refill our
Camelbacks... Stumbling over the difficult ground, I grew
thirsty, then grouchy. The swearing started, and grew in frequency
and intensity. I felt the first tingling of some blisters
forming on my feet...
And then... Water... I refilled our bags and drank heartily. An attempt to smile creates a half-crazed expression on my face.. Compare that to...
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...this
smile!!
Thank God, the horror was about over! Soon after we found water, the trail leveled out, the River rose up to this higher level, and we saw the sign marking our first day's Destination.. Sheep Camp! |
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Home,
sweet home, at Sheep Camp. Some of the campsites had these nice
wooden stands. I thought we were lucky to get one, even though we
were on the edge of the camp, and a long way from the toilets...
The freeze dried food was surprisingly good. The Scary part was that this was the 'easy day'. Tomorrow was going to be the hardest day. It was a few miles longer with a lot more climbing. Along the way it would take us up the Golden Staircase and the top of the Pass. We chose not to worry about it, and slept instead.... |
| Will our hero and heroine survive? Will Walt croak the day before he turns fifty? Will Li'l Skookum Debbie have to carry her husband over the trail? Click below intrepid reader, to the next exciting chapter of.. | |
