Deb & Walt on the Chilkoot Trail.. Day 2

Deb & Walt on the Chilkoot Trail Day 2, Scene 3: The Summit to Happy Camp
Even on August 11, there was still some snow at the top of the pass...
	The scene into the Yukon is spectacular... Below is Crater Lake... Most of the pictures on this page are linked to larger versions. All you have to do is click on the picture, and a much larger image will open on your page.
Deb looks across Crater Lake, you can see the trail winding along the side of the hill. Crater Lake is very irregularly shaped, with lots of islands and narrows. The water near to the horizon is also Crater lake.
Deb's pack is almost larger than she is!
The path through here was beautiful..
And so were the flowers... This area drains into the Yukon River. Crater Lake is the first in a series of lakes, the last of which, Lake Marsh, is the source of the Yukon River. Most properly, Crater Lake is the source of the Yukon, but the streams connecting the lakes up here have different names.
Lake Bennett is about 20 miles from here. You could build a boat here on Crater Lake, but you would have two problems. The first is that there is no wood to build it from, and the second is that you would get killed in the rapids and waterfalls between here and Lake Lindeman. From Lake Lindeman there is a one mile long set of Rapids to Lake Bennett. Many took a chance on those rapids and built their boats on Lake Lindeman. Some of those lost everything in those rapids; a high price for trying to cut off those few miles of hiking. Most continued on to Lake Bennett as we did.
The trail winds through such incredible terrain. Even though trending down hill, this was not easy country. There were many ups and downs, and a lot of rock hopping. My blisters were heating up and Deb was getting them too. The black marks on the left side of the lake are fellow hikers....
But we are no less than amazingly fast, and we are catching up with them rapidly!
	Just a few yards farther down the trail I turned around and shot this pictures of Deb looking back toward the snow in the picture above...
The lakes get more constricted and the water flows powerfully between them. The little lake shown above the big one flows down some falls in the rocks into the bigger one Note the trail going over the hill at the right side of the lake The water then flows just to the left of the trail. All the water from Crater lake drains through here... Its going pretty fast..
Hiking across the trail shown in the above photo... Almost to Happy Camp... Remember, this day started way back at Sheep Camp, three web pages ago. This is a long, tough day!!
	At Last! Happy Camp, and I am a happy camper to have all that weight off my back! My pack, visible in the photo behind me, rests on our tent site. I have lost a significant amount of skin off my feet, and Deb is now sporting some nice blisters as well, but we made it. Obviously I am tired, but we knew this day was going to be tough, and we were mentally prepared. The day before in the canyon, I had been expecting an easy time, and was surprised at the difficulty. What a difference mental preparation makes!
Now I am almost assured of making it to fifty. All I have to do is not die in bed over the next few hours....
Will Walt die in his sleep and fall victim to the 49 year jinx? Read on, to the next exciting chapter of.. Deb & Walt on the Chilkoot Trail !! Day 3 !! Click here to send Fan Mail Other Adventures of Walt & Deb...