Kluane National Park

Late summer 2018 , myself and a friend took an evening flight after work from YVR to Whitehorse. Met with my dad who had arrived earlier. He picked up our rental car and camping supplies to we headed straight towards Haines Junction. Caught a glimpse of some northern lights on the way. We reached out ahead of time to parkside inn to accommodate our very late arrival. Was a reasonably comfortable room. Next morning we checked into the Visitors centre, picked up our bear canister, got a lecture about how to cross streams and headed out to the trail head. Driving through the park there was barely any traffic. Rugged mountains vistas. Short drive got us to the Slim’s River Trail head. Slim’s river is now dry, as the glacier retreated the melt was diverted (interesting read here).

We hiked along the reasonably marked trail, there was a series of stream crossings. We brought some water shoes for this purpose, but with our timing it wasn’t too tricky. It’s a long day along the valley floor, through some vegetation. My dad decided to go his own way through the riverbed, which I wasn’t too pleased about but did meet back up eventually. There was about a half dozen people heading back throughout the day. The short ascent is near the end so feels tougher than it was. Finally reached a nice spot with a view out towards the river head and corner of the valley. Didn’t want to push it too much so decided against heading up Observation mountain next day. Instead we ventured further along the base of it to get a different view of the valley. A few more streams to cross enroute. My dad found a nice spot for a nap so we were on our own. Had dinner after dark that evening, feeling somewhat cold until we saw two German tourists arrive in shorts having just crossed through the icy waters. They cheerfully told us about the direct flight from Frankfurt to Whitehorse. We packed up and headed out the next day. Had the tough part out of the way early. Saw some fresh grizzly tracks but thankfully no bears themselves. Was a bit stressed about the timing of the river crossings but it all worked out.

After completing the hike we headed to the airstrip nearby for Icefield Discovery. Luckly we had a clear day. Pilot was a friendly guy from my friends home town (Prince George). We retraced our days of hiking in about 2 minutes. Around the corner of the valley is the view from observation mountain we missed out on. Then its epic alpine/glacier scenery from there on. The largest non-polar icefield in the world, along with some impressive peaks of the St Elias range including Canada’s highest point, Mount Logan. We landed on the glacier and got out for a few pictures. I hadn’t mentioned that we were doing the scenic flight to partner back home (possibly because I was told not to) and still had my Garmin satellite messenger on. So there was a bit of panic when the plane stopped on the glacier.

Somewhat exhilarated and exhausted at the same time, we drove back to Whitehorse, arriving in time to have a meal at BP. My dad struck up a spirited conversation with a “gold miner” at the bar. He then headed off to bed at the acceptably average Yukon Inn. We had a nightcap at Miner’s daughter. Next morning we had the early flight back to Vancouver, then off to work that day. Packed a lot into 4 nights but when days off are hard to come by it was definitely worth it. We really enjoyed the vibe of the city. More importantly the desolate, rugged landscapes with few people around is so refreshing versus what you’ll see on trails around Vancouver or in the Banff/Jasper regions. I’m planning on making some further trips up to Yukon soon.