Kluane National Park, Yukon

Kluane National Park, Yukon Territory, Canada

A few blogs ago I made some mention about going back into the Yukon after arriving in Alaska…well now's the time. We're going east just a smidgeon to get around some mountains and an ice field before we can easily (that would mean to drive on actual roads) continue our exploration of Alaska. We spent this week in Canada’s NP in the Yukon, Kluane. Yes, it was remote. And yes, it was absolutely gorgeous. 

Kluane is on the eastern side of the mountains, meaning most of the moisture that hits the mountains stays in Alaska and Kluane was actually very dry, nearly desert-like. We attempted several hikes, I say attempted, because diligently checking the forecast we would head out on the hikes dressed appropriately; shorts, t-shirt, hat, cameras, bear spray, bug spray, sun screen, water, etc, then after having gotten a few miles in the weather would start changing … It would get cloudy and then, real trouble,  either thunder and lightning or rain or hail or fierce winds or temp drops of 20-30° or in one case, all of the above. Yikes! 

We finally got it sorted out and actually completed one. It was a stunning and extremely challenging hike (more to follow).

On to pics:

We had to travel back up over the White Pass again to leave Skagway.  It is the only road in or out and it was a real hardship on our part to have to see that stunning scenery again, 😂 but we persevered and made it through. 🤣

a flurry of business at the border.      but not customs, it was 12 miles further down the road.

the water refill station for the steam engine train 

a few more shots of this gorgeous landscape 

Emerald Lake, Yukon                         Ok, I know this looks made up, or like I was playing around with filters, but no. I wasn't and it isn't.  Just look at that emerald, green water …sigh …  So, interestingly enough, the science behind this magical color is the same that was behind the equally gorgeously colored water in the practically mythical location of the Havasupai river and falls.  They both have high levels of calcium carbonate, which, in the case of Emerald Lake, was deposited by the Ice Age glaciers. The color is from the reflection of light off the white calcium carbonate in the shallow lake.  But, just because we know the science, doesn't make it any less spectacular or magical or beautiful.

Kluane National Park, Yukon, Canada 

Kluane has a lot going for it. It is home to one of the largest non-polar icefields in the world, it has 17 of Canada’s top 20 highest peaks, including the highest, Mt Logan, which also comes in as the second highest in North America, just behind Denali (aka Mt McKinley). But besides ice fields, glaciers and mountains there are several stunning lakes and a sweeping river, to say nothing about wildlife, Dall sheep, mountain goats, caribou and all the rest of the regulars one might expect to see.

Our campground was on Kathleen Lake                                                       a beautiful lake surrounded by mountains 

Several of the Canadian parks had two red “Adirondack-type” chairs sitting in the most picturesque spots- Martin enjoying the view

storm approaching over the lake

arctic ground squirrel 

trembling aspen,  interplay of sun and shade

Colias butterfly, also known as a clouded yellow and sulfur 

a most interesting mushroom 

likely a milbert’s tortoiseshell butterfly on an evergreen.                    The hike was a little boring, no birds or wildlife to speak of (that we could see), the marsh was overgrown along the boardwalk so we couldn't see much (like a moose or …) but then I saw this flash of orange against the deep green of the evergreen and it was all worth it.

prickly wild rose

tall lungwort or northern bluebells

I'm always fascinated by various seed pods. I just think they are beautiful.

some mountain views

flood plain of the river

I know I said that it was very dry in this park, “nearly desert-like”, and then followed that up with pictures that don't really reflect that statement. But here are some other pics, we were at one of the visitors centers in mid-afternoon after one of our “attempted” hikes. It was the one curtailed by thunder, lightening, hail, wind, rain and precipitous temp drops. Now that we were back down out of the mountains, the sky was blue and it was warm. I'd been out on their deck (drying off and warming up) looking through spotting scopes trying (in vain) to spot a Dall sheep which we had hoped to see on our aborted hike, if we'd managed to made it to the end. The weather changed, again, the wind started whipping up and swirling about, I looked over toward the road and yikes, a wall of sand! That isn't dust from traffic, it's blowing sand and dirt. The ranger said they get one nearly every day in the afternoon. suv at stop sign as sandstorm approaches 

pics of Kluane Lake, storm clouds over the mountains 

more pics of Kluane Lake, without the threat of a storm over the mountains, you can see how dry it really is (except, of course, for the large lake).

  I think it's funny, but I often forgot, when we were exploring up in the far northwestern reaches of our continent, just where I was spatially. I tended to consider things from an east coast perspective. Case in point, I saw this sign that talked about a specific kind of sage, Kluane sage, and the closest relatives of this sage grew in Siberia. I was like, WOW! Siberia! And I was off on a tangent of just how the plant may have traveled halfway around the world and why it wasn't found anyplace closer. After pondering that for a while, I did a quick check on my mental map and was like wait a minute, 🤔 they're not that far from each other. There's just a bit of land and sea in between and the sea wasn't even there at one point. Duh 🙄 😂 Sometimes I wonder if there is any hope for me 🤣

Kings Throne.                                    the view just past our campsite.  The first night we arrived at the park, a neighboring camper had a spotting scope narrowed in on the upper reaches of the mountain. I, of course, asked what he'd seen and he replied in that quiet, polite Canadian way, “some Dall sheep”. I hadn't learned much about the park yet, ie animals, birds, flowers, what was unique, etc and seeing little white animals, way up on the mountain,  said quite firmly, “oh, mountain goats”, with the emphasis on goats.  I knew the difference, mountain goats were white and bighorn sheep were tan.  Again, maintaining that polite deference he didn't try to correct me, just let me go about my way only later to discover that one of the unique things about Kluane NP is the fact that they have Dall sheep, (which are white and long haired with two little black horns which to, ahem, non-discerning eyes … kind of look like mountain goats) and people come from all over just to study these sheep. Oy vey 🙄 (By the way, despite my best efforts, that was my only sighting of Dall sheep in Kluane.) 

Our big hike up Kings Throne

This was our successful hike. We brought rain gear, (even though we didn't end up needing it) and I only fell once (🙄) despite it being one of the harder hikes and consistently the steepest on loose talus in my personal repertoire.

starting out on the hike - it's pretty early and chilly but one good thing, it doesn't get dark until midnight, if then, so we can take our time. We have over 16 hours and we're hiking from our campsite. I like this no time pressure thing.

lupines line the trail

We've made it above the tree line and it is so gorgeous

looking down at Martin and Lake Kathleen. It is “quite” steep…

There are some alpine flowers tucked in the rocks.                         Anemone (I think)

purple saxifrage 

a pic up toward the top from the “seat”.  A party of 4-5 hikers are on the trail in the middle just under the highest open green section. As I watched them hike up through this section I couldn't help myself, I kept singing “Climb Every Mountain” from the "Sound of Music"  on repeat. I admit I sang it in my head, mostly, as I was gasping and wheezing my way up the mountain, but it was “picture perfect” of the von Trapp family heading up the alps at the end of the story. (I know they didn't really leave Austria by hiking out over the mountains, but it just makes such a great visual.) This was also the weekend many of our peeps were performing the Sound of Music in concert with the VSO at Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe. I felt a strong connection with them.❤️

a little chipmunk stopped by to offer some encouragement as I was wondering if I could make it up.

As we've been traveling I think it's interesting to note the differences in the same species that are located in different areas, for instance, these chipmunks are a very light tan color where in some places we've been they have more of a golden brown color. Interesting things to ponder. 🤔

The seat of the throne -  (otherwise known as a cirque)  we decided the seat was enough for us. If we had continued to the top, we would have seen over to the ice fields which connect with Wrangell St Elias NP in Alaska, but alas that was still a few thousand feet of elevation and miles to go and just didn't seem worth it.

So, we explored and had a rest, a sit, so to speak, on the seat. Haha.

Despite looking completely bare in this talus field (loose bits of rock) there actually was some life.           yellow lichen 

arctic lupine

magnificent views from the seat       note: if you look closely, the red Adirondack chairs along the shoreline, just a dot of crimson amongst the green and blue.

I loved the turquoise coloring of the shallower water compared with the deep rich azure of the deeper areas.

more anemone (I think)

stonecrop 

Prickly saxifrage 

moss campion

note that this is not only another gorgeous view, but look how steep it is. This is what we were “hiking” up and even the “trail” was loose rock, talus.

more moss campion 

more views, as hard as it was to look at anything other than the lake, there were interesting views looking away from the lake too

There were a lot of bears in the area. And while we kept our eyes open and were very careful, we never ran into any while out hiking, thank goodness. But we did encounter signs, lots of scat on roads and trails, and then we came upon this guy having a little snack …across the road.  I was amazed, awed and oh, so excited to see this  brown bear out in “the wild’, but I was also, ahem, quite pleased that there was a steel car door between us and said brown bear. 

Next stop: back into Alaska to another super remote park, Wrangell St. Elias National Park; mountains, glaciers, an old copper mine, drinking hot chocolate made from freshly melted glacier ice, mosquitos, a stunning rainbow, a flightseeing tour and more.