Footsteps of the Klondike > Wilderness Area
The Chilkoot Trail
The Chilkoot Trail is part of the Chilkoot Trail National Historic Site of Canada and the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park in the United States. These parks commemorate the stampeders of 1898 in their struggles and journey to Dawson's gold fields. The world was captured by gold fever as the first ships returned to Seattle filled with gold from the Klondike. Stampeders from all over the world and all walks-of-life rushed to get “grub staked” and begin their travels on one of the many routes to Dawson City, Yukon.
The Chilkoot was the shortest and most popular route to the Klondike. It was one of only three glacier-free corridors through the Costal Mountains between Juneau and Yakutat. It consisted of a ship passage to the port of Dyea. From Dyea, stampeders had to carry, push, pull, drag or pay for their grub stake of one tone of provisions to be taken up and over the Chilkoot Pass and into Canada, either to Lindeman or Bennett Lake. From there they cut trees, built boats, and then traveled by the Yukon River into Dawson.
By far the Chilkoot Trail was the most physically demanding part of the journey and was as far as many stampeders made it. During winter, when many of the stampeders crossed the trail, it held many dangers and hardships including starvation, sickness, hypothermia, frostbite, avalanches, and even death. Today during summer, the trail is a pleasant backpacking route, when only burdened by a single load of 60lbs.
The Chilkoot Trail takes you through diverse environments. The trail goes from the tidal waters of Dyea, located on the famous Inside Passage of Alaska, through the Alaskan coastal rain forests, up and over the alpine tundra of the summit and down again into the boreal sub-alpine forest of interior Yukon.
Yukon River Valley
The Yukon River is full of history, beauty and wilderness. It is the Yukon’s most popular river to paddle and explore. The river’s consistently swift current, yet lack of technical water make it accessible to paddlers of any age and skill level.
The word “Yukon” came from HBC trader John Bell. He named the river “Youcon” a derivation from local First Nation languages, meaning “the Greatest River” or “Big River”. The river is 3166 km (1979 miles) long from Marsh Lake to the Bering Sea according to the geological Society of Canada. This fact is contested by others stating that the river’s total distance is as much as 3680 km (2300 miles) using the Pelly or Teslin River branches as its headwaters. The Yukon is the 4th longest and 5th largest river by volume in North America.
The Yukon River watershed flows through many First Nation traditional territories. This large river valley provided plentiful plant, animal and aquatic life for aboriginal peoples long before it provided a transportation route to the Klondike gold fields.
In the 1800’s the Yukon Territory saw the arrival of many different non-First Nation peoples to trap, trade, explore and mine its land. But it was the Klondike Gold Rush of 1898 and its hordes of gold seekers who created the transportations routes that permanently opened up this land of stunning beauty. The Yukon River was the principle transportation route for these stampeders because they could travel by water all the way from Bennett Lake to Dawson City. The river, at that time, posed only two challenging areas. The first was Miles Canyon along with the close-by Whitehorse Rapids. In 1898 over 30,000 stampeders and 7000 boats floated towards Dawson City from Bennett Lake. At Miles Canyon 150 boats were wrecked and 5 men lost their life. The Whitehorse Rapids were shortly after Miles Canyon and many of the Stampeders also faced grave danger trying to navigate the rapids with their un-seaworthy boats and inexperienced captains. Quickly The North West Mounted Police stepped in to ensure safety prevailed. Shortly a tramway was built and stampeders either paid to have their grubstake carried by tram to below the Whitehorse Rapids or were forced to portage it around the rapids by the Mounties. Today there is not much left as evidence of the once frothy Whitehorse Rapids. A hydroelectric damn has been built to power the city and territory, subduing the rapids under its calm lake surface and backing up the river far enough to also tame the once-feared Miles Canyon.
The second challenging area is just north of Carmacks called the Five Finger Rapids: named this because of the five different channels created by the four basalt pillars that equally divide the channel. These rapids were not nearly as challenging. Even the paddle wheelers which came in later years were able to winch themselves up these rapids. Many historical landmarks and relics relating to this Klondike Gold Rush are visible along the banks of the Yukon River to those who travel it today.
