Chilkoot Trail Run July 2012

Last Sunday I ran the Chilkoot Trail again with two friends, Mary and Amy. The weather was starkly different than the hot sunshine of July 2010, but better in many ways for a 35.5 mile grueling trail run. It was high overcast until after Bare Loon Lake (mile 29) when the sun popped out for our 5.5 mile jaunt on the tracks.

Here we at 5:00 a.m. fresh, energetic, permitted, and ready to go!  I was carrying three home-made energy bars (pecans, walnuts, almonds, jasmine rice, Cinnamon and crushed Special K - how's that for avoiding added-sugars?), two sandwiches with peanut butter and plain strawberries, one small container of Gatorade and one package of energy blocks (so much for avoiding added-sugar). I was also in charge of the Iodine tablets.

We ran at an easy pace through Finnegan's camp, stopping to say good morning to a 7 year old camper and then on to the Canyon City ruins (7.8 miles) and Pleasant Camp (10.5 miles).

Here's Mary crossing the suspension bridge. 

 I should've taken a photo of the gorgeous, rushing water beneath.  But, fortunately, there was plenty of water ahead on the trail.  We stopped at Sheep Camp (mile 13) to fill our hydration bladders.  Then the trail quickly became steeper and rockier.  We had completed 1/3 of the run.  The Chilkoot is the length of 3 half marathons.  The middle half can be grueling with the rocky uphill, snowy descent and often nasty weather at the pass.  The first and third half marathon sections are easily runnable if you're in shape and like trail running.

And, as we headed up to the pass, we were quickly exiting the Southeast Rain forest and entering the rocky alpine.  The climb from Sheep Camp to the Chilkoot Pass is only 3.5 miles but it's the hardest part of the trail. 

Here, I was relieved to be trail-running with five pounds on my back rather than hiking with a 35 pound pack. We were a bit apologetic about our light loads as we passed several beleaguered hikers.  

Here's a photo of Amy keeping a steady pace through the rocks.  We started to see snow patches over the rushing stream up ahead.

The National Parks Service website indicated that the trail was snow-free south of the pass but we definitely found some snow. Here's the link to the park services website:  http://www.nps.gov/klgo/planyourvisit/trailconditions.htm

Here are Mary and Amy close to the scales beneath the Golden Stairs (actually Grey Rocks).  It's hard to believe that the prospectors carried thousands of pounds up to the pass, including a piano for the bar hall in Dawson City.  Our priorities were simpler; we stopped and munched on power bars and re-tied our shoelaces for the big climb.

As you can see, the pass was all socked in.  I was so pleased with the cool, ideal running conditions, that I didn't mind foregoing our gorgeous view at the summit (well, almost didn't mind).

Amy is the skinny, orange dot in the middle, right side of the above-photo not to be confused with the skinny, orange fog marker in the photo's center.

Here's Mary nearing the first plateau.  Is she running up the huge, jumbled, slabs of granite?  Someone needs to talk to her.

Above is the elevation chart for the Chilkoot Trail.  Guess where the picture below was taken in terms of elevation?  Right - close to the peak.

We're getting close to the Canadian Ranger's Station at the pass (and the international border) and our lunch break.  Amy is signaling that she doesn't have her passport and thereby saved herself 9/10s of an ounce in pack weight.

Now we were steps away from British Columbia and so excited that the cute Canadian Ranger let us into his warm cabin that we forgot to take photos of it or him.  Also at this time a female hiker lugging a large pack was barraging Mary with questions about our running history and whether we would run the trail again with her next summer.  Unfortunately (or possibly fortunately), we didn't get her contact info.

Here comes Mary down the pass, hoping not to slide into Crater Lake.

Crater Lake is stunning.  We were running through a fair amount of snow at this stage and at a healthy cant.  Amy displayed rare athletic, gymnastic movements along the hill here and saved herself from a nasty glissade into the water, making me think I need to start yoga or something.

In 2006 I swam in Crater Lake in the warm sunshine.  Hhhhmmmm...not this year.

Did you know that British Columbia's motto is "splendor without diminishment"?

Fitting.

And snowy.  Once we were down the first hill it wasn't too bad and may have been faster than running the rocky trail.

Here's Mary about 18 miles into the run.  We thought the snow was over...

Wow, were we wrong!  This is a lot of snow on the Chilkoot Trail in late July.  It was gorgeous but a bit technical at times.

Such a large amount of snow probably won't all melt before the September snow starts anew.

Here Amy demonstrates her cool in jumping from the snow to the rocks.  You probably wouldn't want to fall right there unless you enjoy being wedged between rock and ice.

A snow tunnel just for us!  Oh yeah...and the 30 other hikers on the trail.

Here's Mary demonstrating how to correctly navigate a stream crossing by jumping from rock to rock.  Maybe this is why three hours after the run my feet were squishy and palid sans one toe-nail and Mary's looked like other people's feet.

Hey, an actual trail.  What a concept.  No more snow.

Here's Mary at Happy Camp.  Doesn't she look happy?  Only 15 miles to go.

So after part of a sandwich, we were off again.

This photo was taken shortly after Deep Lake (mile 23) where the water funnels into a waterfall and drops beneath us.  We started watching for bear signs because according to the Parks Service there is a big bear patrolling back and forth between Deep Lake and Lindeman City (mile 26).

There is a gorgeous downhill section shortly after this photo location where we cruised into Lindeman City. I love this part of the trail, it's fast, downhill and smells like pine. It's funny because I always remember this section as being far longer than it is. Does that make me an optimist or just someone with a poor sense of distance? Anyway, I digress. 

Somewhere in here we passed the 26.2 mile mark.  Woo Hoo!  Wait...there's over nine miles to go yet.  We stopped at the river pictured above for our second and final water fill-up.  Our camel backs each held 50 ounces of water.  At the end, my water bladder was half full, so I consumed roughly 125 ounces of water on this cloudy, cool day.

As we trottted past the eating shelter for Bare Loon Lake (mile 29) we indeed heard loons calling.  We started watching for the elusive cut-off trail, but there it was .2 miles after the food shelter donned with large warning signs about the closure.  We followed the well-marked, cut-off trail for slightly over one mile.  Towards the end I fell into the chilly water during our last stream crossing just to see Mary and Amy traversing an abandoned bridge above me.  Some day I'll learn.  I comforted myself by musing that at least one of us would not be so smelly for our run on the tracks.

5.5 miles of this.  Track and bear scat.  More track and bear scat.  You get the picture.  Literally.

We tried to convince Mary that the engine probably wouldn't start without a key.  We were a mere one mile from the end, the Log Cabin.  I had eaten everything but one sandwich.

Here we are at the car greeted by our loyal support crew, Kari and Jack (I thought they were bears when I first saw them in the distance)  Success!  35.5 miles through the rain forest of Southeast Alaska and the alpine of British Columbia on the Chilkoot Trail.  Anyone for a beer?

Elevation Stats from my GPS Watch

The run starts near sea level in Dyea, Alaska.  The highest point (the U.S./Canadian border) was 3550 feet, so quite a climb in 16.5 miles (although Juneau Ridge trumps Chilkoot in elevation).  After the ridge, we dropped 1440 feet to a low point of 2110 feet at mile 26.2 around Lindemann City.  And, then we slogged uphill 815 feet over the last 8.5 miles or so.  

There you have it.  Join us next summer.  Cheers!

**Note:  I hiked the Chilkoot in July 2013 with my friend Sharon B.  It took us about an hour longer to fast hike it versus run the route and the pass was fogged in and icy.