Visit (and Hike) the Chilkoot Trail from Alaska into the Canadian Yukon

"An unbroken line of men, stretching into the cold skies, provides the stampede with its most memorable spectacle on the slopes of the Chilkoot Pass." With those words on page 244, Pierre Berton, in his book, Klondike Fever (see details below) describes an agonizing episode in the Alaskan Klondike Gold Rush of 1897-98. The Chilkoot Pass was a route from present day Dyea, Alaska, to Bennett in British Columbia, that was used by gold miners making their way to the hoped-for gold treasures in the Yukon. Dyea is located near Skagway, a familiar stop for many tourists who travel to Alaska.

On our trip to Alaska in the summer of 2005, my wife and I took a bus trip in order to "Experience the Yukon." While we didn't actually get onto the Chilkoot Trail, our driver/guide told us the gruesome details. It made me glad we were riding in a bus during warm weather.

Originally a trade route used by members of the Tlingit society (an Alaskan ethnic group), the Chilkoot Trail was used to carry fish, seal oil, and seaweed to the interior of Canada. In 1896, gold was discovered on a tributary of the Klondike River in Canada. When the news got out in 1897, the rush was on. The Chilkoot Trail became one of the primary ways into the Canadian Yukon territory.

The trail is 33 miles long. At one point, it rises almost 35 degrees, where, as Berton writes, a man could drop to his hands and knees and still be almost upright (page 249). From Sheep Camp, the last staging area on the way over the pass, the trail rose four miles to the summit. In the winter, the climb was even more arduous. Our guide told us that to help in the climb, the men cut steps into the packed snow and ice.