Looking out over Slim's Rivertowards Kaskawulsh Glacier
We almost set a record – three days with no rain, but the streak broke this afternoon, as we drove though some rain. Not a lot mind you, though it does feel as if it could rain shortly.
We decided to leave Deazdeash Lake this morning, as it was once again very windy, and quite cold off the lake. It was a wise decision, as the rest of the day was quite pleasant. We stopped in Haines Junction to get gas and propane. The propane tank was actually almost full, and it certainly is now, as the service station operator overfilled it, so that it blew some out the pressure relief valve. We tried to find the library in Haines Junction to use the Internet, but it wasn’t open until afternoon.
We went into the Tachal Dahl information centre at the very south end of Kluane Lake. Slim’s River enters the lake here, and dumps a great deal of silt into the lake. Where the water enters the lake looks muddy, then it suddenly changes to a beautiful turquoise blue. We inquired about the Sheep Creek hike, and they informed us that there was a grizzly bear that had surprised some hikers who decided to walk the extra 2.5 kilometers down the road to the trail head this morning. They said we should drive there. As if we wouldn’t take any advantage of a vehicle over foot anyway!
As we left the information centre we saw a helicopter flying overhead. It landed just as we got to the trail head. A ranger came over and talked to us, and said they couldn’t see the bear from the helicopter, but warned us to be careful. We started the hike, and about 500 metres in there is a memorial sign to a young woman who was killed by a grizzly here in 1996. We were extra careful and made lots of noise. We also saw a bit of very fresh scat, and lots of fresh tracks in the very dusty trail. On the way back most of the tracks had been obliterated by the six or so other people who were hiking up the trail after us.
We didn’t go too far, but stopped for lunch at the 2 kilometer mark where there was a very nice view out over the Slim’s River valley toward the Kaskawulsh Glacier. We spoke to the ranger again when we got back, and told him that we’d seen the tracks, the scat, and that all the berries were stripped from the soapberry bushes. He decided that he wanted to see for himself, so he started up the trail just before we left to continue on.
We were planning on stopping to camp at the Congdon Creek campsite, but there was a big warning sign there not to camp in tents. The campground wasn’t closed, but there were a lot of soapberries on the bushes, so we decided to leave the grounds for the trailers and RV’s. The road past the north end of Kluane Lake is incredibly rough. There are many frost heaves, and the pavement is quite broken. We thought of stopping at the Lake Creek campgrounds, but it started raining just as we arrived. It would probably be a good enough campsite, though there was no one else there, so we decided to keep going.
We finally stopped for the day at the Snag Junction campground. We have a nice site high up from the tiny lake that is here, so we should be dry if it rains. The site is nice and open, so if there is any breeze it will help to keep the bugs away (and there are quite a few mosquitoes.) I walked down to the lake and got water that we used to wash. We were the second campers in here today, but now the site is starting to fill up, mostly with trailers, but there is another family here right across from us with a tent.