Alaska Day 7 7/2/15
It rained hard all night and it was still raining when I got up. Time to embrace Alaska weather even tho it isn’t what I want. A shuttle to the Chilkoot Trailhead was $30. I didn’t want to pay that so I walked the couple of miles out to where the road forks and stuck out my thumb. So many tour busses and excursion vans drove by. Finally an empty van with Joe from Skagway Float Tours stopped and gave me a ride. By 10:10 I was on the trail…. walking in the rain.
Joe
Joe spotted this guy and stopped for me to take a photo
I passed a group of about a dozen kids. This is part of a summer camp from Michigan for them. They drove here and this is one of many activities they will be doing. They were all jealous of my umbrella. It was the perfect thing to have today.
The trail is very well constructed and maintained
Lots of boardwalks thru the beaver ponds.
Luckily I didn't have to cross this. A new bridge was upstream.
There are a bunch of camps on the trail which used to be little towns during the gold rush. At Canyon City there was smoke rising from the chimney of the warming hut. There were 7 hikers inside. 3 (Andrea, Matt and Jillson) were also going on to Sheep Camp. Andrea and Matt had been on the same ferry that I took from Bellingham to Ketchikan. We didn’t meet each other on the ferry.
3 guys from Czech Republic were at Sheep Camp when I got there and had a fire going. It was so nice to be able to dry everything out and get warm. Plus it was a great place to socialize.
The fire building Czechs
The photogenic Matt, Andrea and Jillson
Heat and dryness makes hiking in the rain so much more pleasant.
The tent sites are all wooden platforms. I have my Notch Tarptent which is not freestanding. Luckily it stopped raining long enough for me to figure out how to secure it to platform. I think I did a pretty good job of it. But, of course I forgot to take a photo.
nancyhikes 
Who made the photograph of you that includes the view down the canyon? Beautifully composed. Brilliant smile, of course.
My ride guy Joe made the photo. I cropped it a bit. Umbrellas are great props.
I hiked the Chilkoot trail in 1997, centennial year and it was fantastic. Rained and snowed, of course, but I remember those rock steps and the boardwalks. Loved the trail and would love to do it again!!
I talked to a ranger that has been out there for 20 years. She says every time is different.
She could very well be the same ranger that was there when I was there. We had a bit of a bear scare but that’s probably not unusual. Your pictures of the fog and trying to find the orange flags was the same then too. We could barely see them in the fog, then we were there at the Canadian hut.
We are so happy to have met you Nancy. Another walk in the woods together is in order in the future.
I will go anywhere in the world with you 2 or 3. Meeting you made my hike so much better.
Nancy your trip is fabulous as only it would be. You are in the rain, we in at times blistering heat. We meet people from all over the world as well. You are too in a sense a peregrino (pilgrim) like me here in Spain.
Others are really suffering with heavy packs, thank you for showing me the way with how to survive without much. The Altras are really perfect as well. I’ve only gotten two blisters.
I look forward to sharing our stories upon you return.
The changeable weather does keep things exciting. I am slowly making peace with rain. Maybe you should get an umbrella for the sun. It really does help you stay cooler and lets you not wear a hat. I can’t wait for our dinners together when we will swap stories. March on! And stay hydrated.
Why did you decide to bring TT Notch?
I thought it might rain a lot and having a double wall tent would be nice. I was right. Plus I’m not backpacking that much so the extra weight isn’t that big of a deal.