There are parks like Banff and Zion then there are parks like Great Basin and Kluane (clue-AH-née). Those that are not so difficult to get to and have a high aesthetic/adventure ratio for a range of abilities are those that have been mapped and monopolized by magazines, influencers, tourists and tour companies. Those that are harder to get to and may offer high visual aesthetic but less photogenic adventure that are largely ignored by the algorithms. Good for us remote-loving, chill-seeking escape artists.
Kathleen Lake Campground sits on the southern edge of the namesake Peak/Lake combo in the Kluane National Park, 16 miles from its gateway town, Haines Junction. On the last weekend in June, all 38 primitive sites are occupied while all two RV parks and 3 motels flash neon vacancy signs in this thruway to Alaska. You can stop for gas, buy a shower at Kluane RV ($2 for 4 minutes) or get.a killer ganache brownie at the Village Bakery, but only if you know about it cause it’s off the highway, tucked into a residential community, hidden in the trees. The only art we could find was at the Kluane Cultural and Visitor Center plus a wood carved Eagle with a salmon in its talons at the Top Spot gas and convenience store. We were 0 for 4 on places the internet told us to look for “35 local artisans in the Haines Junction community.” That would never happen in Banff!
In our first 29 days of this Arctic journey, it is the first time we’ve stopped for four consecutive days. The month flew by and when you consider we wrote a song in Nashville, arted our way through Sioux Falls, got history lessons from Teddy Roosevelt, reconnected with Glacier, found peace in Waterton Lakes, then got Banff’d, Jasper’d and awed by Yoho and the Icefield princess over 5,000 miles. The plan was to hang out, regroup and lean into what the Yukon wanted to give us.
The Cultural and Visitor Center is a multipurpose facility sharing the interdependent viewpoints of the First Nation of tribes, Yukon tourism and Parks Canada on the significance of Kluane. One is focused on topography, geography and geology – the science stuff. Another keys in on things to do and see and how to spend your money in and around the park while the third explores the physical, mystical and spiritual connection between people and the land. We lost each other as we wandered – Eric in science and Sheri in commerce, coming together for a 15 minute movie and tour of the cultural center before driving out to Haines Junction airport to see about a flightseeing tour.
There are three companies allowed to fly over Kluane National Park. Two offer the 45, 60, 90 and 120 minute options while one has options to land on a glacier. All are budget busters at the current price for aviation petrol, but if you want to see what’s beyond the walls of rock and ice you cough it up. Kluane National Park borders St. Ellias National Park on the Alaskan side and together they encompass the towering peaks of the St. Elias Mountain Range. The range has over two thousand glaciers and the largest ice fields outside of the poles. There is no way to drive into the interior. You could hike in if you had a lifetime and a really warm coat.
After one pilot talked to the other pilot, Eric chose the 1 hour, considering Sheri’s last experience in a small Cessna 172, her susceptibility to motion sickness and the position of the clouds, direction of the winds, altitude attained, performance of the aircraft, sun angle, and so on. The pilot, Kathryn, looked to be a recent graduate of Haines Junction High School, but she assured us that she had been doing this gig for three years. She hoped to build hours and take her stick and throttle skills to Antarctica someday. We looked for the Student Driver sticker on the back window, and seeing none we wedged in, Sheri choosing the back as photographer. Katherine asked if we were comfortable in the tight cockpit. We responded that we had spent the last thirty days in a Teardrop, so yeah.
Kathryn was very knowledgeable about the glaciers, topography, and changing landscape having grown up in the last true gold mining town in the area, Burwash Landing. It also helped that she had just aced her 10th grade final in geography. Flying nearly as fast as traffic on the I-75 back home, we pressed into the St. Elias Mountain Range passing over the surging Lowell and receding Kashawulsh glaciers. We could see into the massive ice fields of the range. Passing below us by some 2000 feet, fellow glacier pilot, Sam, radioed that the weather was closing in and he had to abort his glacier landing attempt. Ha! We chose the right flight. We picked our way around the peaks before turning back to Haines Junction having seen a ton more than could ever be viewed from the road, but still only a small percentage of the park. Some things are best left unseen.
Sixty miles from base camp is the other visitor center, the one dedicated to the Dall sheep. A lone Frenchman in a Park Ranger shirt mans the desk. His job is to report on the location of the sheep. They were over the mountain when we stopped by so we left to lunch at the Kluane Lake overlook before the 60 mile return. Nature called and back at the visitor center the Frenchman was excited to report that there were 6 sheep on the mountain. Eric got telescope eyes on them and while they were young and without horns, all of us seven visitors rejoiced with the Frenchman on our Dall sighting. Check.
The northern stretch of Al-Can is blooming with purple wildflowers and yellow dandelions. It’s the carpet Sheri has been chasing all these years. Even the ruins of the Silver City Mining Camp had curb appeal. Two bears gorged on dandelions, oblivious to us on the side of the road. Bikers cruised by in small groups of two or three on their bucket list Alcan Highway motorcycle trip. We hiked down to the shores of Kathleen Lake to find the Canada National Park Red Chairs that are hidden at all the best view points, and to listen to a Storytelling Session from a First Nation descendant.
In four days, we have eaten through much of our food supplies, burned all the wood we could split, made a truce of a sort with the mosquitos, and gotten used to living in windy, cloudy, sunny, rainy days where the high temperatures are still in the 50’s. The Alcan Highway has a steady stream of RV’s heading west to Alaska but we will be heading north. Hopefully there is a grocery store on the way.
