Day 9

June 9, 2017

Whitehorse temps: 31/12 C

Road trip to Kluane National Park and Reserve

By 9 am-ish we were on the Alaska Highway headed west toward Kluane National Park and Reserve. A 30-ish kilometre road construction delay had us arriving in Haines Junction at the same time as our appetites.

Alaska Highway, headed to Kluane National Park and Reserve © Dan Silas 2017

We picked up some sandwiches and pastries at the Village Bakery and Deli and deferred our tummy growls until we arrived at Kathleen Lake in Kluane and dined al fresco at a lakeside picnic table. Afterward, we did some casual shoreline hiking around this postcard lake, dipped our feet in the icy water, and just relaxed in the splendour of this amazing place. Harreson Tanner, the sculptor in Whitehorse who first recommended this stop to us, deserves a nod of gratitude for the tip. Except for a generous offering of bugs, this is one of the closest places to paradise I’ve ever visited. People were few, and by the time we left in mid-afternoon, the place was almost empty.

Kathleen Lake, Kluane National Park and Reserve. Somehow I managed to catch a tiny flying critter in this frame. © Dan Silas 2017

The highway within the park, maintained by the federal government, was so flawless that it called us to explore a little further west. A hiking trail above Dezadeash Lake called our names, so off we went, whistling, humming, and chatting in the absence of the bear bells we should have worn, according to the warning sign at the trail head.

Dezadeash Lake from the Rock Glacier trail © Dan Silas 2017

Thirty degree celsius heat limited our hike to about half-way, but offered stunning views of the lake and surrounding ranges nonetheless. Inventive trail builders put the broken stone from this rock glacier to good use, creating stairs, stepping stones and even a low walled shelter with resting benches. With no breeze in the air, the utter silence only added to the visual vastness of this place.

The heat dampened our appetites and called for something cold. Milk shakes and onion rings from Frosty Freeze back in Haines Junction fit the bill nicely, and sent us down the road back to Whitehorse for our last night.