Paradise in Kluane National Park

July 2:  Can you believe it is July?  Half way through the year.  Glass half full or half empty?  What a crazy question.  I’ll take a full glass of beer over an empty one any day of the week.  

After the Canada Day celebrations we had a great evening in our B&B.  Home cooking, a little wine, showers and a good night sleep.  After breakfast we loaded the 4Runner and headed 30k south on the Haines Road to the National Parks campground at Kathleen Lake.  The campground in actually about 1/2 km from the lake, up on a shelf that overlooks the lake.  At first we were mildly disappointed that we were not camping by the lake.  Any disappointment that we had quickly evaporated as we quickly realized that there were no mosquitos in the campground.  I mean “none”.  Nada.  Zilch!  How could this be?  No time to be analytical.  We just enjoyed it!

As soon as we selected out site, there are about 30 in total, we loaded up our packs with camera gear, water, snacks and lunch and headed out on our long planned hike on the King’s Throne/Cottonwood trail.  The Cottonwood trail is over 27k and runs the length of the lake then circles a mountain and ends back on the Haines Road about 15K from our campground.  Our plan was to do a bit of out and back on the trail.  After 40 minutes we came to a fork in the trail.  The King’s Throne trail to the left and the Cottonwood trail to the right.  Everyone knows that when you come to a fork in the road, take it.  (plagiarized quote but  good one from that great American humorist, Yogi Bera).  Once on the King’s Throne trail we went vertical.  I mean VERTICAL, as in straight up!  Crappers.  We climbed steadily up from the lake into the sub-alpine and then immediately into the alpine zig-zagging up a talus slope.  At times there was neither zig nor zag, just scramble.  All the while I was thinking that the up was tough but doable, but the down was going to be crazy hard.  Ok, time for full disclosure.  I was carrying my Nikon D500 and the 200-500 lens in one hand, backpack with water, bear spray in one pant pocket, point and shoot camera in a shirt pocket and binoculars slung over my neck to one side.  Dana carried her pack, all the food, her water, binoculars and a bunch of other stuff in her pack.  I can never remember what she has in there but it seems that whenever I need something she says, “I have that in my pack”.  It weighs a ton!

We climbed and climbed until I said that I was done.  Fortune was on our side when around the next switchback there was a nice place to sit.  Some kind soul had taken the time to construct a make-shift bench from the flat rock on the talus slope.  As the saying goes, when you are climbing a mountain and you come to a bench, sit down.  Actually, I just made that up.  There we were sitting on the side of the mountain high above Kathleen Lake.  I have included a photo that I took from that location.  It looks like we are up very high, and we were, but the photo really doesn’t do the scene justice.  The lake below is a beautiful azure blue.  Mountains of the St. Elias range surround the west side of the lake.  To the north all you see is the vast Kluane Lake valley borderd by mountain and after mountain as far as the eye can see until finally, the last mountain tops are swallowed by the horizon.

After our alpine lunch I packed the camera and binoculars into my backpack so that I had better balance.  Dana aslo packed away her binoculars.  Going down was pretty much what I thought it was going to be.  It wasn’t long before we were into the trees then back to the fork on the Cottonwood trail.  We decided that we had not punished ourselves enough so we headed out on the Cottonwood trail to get a sense how the lake side trail differed from the alpine scramble.  About 5 minutes in we came across sign of a bear on the trail.  We kept going, but slower and our chatter got noticeably louder and more frequent.  After about 15 minutes we decided that there was little to gain from continuing and we doubled back and headed for the campground.  All in all it was an awesomely beautiful hike.  i highly recommend it the next time you are at Kathleen Lake.

I’m going to condense the rest of our stay.  We ate a hearty dinner around a camp fire, sat in the evening sun that didnt set until 11:30 p.m., but disappeared behind the mountain at around 10:00, went for a walk around the campground, brushed our teeth, poured water on the campfire, stored our gear and retired to the back of the 4Runner to be sleeping by 10:30.  Then, up at 1:35 a.m. for a nature break and to put on an extra layer as the temperature dropped to around 5C.  Up at 6, on the road around 7 and heading south on the Haines Road for Haines, Alaska.

Enjoy the photos.  Next post will be about our fabulous day seeing birds and wildlife on the Haines Road….. 

At Kathleen Lake.  If you look in the upper left corner you will see the King's Throne trail, or non-trail as is the case....