High Above Tagish

After spending two days getting an overview of the Atlin-Tagish-Carcross area, we wanted to get more physical, so we planned a day of hiking.  We had hoped to do an epic climb of Mount White (aka White Mountain), but we were foiled by the inconsistent hiking descriptions we received from the tourism people in Carcross.  We thought we were going to do a steep climb up to the microwave tower on the top of Mount White, but our resources led us to the trailhead (well marked) for a short 2-mile out-and-back hike to a viewpoint on Mount White.  It only took us about an hour.  Ah, well.

Still, the hike was memorable.  Here we are at the trailhead:

As we started our hike, we began to realize the confusion in the trail descriptions, because, while our trail led south, we looked north and saw the microwave tower behind us!

Nevertheless, we had a good climb to a beautiful viewpoint.  We got a dramatic view of Mount Minto with thunderheads (also known as "TCU" or "towering cumulus") threatening it.  Luckily, we were miles from Mount Minto, so we did not fear:

We were on the lookout for mountain goats, which are said to roam the slopes of Mount White, but, so far, we had no luck.  We did spot some peculiar caves high up the first level.  We had trouble deciding whether they were natural caves, or burial caverns, or perhaps old mining shafts:

On our way back down the trail, we had a clear view toward the microwave tower, and we spotted a group of mountain goats.  On closer inspection, it appeared to be a nursery -- a safe area where the nannies could raise the newborn kids -- on a relatively level sandy area between groves of fir trees:

Back down on the level of the Atlin Road, near the lakeshore, we hunted down a natural boat ramp and picnic area, where we stopped to eat our picnic lunch.  We had beautiful views along the shores of Little Atlin Lake:

No picnic lunch can be bad if it begins with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and ends with a chocolate chip cookie:

Out on the water, we saw two fishing boats.  It looked like the fishermen were more interested in catching the local gossip than they were in catching lake trout, grayling or the like:

Lunch was over, and we still had part of the afternoon.  Thunderstorms were threatening from the west, so we needed to find an activity from which we could easily bail out if the storm hit before the predicted 5pm.  We decided to do a 10km drive up to the cell tower and fire tower high above Tagish, which our campground owner told us presents an open, 360-degree view of the area.

She was so right!  We could see the Tagish Bridge at the outflow of Six Mile River into Marsh Lake, and our campground immediately to the left of it in the photo below:

We barely started enjoying the view, when a grey-and-white female husky (her name was Mika, as it turned out), ambled out to greet us.  Once we said hi, she made a beeline back over the edge of the summit, and stood at the top of a stairway, which we found led down to a cabin.  A man was there, who, as it turned out, is Robert, who is employed as a fire spotter in the fire tower.  He was very friendly and had lots of stories to tell us.  In addition to Mika, he also owns a second, male husky named Erik the Red.  Both puppies were very friendly.  However, poor Erik was chained below by the cabin because he had encountered a porcupine, and Robert did not want him running free until the last porcupine quills had been removed from his muzzle.  So Erik was particularly excited to see us.  Here, he is about to give Kathy free puppy kisses:

While we chatted with Robert, we gazed around the mountaintop, wondering how soon the storm clouds would reach us.  One lightning bolt struck north of us on Marsh Lake as we were watching, but no others --

 

-- so we spent a little more time in conversation.  Robert pointed out Six Mile River (so named because it spans the 6 miles between Tagish Lake, to the south, and Marsh Lake, to the north:

We could see Tagish Lake, too, at the south end of Six Mile River, over Robert's cabin:

We had a view out to the east, as well, over toward Mount White.  As we gazed at Mount White, we realized that it formed the terminus of a chain of peaks formed on one side of a U-shaped glacial valley stretching out away from us and Little Atlin Lake below us:

Robert had to return to his fire spotting duties, particularly because of the lightning strikes, so we said our goodbyes and hopped in the Jeep to start back down the woods road toward the highway to Tagish.

We got back just in time to snag an ice cream cone from the food truck stationed at the boat ramp and recreation area across from the campground.  We hope to order donairs from the food truck tomorrow, so we also checked to see if they would be open tomorrow.  Then we hightailed it back to the campground to get our gear into the RV and give Baxter a walk before the downpour comes.

Stay dry, my friends!