This time we wanted a different side of Kluane National Park, so we picked a hike on the Slim River West Trail. The path leads up a long distance, perhaps 25 km, to the head of the glacial valley. It requires a backpack. You can camp below an observation post. For us, that would probably be a four day adventure. Unfortunately, due to weather and head colds, we only had time for a day hike, so we chose to walk up the trail to Bullion Creek, about 7 miles. Not being entirely recovered from our colds, we thought this would be about the right level of strenuous for us.
This is the view up Slim River Valley from the Kluane National Park Visitor Center, where the river empties into Kluane Lake. It was a great preview for our hike and gave us a thrill of anticipation -- as all good hikes should:
To the east, a high peak and glacier beckoned to us from behind the Kluane Range. It reminded us of the fact that, up behind the Slim River Valley, to the south, the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park (U.S.) and Kluane National Park (Canada) together share a mountain range that includes the tallest peak in Canada and an immense icefield from which numerous glaciers spread in all compass directions. We had stepped on the southernmost of those, the Kennecott Glacier, when we visited Kennecott and McCarthy on our 2016 trip. We weren't going to get to step on a glacier today, but we were going to get some great glacier views!
The trailhead is about 2.6 km up a gravel road, and is a jumping-off point for three different trails: Slims River, which we were doing today, Sheep Creek, which we did in 2016, and Bullion Plateau, which would be another adventure for another visit.
The trail is an old wagon road, probably one which led to mines. Bullion Creek, our destination, was not named frivolously. For the entire hike, the trail pointed at some gorgeous mountains:
Soon after we passed the junction for Sheep Creek Trail, we encountered this side trail with a very steep climb up to a height of land giving a panoramic view of the Slims River Valley:
Looking southwest, we could see the next section of our hike, climbing to what looked like limestone hills and then back down into the glacial moraine and alluvial fan comprised river valley:
If you'd like to understand what the Slim River Valley holds in its entirety, take a look at this 360-degree view we had of the Slims River Valley from our height of land.
Having absorbed a very rewarding view, we continued on our way. When our path led us back down into the rocky and gravelly river valley, we stumbled upon some old mining equipment. This was a discarded track from a caterpillar tractor, perhaps discarded by some of the miners who worked this valley after the Alaska Highway was constructed in the 1940's:
The trail is marked periodically by cairns, rather than blazes. Many of the cairns looked like they had not been well maintained. One, in particular, was so collapsed that Kathy insisted on rebuilding it. Some of the river stones were so perfectly round that they would not balance on the cairn. Kathy succeeded in adding this little round beauty, but, by the time we returned this way later in the hike, the breeze had already caused it to roll off the top of the cairn:
We were warned by the ranger at the Visitor Center that the trail would involve one or two stream crossings, so we came prepared with stream-wading sandals. Here, Kathy braves the cold, glacial waters of Sheep Creek. This is the creek that carved the steep, fabulous canyon that we hiked and viewed from Sheep Creek Trail in 2016.
We were surprised that, with the very warm air temperatures (it got as high as 80F), we could hike in t-shirts (rare so far this year), but more importantly, the stream water was soothing and welcome to our hot, sore doggies:
After we crossed Sheep Creek, we traversed into the next stream drainage -- the marshy alluvial area of Coin Creek, which the park has graced with a sturdy boardwalk over the outright-wet section:
We were hoping to see some moose in this area, and, while we saw scat and tracks, we didn't see the critters themselves. Similarly, while we scanned the mountainsides for the ubiquitous Dall Sheep (a breed of Thinhorn Sheep, distinguished from Stone Sheep by being white rather than tan or brown), we saw none this year where we had seen a whole herd above us on our Sheep Creek Hike in 2016.
The trail had separated from the old wagon road at the boardwalk and meandered separately from the road through the marsh for a distance before they rejoined. We noted that the return fork to the trail was disguised enough that we might miss it, Kathy pulled out some trusty bright orange parachute cord and decorated an obvious bush with it so that we couldn't miss our turn on the way back:
Approaching Bullion Creek, we found the park's trail marker -- a huge post meant to mark the trail on the near side of the Bullion Creek drainage for those who, returning from further up the trail, try to find the trail across a drainage of rocks and gravel that is nearly a half mile wide. Kathy took a moment to pose with the trail marker:
Here is a view across Bullion Creek toward the glacial cirque at the upper end of the trail. We would have crossed and hiked a little further, but the next 2 miles of hiking would be relatively unremarkable, parallelling the base of the Bullion Creek Dunes showing as the cliffs on the right of this photo:
We decided to have lunch here and spend some time exploring the Bullion Creek alluvium. Here, we spied two thick, pier-like posts planted deep in the center of Bullion Creek. We could not conclusively determine why they were put there or what structure they might have been part of...perhaps a wooden bridge. But the surrounding scenery was far too dramatic and distracted us from this train of thought.
Kathy searched out a spot where dark sand ("paydirt") held the possibility for finding gold with her pan. We weren't sure that this was permitted in the park, but we had seen not notices against it, and we decided it might be prudent not to ask the ranger (better to ask forgiveness than to ask permission). And, anyway, panning doesn't disturb the environment like digging or speciment collection (assuming we find no gold).
While Kathy scoped out her panning site, David walked around looking at the wide variety of volcanic-origin rocks such as quartz, gorgeous sandstones, limestone pieces, speckled granite, and more. It wasn't long before he found this rock art. The spiral shapes recall ancient petroglyphs, but there was no doubt that this was the idle -- if inspired -- work of some more modern campers:
Kathy, meanwhile, was lost in Panning Land:
The return trip was a chance to revisit all our favorite pieces of this hike, but it did offer one new diversion. We knew that grizzly bears are in the area, and we had seen scat periodically along the trail. We had our bear spray handy, and we had made it a point to talk loudly while we were hiking in order to warn any local bears that we were approaching. However, no encounters.
That is, until we encountered this print:
It didn't show the characteristic foreclaw marks of a grizzly, so it is possible it was a black bear, but we had not been led to believe that black bear roam this region. So the mystery remains whether it was a black bear or grizzly; but there was no doubting its ursine nature. The tracks followed the sandy trail for almost a mile. What gave us the shivers was that the bear had trod the trail SINCE WE HAD WALKED IT EARLIER IN THE DAY. There had been no prints when we were hiking out to Bullion Creek. Now they were there...and they were headed the same direction we were headed. So there was every chance we might run into the big, furry lug at any time. We increased our loud chatter and kept an alert eye out around us. But never did we see Old Orso. You can't imagine our mixed feelings. We would love to spot and maybe get a photo of a bear. On the other hand, we want no close encounters of the ursine kind. So, we felt a mixture of relief and disappointment as we hiked the last 100 yards to our trailhead. Maybe another day.
Oh, did we mention that Kathy didn't find any gold in her goldpan? Yes, maybe another day.
great
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