Donjek - Day 1

Alaska Highway to Burwash Uplands

August 2, 2015

Had a delicious and filling breakfast at the Red Door BnB. Shortly after 09:00, Steve from Up North Outfitting swung by with a big van and picked us six excited hikers up. Deb, Ivan, Krsta, Glenn, Marc, and myself were headed out into the wilds of the Yukon for the next week and a half. We drove for a couple of hours to Haines Junction where we stopped at the Parks Canada office to pick up permits and Bear cannisters. After squishing our food into these contraptions and stopping at a delicious local bakery for some carb loading, we continued north to Burwash Landing. This road took another hour and we finally arrived at a narrow dirt track. It was suggested that we start about five kilometers up this road, and since Steve was game to give it a try, we pushed on into the woods with the van. Trees scraped the sides and the canoe racks on the roof kept ketting hung up on the brush. The V10 engine of this beast pushed through it all without too much difficulty, including a few big mud holes that threatened to eat the van whole. After about two or three kilometers of this we came to an open area where the van could be turned around, so worried that the van might not make the rest of the trail, we bid Steve adieu and started walking. Travel was easy, but somewhat wet with puddles and occasional spatters of rain. In short order we arrived at the official parking area, and continued now on a fairly steep climb up an abandonned mining road. This shrank to an ATV track, but travel went fairly quickly. The packs were damn heavy with ten days worth of food and I am looking forward to eating it to lighten the load. We had lunch at a high point which felt very good to lighten the load by about two hundred grams or so, but putting it back on did not really feel much different. We continued on and the track split so we followed the fork that was going the direction we wanted. This turned into a swampy mess and we found that the surrounding country was easier travel, so we abandonned the trail. We pushed on for about a kilometer of swamp, which could be easily travelled over by hopping from tussock to tussock and avoiding the worst wet areas. Finally we began climbing into drier ground and then regained the ATV track which, had we simply stayed on the left fork, would never have had the tussock walk at all. Oh well, all in good fun. We passed a small lake and considered camping, but decided to push on. In another kilometer we came across a large flat area where a campsite had previously been established, so we decided to stay. Another hundred meters down the trail had a nice area for cooking near a stream. We all ate too much food, consuming basically everything that could not be squished into a barrel. It is 21:30 as I write this and the Yukon sun still has several hours before setting.

Waiting for the bus.

Starting off down the road after we gave up on the van.

Old mining camp.

Swamp whacking.

Evening rainbow.

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