Hiking up King's Throne, Kluane National Park, Yukon

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This is a steep trail up to a spectacular cirque -- the "seat" of the King’s Throne. The hike up to the cirque (and return) is 10 km (6 mi). If you keep going up to the summit (unmaintained, unmarked trail on steep scree), it is a 16 km (10 mi) hike. The hike to the summit is extremely steep and hiking sticks are highly recommended (slippery moraine most of the way). Elevation gain is 548 m (1,800’) to the cirque and 1 442 m (4,729’) to the summit. If you want to try the summit, assess the weather carefully, it can get very windy very quickly. Not a good thing on an exposed ridge. Clouds can also descend rapidly and make finding the route difficult.

As usual, be very bear aware. Kluane is home to the most important concentration of grizzlis in the world. We had been informed that there was a mama grizzli and cubs in the forested part of the trail, so we were very loud and stuck very close together, with an adult up front (with a bear spray) and an adult behind (also with a bear deterrent).

Kluane National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is over 22,000 km2 in size, and 82% of it is covered in mountains and ice. It’s home to the St. Elias Mountains, the most massive range in Canada, and the second highest peak on the continent, Mount Logan.

Kluane National Park: King's Throne Hike

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In white, you can see an approximation of the trail we did. A group stopped a bit before the bowl, while 2 kids and 3 adults went up into the bowl (Aïsha and Joel were determined to get to the snow!), then JF and I went up on the ridge to the left.

The Westy chose this beautiful spot to die. Good thing I am getting fast at fixing it with our little trick! Five minutes and we were back on the road!

Running with Kinder along Kathleen Lake. We borrowed this dog from our friend since it is much safer to hike with a dog in grizzly country. Kinder is an 11 yo retired sled dog - he was a lead dog! - and decided to turn around with the first group... We outlasted him!

Straight ahead on the lake, in the little bay, is where we started the hike.

Once we were high up on the ridge, the wind picked up and the rain started, so we turned around. Going down in that scree was very slippery and not easy... The first group that went down even got caught by a scary rock slide... But hiking in glacier-carved valleys sprinkled with alpine wildflower covered moss is a pretty unique experience. When you stand there and look around, you understand why this is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is actually the largest internationally protected wilderness area in the world, that includes Canada's tallest mountain, Mount Logan, surrounded by the St. Elias Icefields. 

There is a pretty high concentration of grizzlies in the park and one of the popular multi-day hike, the Slim's River West, is often closed because there are too many grizz on the trail! 

King's Throne is actually the first hike I did when we moved to Whitehorse. I was at the very beginning of the twins' pregnancy, 12 years ago almost to the day. It's quite special to be back here with them to hike it... Once I am high up on the ridge, feeling the wind and the rain on my face, looking down at the tiny twisty trail I walked down below, I am reminded of the long journey I have undertaken, the slips, the falls and the scary parts, the exhilaration and the long tough stretches where I simply put one foot in of the other.

“The path to our destination is not always a straight one. We go down the wrong road, we get lost, we turn back. Maybe it doesn't matter which road we embark on. Maybe what matters is that we embark.” 
― Barbara Hall

To Haines, Alaska

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Haines is only an hour from Skagway by ferry, so we decided to do the loop and go visit that town that we love so much. Haines is not on the cruise ships run, so it has a very different and authentic feel. We used to come to Haines every summer with the girls when they were little. If you want a better idea of this small town feel, read this great book called If you lived here, I'd know your name by Heather Lende.

There, we met another traveling family that we connected with online. Joy and her two boys have spent the last 3 winters in Costa Rica, Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Peru and Ecuador. We connected instantly and spent most of our time there around the bonfire, talking. It is so awesome to meet like-minded family on the road.

On the way back, we stopped at Kluane National Park to make dinner in the shelter and enjoy beautiful Kathleen Lake.