Kaskawulsh Glacier, Yukon, CanadaGlaciers in Kluane NP
Famous Kluane NP:
- Kluane NP in the Yukon, it borders the Wrangell-St. Elias NP and Glacier Bay NP of the US as well the Tatshenshini Alsek park in BC together they make a world heritage site with the largest protected landmass in the world
- We are close to the St. Elias Mountains – Canada’s youngest and fastest growing mountains – part of the world’s largest non-polar ice field on the planet (here are over 2000 glaciers) – here are also the seismically active mountains on earth: it’s the Kluane Range and the Icefield Range
- Here are Canada’s highest mountain including: Mount Logan 1959m high (it is also the 2nd highest mountain of North America) – by the way it is the largest landmass mountain in the world: it has overall 11 peaks and also vertical cliffs of 3000m and it raises 4000m from the surrounding mountains (still it is impossible to see from a road). What is interesting it has it’s own weather climate as the wet Pacific air and the cold air from the gulf of Alaska affect it. On May 1991 the coldest temperature outside of the Antarctica got here recorded with -77.5C
- It is home to the Kluane First Nations
- And yes the 18 highest mountains of Canada are part of the St. Elias mountains
Early sunshine walk on the beach
Yes it’s another sunny beautiful
morning, as we go out for coffee Mandy comes out too and is heading out into
the bushes – which is not so great as she forgets where she is. Paul said you
should go on a walk with her – and as Gine went towards the lake and said Mandy
come she followed a bit and when Paul came too she followed Paul like a little
doggy – after a bit (no it was not a long walk) she complained so we knew it is
time to turn around – and after all that excitement we had breakfast and Mandy
went into the clothes storage.
Soldier Summit
Our first stop was at this trail: it
is a short walk up and then we have an amazing view on the Kluane Lake. Along
the way were lots of signs talking about the building of the Alaskan Highway –
way do they talk so much: it was here that the official opening of the Alaskan
Highway in 1942 happened: yes, there is a Canada and US flag proudly flying.
The old path we walk up is part of the original Alaska Highway (which was not a
highway more a trail) and to top it off, they have here the red chairs: sure,
we have to sit down and enjoy the amazing view.
Sheep at Techai Dahi mountain
Next stop is the Techal Dhai Visitor
info: here we stopped as we got told that is where you can see the Dall Sheep.
But before there is a motorcycle group here and they are heading out as we
arrive – that was cool to see. We can see people looking up the mountain for
the sheep – ok where are they: it took Gine quiet a while to discover them:
once you take a picture with the 800x-Zoom of the camera you likely still have
to cut out more, as they are so teeny tiny and so high up the mountain. It’s not really seeing them.
When driving in, we saw also an old
hut and drove over to it, and yes, we drove again on a part of the old Alaska
highway (this one is the paved old on). After checking out we continue on:
- the Techai Dhai is 1120 m from the Valley Floor
- here lives the largest population of the Dall’s sheep: 300 live here and it is the largest population of the Yukon
Relaxing at Kluane Lake
As we were thinking what to do today
before the flight Gine said to visit the old city and we learned we can go
right to the lake here. So first we drive to the end of the road and end up at
Kluane Lake – it is a bit windy here and there are no mosquitos – so we said
perfect for a coffee!! And that is what we did having a coffee, reading,
relaxing, walking along the lake and enjoying the sunshine.
The old houses of Silver City
Afterwards we stopped at the old ghost
town of Silver City:
- This was a trading post of the NWMP from 1904-1924
We stopped and looked at some of the
old log homes – the roofs are collapsed; we saw some buildings, where the whole
building was flat. It was amazing to walk through them and look at them – truly
something unique to see on how a town vanishes and grows into the forest.
Flying up to the ice field
We came early and heard that another
couple will come and fly with us and they want to stop on the glacier – so Paul
negotiated and we only paid for one person to stop on the glacier – which we
thought was a good deal.
A bit later than planned we left off:
first each of us had to go on a scale as with 4 passengers the lightest has to
go in the back otherwise the plane has trouble to take off – and that was Gine:
good thing you can look out on both sides of the window. Paul and the other guy
shared and each one got one way to sit in the cockpit – Paul on the flight back
as it will make it easier for take off on the snow.
And then our flight starts: ok the
plane is kind of cool in itself as it was used for a while by the CIA – and now
it’s here in use – we also learned where the button is for the emergency signal
(good to know). One all we started off on the gravel airstrip and have a great view
on Kluane Lake and the Dali mountain.
We are flying into the St. Elias
Mountains – first we went over the Slim River: which is actually not really a
river anymore it is dried out – it is interesting as the Glacier retreated it
started to not feed this river anymore so less water goes into the Kluane Lake
and the lake dropped since 2016 several meters because of it.
We fly further in and can see the large
toe of the Kaskawulsh Glacier – this 68 km long glacier melts into the Alsek
and we can see where it flows. It is also super amazing to see the different
kind of morraines: as one of the glaciers really looks like a highway going
down the mountain.
As we fly in further, we can see on
the one side snow-white mountains and more and more glaciers – and on the right
side the south side the mountains are more visible as they are exposed to the sun.
We also learn that even it looks dark grey it is ice: as the mountains are not
very stable and the loos pebbles and dust go down and are in the glacier. As
well we can see two glaciers meeting and it looks like a big highway with the
moraine in the center – it is truly amazing. It’s like picture perfect views.
As we head further into the St. Elias
Mountains we are now on top of the Glaciers and fly over the Glaciers – and we
see more and more white it is so truly amazing to fly over this super white
glaciers and then we are ready to land on the glacier: yes our plane has skis!!!
We walk on the Glacier
Climbing out and we jump into the
snow!! Truly we are up there in the snow – it is actually not that cold as the
sun shines so much. And because we are the last ones of the day we have more
than the allowed 20 Min on the glacier and were nearly an hour up there walking
in the snow looking around us and admire those gigantic mountains – words
cannot describe on how amazing it is. Straight in front of us is Mount Logan
(yes we can understand that it’s the world’s largest landmass)– it is a huge
gigantic mountain standing out there amazing!!! We also saw Mt St. elias (5489m
tall and first sawn by Vitys Bering on St. Elias Day in 1741) – some of those
glaciers and mountains don’t even have a name – others do for me they were only
amazing. And let’s not forget we are roughly 40 km away from Mount Logan.
We took lots of pictures – Gine did a
snow-angel – and Paul was running his train whistle app on the mountain – it
was so cool to wander off and make new steps in the snow – what an amazing and
unique experience you can’t describe it.
By the way there is a camp up here you
can fly up and stay overnight in tents…..
Flying back over the glaciers
And then comes the time to head back.
We did see on the way back the Hubbard Glacier which we learned is the fasted
glacier and moves every year 5 km – yes this is fast when you think that some
glaciers only move 3-5 m a year (and the hubbard glacier goes all the way to
the ocean too) . We saw glacier falls, moraines, the glacier blue lakes in the
ice, a lake with an iceberg and glacier tongs
On the way back he flew lower and very
close to the glacier so we could see the gaps in the ice, the blue glittering
and the lakes, the water on the ice, the glacier waterfalls – he did some sharp
turns and cool loops so we had perfect views on lakes, glaciers, glacier toes
and how the glaciers go around the mountains. We flew very close along the
mountains to see better the hard surface and the dark ice.
It was amazing to flying back and to
see the green of the trees and the mountains and then we see the Valley before
us with the dry slim lake and the amazing greenish color of Kluane Lake which
looks spectacular in the afternoon light. And right before landing we did a
loop and flew over Silver City and we recognized some of the houses we saw
earlier in the day and over Silver Creek and part of the old Alaskan Highway
and we are back landing.
What an amazing experience. When we
arrived the people before us went out of the plane and said “wow” ok we get it
- it is likely one of the top 10 of the
experiences we ever do in our lives.
Originally, we booked a 1-hour flight
we were gone for nearly two hours!!! It was so worth to be here that extra day
to see this.
A late supper at Kluane Lake
After forgetting our ladder again –
but then the 3rd time is a charm right!!! We are no experienced in
fixing it, we decided to go back where we stayed last night as we liked it so
much and had a late supper. With the beautiful sunshine we were sitting a bit
outside to read and only enjoy the view before heading back inside.
Yes Kluane NP was one amazing
experience!!!
And the next morning we say good bye –
now we are heading towards Alaska
2025-05-22