Mike and I recently flew down to Chicago to bring home our new baby!
We’ve added a very special little man to our life and I could not be more excited about his presence. Guys, meet Leonidas Demetri, the Great Dane puppy!

We are experienced dog owners, Leo being the fourth puppy we’ve raised together (and the SEVENTH puppy I’ve had in my life). But he is the first giant breed dog either one of us have ever owned. Needless to say, a LOT of research went into the process of deciding whether a Great Dane was the right choice for our family. And it turns out, he was!

We are expecting Leo to grow to be about 180lbs, based on his pedigree. This picture of him with Mike will be an image I plan on taking every few months to demonstrate his quick rate of growth!

Leo’s first studio portraits. He was a trooper!

Leo has already made himself at home in the studio. He visits pretty much every day and loves meeting everyone (especially the kids!). I figured a puppy who spends so much time in the studio needs a camera of his own.

We all agree, Leo’s favorite toy is his stuffed armadillo.

Leo was not a fan of the snow when he first arrived. But after about a week of being home, he’s starting to get comfortable with the white stuff.

Leonidas has been a BLAST to train. I’ve been working with him for nine days and he’s, by far, the best trained puppy I’ve ever experienced. He knows his commands, he sleeps through the night (three nights is all it took for him to get the hang of things), he adores his crate, he uses the bathroom outside on command (this was a MUST in my eyes for a dog his size) and he’s wonderful with people and other pets.
Okay, Mom Brag Time over.
Everyone is welcome to stop in to the studio to meet our new monkey. And if you can’t make it to the studio, just friend me on Facebook and you’ll get to see LOTS of pictures of my little man who is growing, literally, right before our eyes!

We camped at Lindeman before heading on to Bennett. This campsite was HUGE. Two separate sites to camp, an interpretive tent with photos, letters, and memorabilia from Lindeman City during the rush, and tent housing for a few rangers who stayed on site at the camp to welcome hikers and give everyone a general check up, making sure we were all relatively healthy and of sound mind at the end of the journey.
We woke the next day to our final breakfast on the trail. More oatmeal! Then it was time to pack up and hit it once again for our final day of hiking. We were both happy and sad to know this was the final day. Tomorrow would mean a ride back to Skagway on the train, a hot meal, and eventually, a hot shower. But today, we were still enjoying what was left of our adventure and our final hike out of the woods of the Chilkoot Trail.
We arrived in Bennett with little pomp and circumstance. Seeing the train depot in this abandoned town made the going home part very real for me. It was an interesting experience to walk out of the wilderness and right back into civilization.
Our first order of business was to unload and cache our scented items for the last time, then find a place to set up our tent for the last time, then eat ramon noodles on the trail… for the last time.
The next morning we woke early and packed up our goods. The train depot opened at 10:30am for hikers to come in and eat steaming bowls of stew, cold slaw, bread (I ate so much bread!), cold water/tea/coffee, and some (delicious) apple pie. The train arrived around 12:00 and hikers were separated from the tourists on the train. While we were welcome to mingle when the tourists were off the train, we ate in separate dining rooms (ours was in the back of the depot) and rode on separate train cars. This segregation was, of course, because of the smell of the hikers. As one person put it to me; “The tourists are happy to hear your stories, they just don’t want to smell you.“
Awesome.

I found this to be humorous… the closer we got to Bennett, the more signs of civilized life I’d see. One sign was after EVERY ascent, Canada set out benches for you to rest a bit before continuing on. We never used the benches, but I suppose it’s a nice treat to have them waiting for you if you need them!

The last mile or so into Bennett is all sand. Right there in the middle of the woods!

Enjoying our last meal on the trail with the group of folks who were hiking within a day of us on the trail. All good people!

That’s a lotta Ramen! (we boiled out all the sodium )

This shot is for Liz, the Canadian mother-in-law I always wanted, but never got!

This final shot the night before heading out of Bennett on the train, I think sums up the feeling at the end of the trip. This was image was captured by one of the other hikers, Chad, and I’m forever appreciative to him for grabbing this of Andrea and me. (Thanks, Chad!)

And that’s all for the Chilkoot Trail!
We did have more adventures on the way down to Skagway and back home to the Valley. But these posts summed up the hike, which was a pretty grand adventure in and of itself.
Stay tuned for the hike we have planned for 2012!

After climbing over Chilkoot Pass, we really felt like there was nothing more left to conquer.
We were not exactly right about that.
While there were no more 60º grades to climb (for those not in the Know… that’s pretty steep), there was still a lot of uphill left to do. The Chilkoot never comes DOWN out of the mountains, you pretty much go up hill the entire way. But the adventure is worth the climb, I promise.
After packing up and saying a happy goodbye to Happy Camp, we were on the trail again toward Lindeman. This day we hiked up at the tops of the mountain ridges and right along the edge of the gorge. The weather was absolutely amazing and the views from the mountain tops just could not be beat. I took a LOT of pictures through this day. We titled this our “mountain lakes” day.
Immediately after leaving Happy Camp we were scaling our way along the edge of the ridge, slowly climbing to higher ground and making a trail as we went.

More boulders to scramble! YAY!

The (creepy) skeletal remains of a boat from the gold rush days.

This is just before the river plummets down into the gorge.

We hiked along the rim of the gorge. Unfortunately, a caveat of photographs is the inability to demonstrate exactly how steep a grade really is.

All in all, not a bad way to spend the day.

Next entry will be about our last night on the trail.

As we headed to our tent for rest, we made the decision to wake up at 3:30am. This should give us plenty of time to wake up, get breakfast, pack up camp and hit the trail by 5am. Bedtime was around 9pm.
I never really slept that night. It wasn’t the journey ahead that was bothering me, but for some reason my brain would not shut off. I thought about my studio, my family and friends, books I was reading at home, music, food… you name it and it was on my mind. I tossed and turned the whole night, mostly anxious for the hours to tick by so I could get up again and get going. There was a lot of excitement racing through my brain during those 6 1/2 hours of “rest.“
At 3:24am we were awake. Wide eyed and ready to go. The morning was very quiet as the only other people awake were our new trail friends, Bill and Ginger. We had come to adore them and look forward to seeing them at our camps each night. Great conversationalists and outstanding hikers, they were our inspiration.
First order of business was a hearty breakfast of instant oatmeal, protein powder, and some GU. (YUM! DELISH! actually… not really. But the oatmeal was good!) Then it was off to pack up camp, fill water bottles, clean dishes and make sure our packs were ready to roll. By this time others in the camp were starting to stir. I got more than a few comments about the early rising. But we had been watching the weather and we knew our beautiful sun was not going to hang on for long. It was important to us to try and summit before the bad weather hit. That was the goal anyway.

My camera hung on the back of my pack with a carabiner. Whenever I wanted to take pictures it became a bit of a production to get the camera off my pack and into my hands, this took extra time that, normally, was not a big deal. But this early morning we were watching our time, as well as the weather! 9 mile hike began with 3.3 miles ascending to the pass and the waterfalls, boulders, and artifacts along the way were distractions I couldn’t stop photographing! The camera was pulled out quite a bit, and time ticked by as I tried so hard to capture all that I was seeing that early morning.

Unmarked graves were along the trail, particularly the closer you got to the pass.

There was a LOT of boulder hopping and rock scrambling this morning.

About 40% of the trail on this day was on snow. The snow was very soft as it was melting, this made post-holing quite the reality. I post-holed about 3 times, 2 were particularly bad. Having hiking poles on the snow was a huge help as the long ascent up the mountain was slow, slick, and unsteady.

The Scales!
This was a welcome site and a chance to sit and eat a quick bite for energy before the Golden Staircase. This area was where Canada’s Northwest Mounted Police set up scales to weight the goods of the miners. No one was permitted up the staircase and into the pass (into Canada) unless their outfit weighed in at one ton (2,000lbs). This area was absolutely littered with artifacts that were left behind.

The weather was coming in fast by this time. It was still early in the morning and there was not another soul in sight. The clouds were creeping down the Chilkoot Pass at a steady rate and I knew that any window of high clouds for the summit had passed. As we looked up at the pass and the boulder field we were to ascend, I began to remember the words of the ranger at the station back in Skagway;
“People are calling it the Vertical Ladder right now. It’s really nothing like a staircase on the boulder field.“
The miners of the late 19th century climbed this pass in the wintertime. They made 40 trips up the mountain with 50lb packs on their backs. Stairs were carved out of the snow and the miners climbed the stairs into Canada. But today, there were no stairs. There was just a vertical climb on boulders into Canada.
If you look closely at this image, you can see the red gates that mark the right side of the pass. It was boulder scrambling the whole way up, the snow in the middle was much to soft and unsteady to risk trying to climb.

About 1/3 of the way up I stopped to grab a shot of my view. I knew I’d regret it if I didn’t take this shot. Andrea later told me that watching me angle for the shot and balance on the boulders had her certain I was going to fall. But I didn’t, and as I told her… I had faith she’d catch me if I did fall. Her response was just to give me a look that read; “yeah… right…”

Once we got over the boulders we were at what is called the False Summit. (or, as I was fond of shouting out randomly during the climb; “FALSE HOPE!!”) At False Summit we continued on snow. At first the snow was a welcome relief from the boulder climb. But the low hanging clouds, cold wind, rain, low visibility, slipping, sliding, and trying to avoid post-holing to the point of breaking an ankle got really old, really fast.

At the summit there was not much celebrating. We still had about 5 more miles to go before we could break for camp. We were still in avalanche areas and stopping was not wise. After a quick rest in the warming cabin (not that warm), change into dryer clothes, and a celebratory snack of tuna and crackers I packed for Summit Day, it was time to head out again. The first clear view on the Canada side of Chilkoot was Crater Lake. Cold, lonely, desolate and massive. Like the rest of the pass, this lake made me feel small and insignificant. It reminded me of a quote from a miner in regards to seeing the Chilkoot Pass during the gold rush; “…you feel your insignificance as an atom in this universe. No time for dreaming… as dreams are not made here.“
That about summed up my feelings exactly.

Our lone picture at the summit of the pass before heading on.

The longer we hiked, the higher the clouds lifted. The wind was blowing about 50kph (30mph) and we trekked on. The ground was uneven, the rocks were everywhere, snow patches had me cursing, but the views were steadily becoming more breathtaking.

Finally we made it to Happy Camp. We were the second group to make it in (behind our hiking heroes, Bill and Ginger!) and grateful to see level platforms on the edge of the mountain for our tent.
Happy Camp is named so ironically. Normally the weather is terrible in this valley and a camp site on the edge of the mountain meant terrible winds and rains that sweep through the area. We did have the wind, but the clouds had lifted and the views were outstanding. Everywhere I looked I was surrounded by rugged beauty. Words cannot describe the feeling of being at Happy Camp. It was an inspiring end to a day that will turn out to be my most cherished on the trail.

The view from the tent.
This night’s rest was the best I’d had in decades!

This was one of my two favorite hiking days!
We got going at our leisure this morning. Not a whole lot to worry about where time was concerned. The sun was shining brightly and it was turning out to be a hot day.
After breakfast of oatmeal, GU, and some ibuprofen (a little trick from my brother) it was time to pack up camp and hit the trail.
The trail was beautiful! All day we ascended higher up the mountains to the alpine level. There wasn’t any level ground and we moved up and down the mountain, following the terrain. The woods looked a bit magical with the light filtering through the trees and bouncing around on the lichen. It was a peaceful walk with glimpses of the Irene glacier whenever we were just above tree level.
I found myself getting lost in thought a lot on this day. I had expected to think quite a lot about work during this trip. But each step took me farther away from what waited for me at home. I was getting lost in the remoteness and splendor of these woods. I was remembering what life was like for me as a child, spending days and weeks away from the rest of the world in parts of Alaska most people will never see. For the first time in decades, I began to miss my youth. For the first time ever in my life, I began to understand the true uniqueness that was my upbringing.
I stopped often on this day to take pictures. I was very grateful to have brought one of my “good” cameras with me on this trip. The extra weight was not ideal, but the results were worth the effort.
We were headed to Sheep Camp. The last camp on the Alaska side of the trail and the last stop before our summit. This campground was also the last stop for about 10 other hikers preparing to make it over the pass the next day. It was nice to watch people come into camp through out the evening. The mood was friendly, but mostly somber as we all knew what awaited us the next day and we were all hoping against hope the weather would hold for our summit.
At about 7pm Ranger Brian stopped into camp to give an update on trail conditions over the pass. He’d just come down the pass earlier and was able to let us know that the snow had melted on the boulders, meaning we would be climbing the Golden Staircase on rock and not snow. Snow tends to be easier so I was a little disappointed to hear the boulders were now fully exposed.
Due to the avalanche danger still present in the area, we had to be on the trail no later than 6am and have made the summit no later than noon.
After the brief talk, the 12 of us headed off to bed, preparing for the next big day.

Baby Devil’s Club; doesn’t look so scary when it’s young like this.

An old telegraph pole and wire used during the rush.

Filtering more water from a waterfall. This was a nice spot to break for some lunch!

Canyon City lay just about 1/2 mile from our campsite. It felt wonderful to get the packs off our backs and go do some exploring on our own, with out the extra weight.
Canyon City was once a bustling town with tents and semi-permanent structures. This was where folks with enough money could get their one ton of goods on a pulley system up the Chilkoot trail to the Golden Staircase (and over). While thousands of people mingled in and around this city, like all the other towns on the Chilkoot, it wasn’t meant to last more than a few years.
The Canyon City ruins are sparse. They are located in the middle of the woods, surrounded by trees, brush, and wildlife that really give no thought to the fact this city existed at all. The most interesting artifact at Canyon City is the giant boiler left after the town was packed up. This boiler was brought up the creek by boat and used to fuel the pulley system up the trail. It is a huge boiler, in the middle of the woods, left to nature and time.