Day 9 of Lupe’s 2018 Dingo Vacation to the Yukon, Northwest Territories & Alaska!
Start: 7:54 AM, 50°F, Monarch Mountain trailhead 3.7 km S of Atlin on Warm Bay Road – Yesterday the trailhead had been a busy place, but no one else was around this early on a Sunday morning. The lucky Carolina Dog was going to have Monarch Mountain (4,723 ft.) all to herself! The trail began right across Warm Bay Road from the huge parking lot.
The Monarch Mountain trail started off climbing gradually through open forest. Before long, it crossed a driveway. A few openings in the forest provided early views of Atlin Lake. Cabins and vacation homes could be seen nearby tucked in among the trees.
The trail soon came to the driveway a second time. This time it followed the driveway for before returning to the forest. Lupe eventually reached a wooden bench at a small clearing. She came to a second bench a little farther up the trail.
Beyond the second bench, the trail steepened and stayed in a thick forest which provided no views. After a considerable climb, the forest finally began to thin out. Bushes started to dominate as Lupe reached the subalpine. A small, open ridge appeared NE of the trail.
Climbing this first ridge, the American Dingo was rewarded with sweeping views of Atlin Lake from Birch Mountain (6,765 ft.) to the SW all the way N to Mount Minto (6,913 ft.). For the first time, Lupe could also see Surprise Lake off to the NE.
Now that she was effectively above treeline, Lupe had views nearly all the time. Occasional steep stretches still existed along the trail, but the overall rate of climb was reduced. Loop followed the trail S along the W edge of Monarch Mountain going from one high point to the next.
To the E, the terrain was hilly and rumpled, still dotted with scattered stands of conifers. Many areas were thickly covered with bushes, but there were large areas of open grassy ground, too.
20 minutes from the first open ridge, Lupe reached the next significant high point. This higher ridge overlooked a sizable drop into a valley to the S. A small tarn could be seen in this valley. On the far side, a large ravine led up toward Monarch Mountain’s huge N summit ridge.
After enjoying the fabulous views available from this high point, Lupe made a steep rocky descent into the valley. After passing E of the tarn, she immediately began regaining the elevation she had just lost, as the Monarch Mountain trail headed SE up the big ravine.
Partway up, the ravine became rocky. The Monarch Mountain trail more or less faded away. Lupe kept climbing. She got beyond the rocky stretch, but did not find the trail again. Didn’t really matter, anyway, since Monarch Mountain’s N summit ridge wasn’t much farther. Loop soon reached the high point at the SW end of the ridge.
The topo map shows Monarch Mountain has two large, distinct summit ridges. Both are hundreds of feet long. Like the S summit ridge, the N ridge which Lupe had just reached was oriented NE/SW. The top of the N ridge was a broad, rolling territory covered mostly by sparse vegetation, and scattered rock outcroppings of moderate size. From the high point near the SW end, Lupe could see two more high points off to the NE, both clearly somewhat higher than where she was now.
So as soon as the Carolina Dog was done taking in the views from the SW high point, she headed NE. In a shallow drainage full of low bushes, she came across the Monarch Mountain trail again.
The trail ultimately ended near the high point farthest N of the two high points at the NE end of the summit ridge. At the top of a rock formation, a thick white stick 3 feet high was propped up amid a modest cairn. A survey pin was close by, too. Apparently this N high point where Lupe was now was commonly regarded as the summit of Monarch Mountain.
Lupe had her best view of Surprise Lake to the NE from here. However, this end of the summit ridge was farther away from Atlin Lake than the SW high point, not to mention everywhere else Lupe had been to coming up the mountain. Consequently, the views to the SW toward Atlin Lake weren’t as impressive as what Lupe had already seen, although she still had a tremendous view to the NW.
The day had started out sunny and comfortably warm, but now the sky was overcast. Definitely colder up here, only 40°F. A 10 mph S breeze felt chilly. Lupe was in the mood to lounge around for a bit, so she did. SPHP put on a couple more layers.
The S high point at the NE end of the N summit ridge wasn’t far away. It looked about as high as the N high point where Lupe was resting. When Loop felt ready to move on, she went over to check it out, too.
Both of the two high points at the NE end of the N summit ridge were contained within a 1440 meter (4,725 foot) contour on the topo map. The map showed two more small areas contained within 1440 meter contours on Monarch Mountain. They were over at opposite ends of the S summit ridge. Lupe needed to visit both of these areas to complete her tour of potential locations of Monarch Mountain’s true summit.
The S summit ridge was still a good little march away. To get over there, Lupe headed SW back along the N ridge looking for an easy way down to the intervening low ground.
Though it would have been nice, Lupe found absolutely no trails heading S. Below the high ground of the N summit ridge, dense stands of bushes covered much of the territory the American Dingo needed to cross to get to the S ridge. The bushes were only a few feet high, but that was still higher than Lupe’s head, and they formed a vast nearly impenetrable thicket for her.
Since no trail seemed to exist, Lupe finally had to leave the N summit ridge following SPHP, who tried to guide her along a course avoiding the problematic bushes as much as possible. This worked to some extent, but Loop still had to bound and crash her way through the bushes part of the time, which was scratchy, exhausting work.
Near the S summit ridge, Lupe crossed some completely bare ground, all that remained of a dried up tarn. Beyond it, a steep climb of the S ridge ensued. Considerable success avoiding bushes made for a relatively quick climb. Loop was soon up on top where bushes were scarce and no longer an issue.
Lupe had gained the S ridge near it’s SW high point, so she went there first. Although no trails had come this way, a large, low cairn made of many rocks sat at the high point. After having dealt with so many blasted bushes, all the American Dingo wanted to do was curl up by the big cairn and have a rest. SPHP furnished her with water and Taste of the Wild.
The views from the SW summit of the S summit ridge were the best yet! A large portion of the S half of Atlin Lake was in sight. A range of snowy mountains was visible far beyond the lake. Lupe could even see part of the Llewellyn Glacier.
A much smaller cairn sat a little farther down the slope SW of the SW high point. Lupe went down to it. The views from this cairn were the best from anywhere on Monarch Mountain (4,723 ft.). Here, Lupe had a panoramic view of Atlin Lake all the way from Mount Minto in the N clear down to Teresa Island and beyond. The far off snowy mountains and Llewellyn Glacier were all on display, too.
Only one high point remained that Lupe hadn’t checked out. It took her less than 10 minutes to get to the NE high point of the S summit ridge once she left the SW high point. The topo map showed an elevation of 1,442 meters (4,731 ft.) here, which was the highest noted anywhere on Monarch Mountain, but specific elevations weren’t shown for most of the other high points.
Which was the true summit? All the high points on the N and S summit ridges were visible from one another, but they were so far apart, and so close to the same elevation, that SPHP couldn’t tell for certain. Only the SW high point on the N summit ridge was clearly lower than the others.
In any case, Lupe had been to all the contenders. Whether this NE high point of the S summit ridge was actually it or not, it was now certain the American Dingo had been to the true summit of Monarch Mountain somewhere along the way. SPHP enthusiastically congratulated Lupe on her fine peakbagging success of this unique and beautiful mountain.
The return trip was a wonderful, happy time. Loopster roamed as she pleased. Beauty was everywhere, on scales both vast and small.
Lupe had to go over the SW end of Monarch Mountain’s N summit ridge one more time to get back to the Monarch Mountain trail.
By the time Lupe was back to the G6 at the trailhead (3:40 PM, 67°F), the day had warmed up considerably. Before leaving the area, Lupe and SPHP returned to the village of Atlin for a picnic by Atlin Lake next to the Tarahne. Lupe got to wade in the cold, clear waters.
Then it was N on Hwy 7. Lupe was on to new adventures! Atlin and this happy day on Monarch Mountain were left behind. SPHP stopped again at the bluff where Lupe had seen Atlin Lake and Mount Minto (6,913 ft.) for the first time. The old man who had been sitting here yesterday afternoon and his van were gone.
At the junction with Hwy 6, SPHP turned L (SW). Lupe didn’t stop until she was a little SE of Carcross along South Klondike Highway No. 2 for a look at what SPHP thought at the time was Nares Mountain (5,833 ft.), but was actually Caribou Mountain (6,400 ft.).
Continuing S, Lupe saw smoke and occasionally actual towering orange flames from forest fires on the E side of Tagish Lake.
The pleasant drive from Atlin had been sunny and warm. However, it now looked cloudy to the S.
The plan had been to go S all the way to the International Falls pullout near the Alaska border. However, by the time Lupe was S of Tutshi Lake, the temperature had dropped to 50°F. A fierce wind was blowing hard, and fog was in the process of swallowing Log Cabin Mountain.
A front was moving in. Instead of going any farther, Lupe and SPHP stopped just beyond the railroad tracks at the Log Cabin trailhead. Maybe it was best to wait here, and see what tomorrow would bring?
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