The Upper Dewey Lake Trail to the Devil’s Punchbowl & meeting Chinese Explorer Bingc Gu, Skagway, Alaska (9-8-18)

Day 36 of Lupe’s 2018 Dingo Vacation to the Yukon, Northwest Territories & Alaska!

8:27 AM, 56°F, Skagway – On the SE edge of town, Lupe crossed the tracks of the White Pass & Yukon Route Railroad.  Immediately ahead, a wide well-beaten path went up a steep slope into the forest.  A sign confirmed that this was it – Loop was at start of the trail to both Lower & Upper Dewey Lakes, plus a number of other destinations as well.

After 3 days spent mostly on the road cooped up in the G6, the Most High Exalted Dingo of the Arctic Sisterhood was ready for action!  Although mostly cloudy out, enough blue sky could be seen to convince SPHP that the moment had arrived when Loopster could finally set off on a bigger adventure than her recent brief stops along the highway.

Up the trail Lupe went.  Almost right away, she came to a junction where another sign said she needed to go R.  A wooden stairway led down to a couple of water pipes hanging so low over the trail that SPHP had to duck.  Shortly thereafter, Lupe crossed a bridge over Dewey Creek.

The trail now began switchbacking up a steep slope.  Due to dense forest, no views were available, but Lupe was quite happy barking at squirrels.  Once she had a good start on gaining the 500 feet of elevation required to reach Lower Dewey Lake, a small clearing appeared.  From here, Lupe could see the Skagway harbor, and Mount Harding (5,321 ft.) across Taiya Inlet.

Beyond the clearing, the trail resumed its steep climb in the forest.  As Lupe started getting close to Lower Dewey Lake, the terrain began to level out.  At a junction, a sign clearly indicated Loop needed to go L to get to the Upper Dewey Lake trail.  However, a number of trails existed in this area, and most were not well signed.  In SPHP’s confusion, Lupe somehow wound up at a small reservoir.

Backtracking to the sign and trying again, Lupe quickly arrived at the NW shore of long, narrow Lower Dewey Lake.  The Lower Dewey Lake trail follows the heavily forested shoreline all the way around the lake, but the lower lake wasn’t what Lupe had come to see.  Heading N, she reached a small wooden bridge where another sign again pointed out the way to the Upper Dewey Lake trail.

Leaving the lower lake behind, Lupe followed the Upper Dewey Lake trail NE along a tributary of Dewey Creek.  She discovered a couple of brilliant mushrooms in this area.

Less than 0.25 mile from Lower Dewey Lake, the trail divided.  Icy Lake and Upper Reid Falls were straight ahead.  Lupe turned SE (R) staying on the Upper Dewey Lake trail.  After making this turn, she came to no more intersections.

Lower Dewey Lake had been only a 500 foot climb.  However, getting to Upper Dewey Lake was a much more serious undertaking.  Lupe needed to gain another 2,500 feet of elevation!  The Upper Dewey Lake trail was soon climbing aggressively, and stayed that way for a long time.  Even the switchbacks were steep.  Once again, the dense forest hid all distant views, although Lupe often got to see Dewey Creek cascading straight down the mountain.

The first 1,000 feet were the worst.  The slope gradually diminished after that.  Wooden stairways sometimes appeared.  One was quite long.  After a while, it often looked like Lupe was coming to some sort of a top, but that was merely an illusion.  The Carolina Dog climbed and climbed, yet never seemed to get there.  SPHP paused frequently to gasp for breath.

Finally, an open spot appeared.  A mountaintop was in sight ahead.  The trail went right back into the forest, but after seeing that mountain, the rate of climb was noticeably easier.

For another 40 minutes, the trail went on and on, though less difficult and winding around more than before.  Then the forest began to thin out, permitting views from minor high points.

Lupe was getting close to treeline when she came to an orange meadow where she had a much more complete view of the mountain she had seen before.  The trail was nearly flat now.  Only a little farther, Upper Dewey Lake lay hidden in a vast amphitheater.

A few more minutes, and Lupe was there!  Upper Dewey Lake occupied much of the lower level of a two-tier amphitheater.  Against a backdrop of mountains, forests, colorful tundra, and a small snowfield, Upper Dewey Lake was absolutely gorgeous!

A cabin with a view of the lake sat off to the L (NE) of the trail.  This was the City of Skagway rental cabin, the nicer of two cabins close to Upper Dewey Lake.  If the rental cabin hadn’t been occupied, Lupe would have gone over to peer in the windows to see what it was like inside.

The other cabin was free.  Anyone could stay there on a first come, first serve basis.  Lupe found the free use cabin tucked back against the trees SW of the trail.  This cabin was not occupied, so Loopster could snoop around.  The curious American Dingo even went inside.

The free use cabin contained plywood bunk beds and an ancient wood stove.  Everything was filthy, except for two windows, crystal clear due to the absence of glass.  The words “primitive” and “rustic” came to mind, but then you get what you pay for.

The list of amenities did include a roof and 4 walls.  No view of the lake, but it was only a minute away.  Wipe away the dust, start a fire in the wood stove, and the rustic cabin wouldn’t be a bad port in a storm.

It didn’t take an American Dingo long to inspect an old cabin.  Loop had come to see Upper Dewey Lake, not this!  Abandoning the free use cabin, she briefly stopped by a picnic table at a little high point overlooking the lake.  It was colder here than down in Skagway.  While SPHP layered up, Lupe sniffed with a couple of dogs that came running over from the rental cabin.

When her new-found friends got called back, Lupe went down closer to the lake.  What a magnificent scene!  Upper Dewey Lake was so pretty!

Exploring S along the W shore of Upper Dewey Lake, Lupe checked out the lovely views from several different boulders.

Since leaving Skagway, Lupe had gained 3,000 feet of elevation.  The plan all along had been to continue another 600 feet higher to a ridge beyond the S end of Upper Dewey Lake.  From this ridge, Loop would be able to see the Devil’s Punchbowl.

Once beyond the S end of Upper Dewey Lake, Looper started up a tiny creek.  SPHP was surprised when the trail she had been following faded rapidly.  Somewhere around here there was supposed to be an official trail to the Devil’s Punchbowl, but this didn’t seem to be it.

Didn’t really matter.  Although steep in places, this route wasn’t difficult, so the Carolina Dog just kept climbing.  The tiny creek vanished, as Lupe scrambled up a small boulder field.  As she got higher, the views looking back at Upper Dewey Lake became even more spectacular!

Before Lupe quite made it to the saddle she was heading for, she did come across a better trail that had been farther W on a small ridge going up this same direction.   Venturing over to the W edge of the ridge, Loop had a tremendous view of Skagway and Taiya Inlet all the way to Dyea.

It wasn’t much farther to the top of the ridge.  When Lupe got there, she found a broad flat area strewn with rocks amid sparse tundra.  Crossing this region took only a couple of minutes.  From the far S edge, she had a grand view of the Devil’s Punchbowl nestled in a cirque below her.

Ready for a break, Lupe curled up beneath a stunted spruce tree, while SPHP relaxed gazing at the fabulous views.  Within 10 minutes, a young woman appeared, which is how Lupe met Chinese explorer Bingc Gu.

Bingc was friendly, and spoke English well.  Not perfectly, sometimes she searched for words, but compared to SPHP’s non-existent Chinese, Bingc was an absolute master of the English language.  Bingc was a 19 year old student from Beijing, where she studies Business Administration and English.  She is the oldest of 2 sisters and 1 brother, and had been living on her own since she turned 15.

Bingc had spent the summer working in Skagway as part of an exchange program.  She loved living in a small town, and the beautiful mountains here.  Bingc was quite sad that she was going to have to leave on the 16th, only 8 days from now, to return to her studies.

Her grandfather once had a yellow dog that had lived to be very old.  So Bingc liked dogs, and was quite taken with Lupe.

As Bingc chatted with SPHP, two young men showed up, though not at the same time.  They both worked on cruise ships, and had come up to see the Devil’s Punchbowl while they still could.  The Skagway tourist season was ending.  At 8:00 PM tonight, their ships were sailing away, bound for Hawaii, the Fiji Islands and Australia.  Sounded like fun!

Neither of the young men stayed long.  Both had to get back to their ships.  Once they departed, Lupe and SPHP joined Bingc in going down to the Devil’s Punchbowl.  For a while, new friends Lupe and Bingc sat together on the E shore.

In the end, chatting with Bingc was so much fun, that when the time came to leave, Lupe and SPHP went with her.

On the way down to Upper Dewey Lake, Lupe and SPHP followed Bingc, who had actually come up the correct trail on the ridgeline W of where the Carolina Dog had been.  This route also went through some boulder fields, and didn’t seem much better or worse than the way Lupe had gone up to see the Devil’s Punchbowl.

It turned out that the ridge route went to the picnic table near Upper Dewey Lake that Lupe and SPHP had stopped by earlier.  Bingc didn’t mind the company, and was happy to have Lupe come along on the rest of the way back down the Dewey Lakes trails to Skagway.

At a steady, but unhurried pace, slender, polite, soft-spoken Bingc led the way while talking about many things.  Lupe had been lucky to meet her.  During her summer in Skagway, Bingc had taken the trail up to and around Lower Dewey Lake many times, but today was the only time she had ever gone on to Upper Dewey Lake and the Devil’s Punchbowl.

Bingc was a serious student.  She liked languages, literature, and history.  She was interested in travel and other cultures, and in sharing Chinese culture.  While in Skagway, Bingc had made new friends, some of them Chinese, some not, another reason she was sad to be leaving soon.

However, Bingc felt Skagway had been good for her.  She thought more boldly now, considering the whole world as her home.  She wanted to keep exploring and climbing mountains.  On the only remaining day off work that she had left in Skagway, she planned on taking the train up to White Pass.  8 days from now, Bingc would be taking the ferry to Juneau hoping to see some whales, then fly on to Seattle and Beijing.  And some day, she intended to return to Skagway.

At last, the railroad tracks appeared.  End of the trail.  Bingc petted Lupe for the last time.  If Loopster ever made it to China on one of her Dingo Vacations, Bingc promised to take the American Dingo to the Great Wall of China!  Lupe and SPHP wished Bingc good fortune in her travels and adventures.  If Bingc ever comes to the Black Hills, Lupe would take her to Mount Rushmore.  Smiling, Bingc shook hands with SPHP, and said good-bye.  She then turned and walked away, bound for home in her beloved Skagway.  (6:18 PM, 64°F)

Upper Dewey Lake and the Devil’s Punchbowl had been a great day, a beautiful adventure.  Meeting Bingc had been fun.  However, Bingc was now on to other adventures, and Lupe was, too.  Returning to the G6, Lupe and SPHP were soon on the South Klondike Highway on the way out of Skagway.

Tomorrow’s plan was to revisit part of the wonderful International Falls trail, then leave it to climb Peak 6053.  However, when Lupe reached White Pass, the sky was dark and stormy looking.  A cold rain set in.  Not too encouraging.  Loop and SPHP stopped for the night in the Tormented Valley, to wait and see what the morning might bring.

Links:

Next Adventure                       Prior Adventure

AB Mountain – Lupe Joins the Arctic Sisterhood! Skagway, Alaska (8-7-17)

International Falls, Canada to Alaska (8-8-17)

Skagway, Alaska Area Trails Map & Brochure

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