Day 11 of Lupe’s 2018 Dingo Vacation to the Yukon, Northwest Territories & Alaska!
Lupe had slept well at the E edge of Beringia. Up early, she was ready to hit the road before 7:00 AM. What sort of day this was going to turn out to be wasn’t at all clear yet. Bits of blue were visible in a mostly drab, overcast sky. All was quiet at Pelly Crossing when SPHP stopped for fuel.
After crossing a pale blue bridge over the Pelly River, North Klondike Highway No. 2 wound up a hill. On a bluff overlooking Pelly Crossing, SPHP stopped a pullout. A few plaques were posted about the history of the local area. Lupe got out for a look at the peaceful scene.
It didn’t take long to look at the Pelly River. Loopster wasn’t much into plaques, either. The situation was far different a little later on at Stewart Crossing, though. Lupe was excited! Moose and bear and elk were lined up right beside the highway! The Carolina Dog was desperate for SPHP to stop. Let the fun begin!
Lupe’s excitement turned to disappointment, but at least she got to sniff around a bit. She was at the visitor center for the Silver Trail to Mayo and Keno. The visitor center wasn’t open yet, but the Silver Trail still sounded good! More plaques were on display. Loopster busied herself exploring bushes near the parking lot while SPHP took a look.
Stewart Crossing was only a little N of the Silver Trail visitor center. At a “T” intersection just after crossing the bridge, North Klondike Highway No. 2 went L. SPHP turned R taking Silver Trail Highway No. 11 instead.
The highway went NE up the heavily forested Stewart River valley. The river was rarely in sight. Lupe got to stop at a lookout, but even here the forest was growing up. Only a small stretch of the river could be seen. Plaques again provided information on what mostly wasn’t in view.
Silver Trail Highway No. 11 was paved all the way to a “T” intersection near Mayo, a distance of 53 km. To the R, the community of Mayo was somewhere not too far away back in the forest. SPHP turned L toward Keno. The Silver Trail now headed N as a perfectly fine gravel road. The highway went past a number of lakes, but nothing could be seen of them. Lupe did see the Mayo River from the Minto Bridge.
After crossing the Minto Bridge, SPHP kept an eye out for the Halfway Lakes. Just beyond the lakes, a side road was supposed to appear on the L. This was the road to the Mount Haldane (6,023 ft.) trailhead. If the turn was missed, a sign for the Silver Trail Inn ought to be visible at km 76 shortly thereafter.
Both of the Halfway Lakes were almost completely hidden from view. While passing between them, SPHP was only dimly aware of a lake on the W (L) side of the highway. However, a sign with a hiker symbol on it appeared on the R shortly before a side road was seen on the L.
The highway curved E. The Silver Trail Inn promptly came into view near the shore of E Halfway Lake. Alright! That must have been it! SPHP turned around. The side road was only 0.25 mile back.
The Mount Haldane trailhead was supposed to be on the R about 2 km from Silver Trail Highway No. 11. Sure enough, a big area scooped out of the side of a hill appeared. It was rather stony for a parking area, but reasonably level. No other vehicles were around, which wasn’t terribly surprising. SPHP parked the G6, and got out for a look. Nothing here. No signs. No information. No trail.
Loop sniffed her way around the entire perimeter. SPHP followed her, peering into the forest. The only thing visible was more forest. Huh. Seemed like this ought to be it, but maybe not? Maybe the trailhead was farther? Wouldn’t hurt to check. If that didn’t work, perhaps someone back at the Silver Trail Inn might know how to find it?
Lupe and SPHP piled back into the G6. More like 2 miles from the Silver Trail another big opening appeared on the R. This one was grassy, not stony. No other vehicles here, either, but the Carolina Dog was scarcely out of the G6 before she was able to confirm this was the right place. Near a dilapidated outhouse was a sign for the Mount Haldane trail.
Weather conditions weren’t actually that great. The sky was completely overcast. The entire upper portion of Mount Haldane was lost in the clouds. Patches of fog drifted by the lower slopes. Sprinkles of rain were sometimes felt. However, the trail had been found, it was barely raining at the moment, and it was already getting to be late morning.
May as well give it a shot! As soon as SPHP was ready, Lupe headed out on the trail to Mount Haldane (6,023 ft.). (11:05 AM, 51°F)
The trail began as a narrow, sandy road. It soon linked up with another sandy road, which had been seen earlier shortly before reaching the trailhead. The joint trail headed NE, and soon lost its sandy quality. The surrounding forest was dense, and the air very humid. It had rained here very recently.
For the first km or so, Lupe gained little elevation. She passed through a couple of long puddles right on the trail where a small stream crossed it, the only surface water she came to. The trail eventually turned N, and began to steepen. Soon Loop was gaining elevation at a good, steady clip. It wasn’t all that warm out, but with the humidity so high, SPHP was sweating and had to shed layers.
The road narrowed further as the trail went steadily higher. It became more of an ATV trail, often with a soft, green, mossy center. Forest and tall bushes pressed in on both sides. The only distant view was looking back down the road.
After gaining a fair amount of elevation, Lupe came to an intersection where she could go either W or E. For some reason, SPHP was under the impression that the Mount Haldane trail was going to go clear around to the E side of the mountain before reaching a ridge that would take Lupe to the summit. Due to this misconception, the American Dingo went E.
The narrow road going E curved N, and almost immediately ended at a dilapidated picnic table. A single track trail went E from here up a 30 foot high slope. Lupe made the short climb. For the first time, from a small, flat clearing covered with little rocks and young trees, she could see Halfway Lakes to the S.
Lupe also had a view to the NW up the Fortune Creek drainage. While the summit of Mount Haldane was still in the clouds, much more of the mountain could be seen now, and the lower patches of fog had vanished.
Encouraging! Lupe returned to the intersection, this time taking the hard L on the ATV trail from the way she’d come up. This switchback went a long way W, before Lupe came to another sharp turn back to the NE. A series of long switchbacks and one short one ensued. All this time, there was little to be seen. As Loopster kept gaining elevation, the forest continued to hide all views.
At the NE end of one of the long switchbacks, Looper came to a second ruined picnic table. Nearby, a faint path to the R (S) led a mere 10 feet to another view of the Halfway Lakes. It wasn’t until Lupe had gone quite some distance W up another long switchback beyond the second picnic table that High Point 5300 (1,615 m) and the saddle to the E of it came into sight.
The ATV trail continued switchbacking higher. Lupe finally got above treeline. Soon she was above all the tall bushes, too. Now the American Dingo had some views! The ATV trail stopped switchbacking, and climbed steadily toward the saddle E of High Point 5300.
The ATV trail ended at the saddle E of High Point 5300, as far as going any farther up the mountain was concerned. For the first time, Lupe could see NW of Mount Haldane down the Bighorn Creek drainage. A chilly 15 to 20 mph breeze swept over the saddle from out of the NW. It was so cold, SPHP layered back up, even putting on gloves.
There was good news at the saddle! The summit of Mount Haldane, still 900 feet higher, was now out in the open. What could be seen of the mountain’s SW ridge leading to it looked like an easy climb. Lupe started up the ridge heading ENE.
A 400 foot climb along the ridge up to High Point 5500 was no trouble at all. A bit rocky higher up, but that was it. At the top, a hundred foot long section of the ridge was quite level.
At High Point 5500, Lupe was only 500 feet lower than Mount Haldane’s summit. The ridgeline turned NNE here. A minor dip preceded the final ascent. On a slope of dark gray rock, the steepest part was clearly going to come at the very end. Still, it didn’t look bad at all from a distance.
The climb did steepen toward the end. Lupe simply kept going higher. The slope was a mix of talus and larger scree, most of which was fairly stable. Nothing tricky about it, no real exposure. Just up, up, up along faint trails, a sign that others had been this way, too.
Lupe reached the top right next to a big summit cairn. An attached rock wall extended 6 or 7 feet W. A white stick protruded from the center. 10 feet to the N stood a separate metal pole with a circular metal plate at the top. At the base of the rock wall sat two boxes. One box was plastic, the other an orange painted metal. A rock rested on each one.
Lupe and SPHP had been very fortunate! While it was rather chilly at the top of Mount Haldane (6,023 ft.), in the upper 30’s °F with a 15 to 20 mph NW breeze, the weather had improved a lot since Lupe had set out. The sky was still mostly overcast, but the clouds sailing overhead were now at least a few hundred feet above the mountaintop. The Carolina Dog was frequently in sunshine as breaks in the clouds offered glimpses of a pale blue sky.
Mount Haldane is locally the highest peak for a considerable distance. As a result, Lupe had tremendous views of unspoiled Yukon wilderness in all directions. Higher peaks could be seen, but most were quite far away, their summits obscured by clouds. The closest was probably Mount Hinton (6,700 ft.) to the E near Keno, but it was hidden, too.
The high ground of the summit ridge was a good 100 feet long, nearly all of it extending NW of the cairn. In other directions, the terrain dropped off quite steeply. Mount Haldane was especially cliffy to the NE. Lupe explored all the high ground, even venturing SE of the cairn, too.
After an initial look around, Lupe was ready to for a break. She curled up by the boxes next to the rock wall. SPHP examined their contents. Both contained registries. Sadly, everything in the old orange metal box was wet and badly deteriorated. Basically garbage at this point.
However, the registry in the plastic box was in decent shape. The last entry was fairly recent. Larry LeBlanc had been here on 7-29-18. SPHP added Lupe’s name, then spent a little time reading. A surprising number of people had visited Mount Haldane.
For a while, the weather continued to improve. The chilly wind kept SPHP layered up, but more and more blue sky appeared, especially off to the NE. Yet rain showers were always visible in multiple directions.
Lupe and SPHP lingered, sometimes sitting huddled together not far from the cairn, sometimes walking out along the NW ridge. Fabulous views of the Yukon stretched away to all horizons.
Lupe remained at the summit of Mount Haldane for more than an hour. Toward the end, she was happiest leaning against SPHP, who sat petting her while gazing at the gorgeous Yukon scenes. The clouds seemed to be gradually lifting from Mount Hinton to the E, but the situation to the NW was deteriorating. The sky was darkening, and a still distant line of showers was heading this way.
Time for action! Lupe had better get going.
By the time Lupe was down to High Point 5500 again, Mount Hinton had actually managed to escape the clouds.
The rain showers approaching from the NW were quite close when Lupe reached the saddle E of High Point 5300. A last glance at the territory N of Mount Haldane, then onward! Without further delay Lupe and SPHP hurried SE down the ATV trail.
Getting drenched seemed inevitable, but the rain showers missed. A few drops, no more. However, this proved a merely temporary reprieve. More rain was on the way. Shortly before reaching the upper ancient picnic table, SPHP stopped to put on the blue plastic rain poncho.
A cold, steady rain fell all the way down the long switchbacks to the first picnic table. Never a downpour, but poor Loop got thoroughly soaked. Below the first table, the rain tapered off. Slowly the skies cleared. The forest dripped. Lupe dried off. By the time she was close to the trailhead again, Mount Haldane basked in sunshine. (6:15 PM, 59°F)
Mount Haldane had been a terrific day! Complete solitude, a good trail most of the way, an easy ridge walk, and a fun short scramble at the end. And at the summit, the glory of the fabled Yukon from on high.
After Alpo and helping SPHP polish off the last of the barbecued chicken, Lupe spent the rest of the evening at the trailhead. The American Dingo explored farther N along the road, chased a tennis ball, and sniffed in the forest to the W. Not until rain showers returned accompanied by mosquitoes did she retreat to the G6 to curl up beneath her blankie for the night.
Links:
Next Adventure Prior Adventure
Mount Haldane, Yukon Territory, Canada (8-15-19)
Sourdough Hill & Mount Hinton, Yukon Territory, Canada (8-14-19)
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