Days 37 & 38 of Lupe’s Summer of 2019 Dingo Vacation to the Yukon & Alaska!
9-10-19, 7:55 AM, 37ºF – Good-bye Donjek River! Lupe was heading S. Stars last night, but no sign of the northern lights. A beautiful, clear early fall morning today with no sign of yesterday’s smoky haze.
For a travel day, the morning got off to an exciting start. A grizzly bear! Now that was something worth barking about! The Carolina Dog gave it her foaming-at-the-mouth best.
A little later, Lupe stopped at a favorite pullout at the S end of Kluane Lake, the largest lake entirely within the Yukon Territory. The water level still seemed to be dropping. The Slims River, once the lake’s main water source had largely dried up back in May, 2016, when most of its flow had been naturally diverted into the Kaskawulsh River due to the retreat of the Kaskawulsh Glacier.
On the way to Haines Junction, several more stops were made to enjoy the beauty of the St. Elias Mountains.
Miles rolled by. Hours passed away. By evening, the American Dingo was at the Mount Lorne (6,629 ft.) trailhead along the S Klondike Highway. Nearly a month since Lupe had ventured up Mount Lorne now. Already seemed like a long time ago.
Loop enjoyed two trips along the early easy portion of the trail. The first, a 0.5 mile romp looking for squirrels a little before sunset. Next, a second, longer foray at dusk as gloom spread through the forest. The Carolina Dog waded in Bear Creek, and spotted a deer wandering in the woods. Fun times! But the real action wouldn’t start until tomorrow.
9-11-19, 9:39 AM, 34ºF, S of Carcross, on Montana Mountain Road – Close enough! The G6 had done well to get this far. SPHP parked at a wide spot 200 yards beyond the last building. Lupe hopped out. The road wasn’t bad here, but had been stony, rough, and often steep most of the 4+ miles to this point. Somewhere not too far ahead, it was supposed to become impassable.
Montana Mountain (7,233 ft.) located just S of Carcross is known for its awesome mountain biking trails. The Mountain Hero trail, designated as one of only 6 “epic” trails in Canada by the International Mountain Biking Association (IMBA), is especially popular. On the way up, SPHP had stopped for a quick look at posted maps of the trail system.
Of course, Loop wasn’t here for the mountain biking. If possible, she was going to climb Montana Mountain. Maybe even Brute Mountain (7,000 ft.) or Mount Matheson (7,200 ft.), too, if she had time and they looked viable. As soon as SPHP was ready, Lupe started up the road.
Within 10 minutes, the hills and ridges of Brute Mountain were already coming into sight. Another 5 minutes brought Looper to a spot where a small stream passed through a culvert. Half of the road had eroded into the V-shaped gully down by the stream. The G6 might have made it past this point, but SPHP never would have chanced it.
The road trek was a steady uphill grind. 20 minutes past the washout, Lupe reached an intersection with the McDonald Creek trail. Beyond this junction, the road curved SW. A small black bear was 100 yards ahead! However, by the time Lupe got there, the bear had vanished among the bushes.
Before long Montana Mountain Road began curving back to the S again. From this bend, Lupe could see a sliver of Bennett Lake off to the W.
Continuing around the bend, Lupe’s ultimate destination, the summit of Montana Mountain (7,233 ft.), came into sight for the first time. Looked like there was a skiff of new snow up there!
The road kept curving. Within a few minutes of turning SE, Lupe came to a landslide where the entire roadbed had collapsed into a deep valley. So much for Montana Mountain Road!
A narrow, single track trail continued on from here. At first the path stayed on relatively firm terrain, but soon Lupe was traversing the worst of the landslide on loose sand and small rocks.
Hundreds of feet of road were completely gone. Looper eventually did get past the landslide to where the road picked up again heading due S. The American Dingo was already close to treeline, but bushes remained abundant. Long abandoned, what remained of Montana Mountain Road was rough and partially overgrown.
Before long, the road appeared to dead-end. Yet, Lupe could still see it continuing S only modestly higher up the slope to the SE. A short trek on open ground following a faint path got her up there. Looking back, SPHP was under the impression that perhaps a thickly overgrown switchback had been missed. This was almost certainly all part of the same road.
Whatever! Lupe kept going. The road kept climbing. After a while, a better jeep trail came in from over the ridge to the NE.
Following the jeep trail, Lupe soon came to a fork. One branch angled off toward the SW, descending into the valley between here and Brute Mountain. Seeing that this route went clear down to a creek ford before winding its way up lower slopes of Brute Mountain, Looper continued straight S instead. Another km on the jeep trail brought the Carolina Dog to the saddle between Brute Mountain and Sugarloaf Hill (6,106 ft.).
This saddle was a major intersection. Roads came in from all directions. A large post stuck up from a cairn. Beyond this cairn was a landscape incapable of supporting anything more than minimal tundra vegetation. Not a single tree or shrub dotted the barren expanse between here and Montana Mountain.
A good 5 km from the G6 now, Loopster was ready for a break. While she enjoyed water and Taste of the Wild, SPHP surveyed the situation. A tiny creek swept down the wide open basin between here and Montana Mountain. Off to the SW, a road led gradually higher along lower slopes of Brute Mountain. That appeared to be the way to go.
Brute Mountain (7,000 ft.) didn’t look like a difficult climb from here, although it was hard to tell which of several high points might actually be the true summit. Maybe Loop really could climb it later in the day?
Eh. Too soon to think about that! Montana Mountain was the American Dingo’s main objective. She appeared to have 2 choices on how to get there. The first, and most direct route, was to head up to an opening just W of the summit. The second, and likely easiest approach, was to go up the NW end of a big ridge W of that region. Following the ridge SE ought to get Lupe to high ground providing summit access.
Once underway again, Lupe took a road heading SW along the base of Brute Mountain, gaining only a little elevation before reaching another fork. At this fork she went L (SE) on a road that lost all the elevation she had just gained.
The road began to climb again, and a choice soon had to be made. Which way? SPHP was undecided. Cutting across the tundra up to the end of the big ridge, which wasn’t too far away, seemed like maybe the thing to do.
Some nut who had gotten a bulldozer in his Christmas stocking had been all over the place, scarring up the whole region. Lupe reached a spot where she could see roads going toward both the end of the big ridge, and the gap just W of Montana Mountain.
A snowfield immediately below the gap looked suspiciously shiny even from a distance, but the temptation to try to save a bunch of time and distance proved to be too much. SPHP led Lupe toward the gap.
The road going that way started out merely rocky. From there it ramped up to very rocky, then extremely rocky, finally becoming a jagged jumble of huge stones even the bulldozer must had trouble with. Eventually all signs that a bulldozer might have made it this far vanished. Picking a way through all this rubble was distressingly time-consuming, but did let Loop get a look at a good-sized tarn nestled below a steep ridge to the E.
If the snowfield had actually been snow, Lupe wouldn’t have had much of a problem reaching the territory above the gap. However, she arrived at the edge of the snowfield to find not snow, but a thin, crystalline mini-glacier instead. Ice! Rocks were embedded in the ice, but in insufficient quantities to provide reliable support all the way up to the gap.
The ice was hard, damp, and very slick. Even though the gap wasn’t all that far away now, any attempt to cross the steep mini-glacier looked like an invitation to an uncontrolled rocket slide to be dashed upon rocks waiting below. No way!
A line of small cliffs formed a wall a little above Lupe’s current position. A couple of breaks might have provided a reasonable scramble to better terrain higher up, but those breaks were full of ice, too.
Hmm. Coming this way was starting to look like a mistake, but SPHP wasn’t ready to give up quite yet. Maybe Loop could go around the lower end of the mini-glacier? The rocky slopes on the opposite side might be negotiable.
So down the edge of the glacier the sure-footed American Dingo went. SPHP carefully picked a way lower using poles and ice-embedded rocks for support. Slow, but faster than trying to scramble amidst the boulder field next to the ice.
Once at the bottom of the glacier, Lupe turned E. She got only halfway along the toe before SPHP called a halt. The territory beyond the glacier looked less friendly than before. Looper could climb that hillside, but whether SPHP could seemed doubtful. Maybe yes, maybe no. The longer SPHP pondered, the stronger the “no” impression became.
Well, it might have worked, might even have been easy, but this jaunt to the mini-glacier had already taken more than an hour. With prospects for success still uncertain, investing more time in what could prove to be a lost cause seemed a poor choice. Should have stuck with the big ridge! At least it had looked like an almost guaranteed success.
Before heading back to give the big ridge a shot, Lupe climbed up onto a small ridge overlooking the scenic tarn.
Once back on the road winding up to the lower NW end of the big ridge, Lupe followed it to a point overlooking the pass between the ridge and Brute Mountain. More of Bennett Lake and smoke from several small forest fires were in view beyond the pass. Loopster left the road here, starting up a moderately steep slope of white stones. Her ascent of Montana Mountain’s long NW ridge had begun.
Nothing to it! The ascent went well. Views improved. The nutcase with the bulldozer had been zig-zagging higher even up here. Every now and then, Lupe crossed the bulldozer’s path, little more than flattened zones of loose rock.
The rocks eventually changed from white to tan or brown. After gaining 600 feet of elevation, Loop reached the first high point along the ridge. A cairn sat on a rocky knoll here, and a patch of tundra provided a good spot to take a break.
From this vantage point, the true summit of Brute Mountain appeared to be one of two closer, gentler high points rather than a much more jagged region farther NW. An ascent later on still looked feasible. However, a mere glance at Mount Matheson (7,200 ft.), which was now in view to the S, instantly dispelled any notion that Lupe might be able to climb it.
20 minutes, and it was time to move on. A couple of successively higher points were visible farther SE along the ridge. Lupe set out for them on a trail that started out right up on the ridgeline, and never strayed too far from it. Soon she was getting views of the broad, moderately sloping region she had been unable to reach above the mini-glacier.
Montana Mountain was in sight, too, a striking peak of mottled dark and light grays, tans, and browns.
Upon reaching the 3rd high point along the ridgeline, Lupe could see that the ridge flattened out from here on. Instead of heading directly for Montana Mountain, which would have required substantial elevation loss, she kept following the ridge SE.
The American Dingo stuck with the ridgeline until she was able to leave it with minimal elevation loss. Sweeping around the S end of the broad basin to the E, she headed for a minor ridge SW of Montana Mountain’s summit.
No trail led across the flat, rocky plain, but Lupe picked one up again as soon as she got to the SW ridge. Following the first part of this ridge was easy. The SE (R) side dropped sharply away, but the NW side was never difficult. Most of the time Looper could stay right up on the ridgeline.
Near the end, Lupe came to a minor pass of light brown sand and rock. This was easily crossed. Ahead was a much steeper climb, but not a long one. The summit was now only 200 or 300 feet higher!
A trail was visible going up from the W, the direction Lupe would have come from if she had made it past the mini-glacier. She reached this trail partway up. A bit of light scrambling was involved, but nothing at all daunting. Soon Loop was only a short stroll from the top.
9-11-19, 4:45 PM, 38ºF, summit of Montana Mountain – Despite doubts during the final approach, it was immediately obvious that Lupe really had reached the true summit of Montana Mountain. Off to the NE, a high point with a tower was clearly somewhat lower.
The very top of Montana Mountain (7,233 ft.) was a rocky point. A small region almost as high extended a little way S. The N face was a cliff. No cairn, but a metal rod stuck up out of the rocks. A shiny metal plate shaped like a stop sign rested right below the true summit. SPHP picked it up expecting to find a registry, but found only rocks beneath.
With the fruitless mini-misadventure to the mini-glacier, it had taken a while to get here. The weather seemed to be deteriorating. Shortly after reaching the summit, Lupe was pelted with snow granules for 5 minutes, followed soon after by a series of cold, light rain showers. Any sunshine lingered in the distance in a few scattered spots.
Yet the gray clouds overhead were still above the mountaintops. Driven by a 10 to 15 mph S breeze, they sailed N in endless procession. The air below them was rather hazy, obscuring the most distant peaks, but Lupe could see plenty of closer mountains in all directions.
Mount Matheson loomed only a couple of km off to the SW. To the W, bits of Bennett Lake were visible, along with smoke still rising from the fires smoldering on Finger Mountain. Nearly the entire length of the long ridge Lupe had traveled to get here was in view, too.
Off to the NW, Brute Mountain still looked quite climbable. Sadly, it was clear by now that SPHP must have been nuts. The Carolina Dog wasn’t going to have anywhere close to enough time to do that, but it was still possible to admire the mountain from here.
Seen dimly through the haze to the N were a couple of friends! Two splendid peaks Lupe had been to – Mount Lorne (6,629 ft.), which she had climbed exactly a month ago, and Canyon Mountain (4,901 ft.) way up by Whitehorse.
Another friend was in sight to the NNE. Nares Mountain (5,833 ft.), which Lupe had visited a year ago, was lined up almost directly beyond Sugarloaf Hill.
To the S, a couple of small green tarns nestled in a cirque. Far beyond them, the S end of Tutsi Lake was visible.
Rocks everywhere! No place for the American Dingo to get comfortable except SPHP’s lap. For a good long while, Lupe curled up as SPHP sat petting her, and gazing at the wonders all around.
Might that not be Paddy Peak (7,238 ft.) way off to the SSW? And far to the ESE, that had to be Mount Minto (6,913 ft.)! So on and so forth, as Lupe’s precious minutes on fabulous Montana Mountain ticked away.
The weather was improving again. Nearly an hour gone by. Ready or not, soon time to leave. Lupe explored the little summit region again. She could have gone all the way on to the high point with the tower, but never did. Getting too late even for that.
All too soon, beneath a clearing sky in Canada’s fabled Yukon Territory, an American Dingo again stood at the summit of Montana Mountain. This was it. Time to say good-bye to the last incredible peak Lupe would climb on her grand Summer of 2019 Dingo Vacation. What a great choice Montana Mountain (7,233 ft.) had been!
Onward! Puppy, ho!
The return was beautiful! Same route, minus the misadventure to the mini-glacier. No Mount Matheson, or even Brute Mountain, but it was an evening of solitude, breath-taking scenery, and joy.
By the time Lupe made it to the abandoned upper reaches of Montana Mountain Road on the way back to the landslide, trouble was brewing. The sun was long down, and it was getting too dark to see. Worse yet, the road was becoming way more overgrown than SPHP remembered.
The flashlight had to come out. Helpful, but not with orientation. The landslide couldn’t be too much farther, but the road vanished. Bushes everywhere. SPHP followed a faint trail N until it too, appeared to end. Confusion. Now what? SPHP wasn’t even certain whether Lupe was too high or too low. Too low would be a disaster.
The Carolina Dog made a sharp turn to the SW. Gradually descending, she went farther than SPHP thought could possibly be correct. Finally, Lupe turned W beginning a steeper descent. Not even the slightest sign of a trail! Better not go too far! She didn’t. A road appeared. Had Loopster saved the day? No telling. SPHP marked the middle of the road with a small cairn. Might have to find this spot again, and go back up.
No need. A short road trek N, and there was the landslide! Alright! Back on track! In the silent Yukon night, Lupe led the way back across the landslide along the skinny soft trail, the only sound made by pebbles tumbling down the steep slope.
Made it! Still a few weary km to go, but the G6 was sure to be waiting at the end. (9-11-19, 10:51 PM, 44ºF)
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