So when we first starting talking about spending the Solstice in Dawson, that was all we knew and all we wanted. Then, people at work started telling me about the truly epic hiking in Tombstone, most notably Grizzly Lake. That would involve back country camping, carrying everything in 11km, with the first 4km being a steep uphill. No matter! We were enthused! We were committed! We reserved our campsites!
Then came a dose of reality. While the other interns say “when you tell a law student they can’t do something, they just become more determined,” that’s just not me. OK, sometimes it is, but when it comes to a MASSIVE disparity in knowledge, I will defer to greater knowledge and experience—and when it comes to the Yukon wilds and back country camping, I’m a great big ignoramus. So as work people began to voice doubts about the wisdom of our plan, I began to have doubts: could we do it? None of us a very experienced outdoorsperson, none of us native to the Yukon, none of us in crackin’ good shape? I was trepidatious… and particularly governed by a fervent need NOT to appear on the cbc.com under a headline like “Three idiot law students and one lawyer needed to be rescued from their own stupidity”, or “GONE FOREVER: three law students and one lawyer needlessly perish, while common sense could have saved their lives.” (Dear CBC—these could be yours. Call me!)
Turns out, no one likes trepidation and my doubts *so* annoyed two members of the group that this contributed to a full-blown psychological warfare campaign against me once the trip began, with the final group member becoming collateral damage. Great. It was like high school, but in a very remote place. I won’t belabour it, but suffice to say, this also led to my car’s leaving the trip a day early, and the general dissolution of the group dynamic. This will certainly affect my hiking plans for the summer, so to all of you I’ve tried to lure North, BOOK YOUR TICKETS NOW! 😀
We were actually spared the fate of an embarrassing CBC headline not by divine intervention, but by a phone call: the day of our drive, Parks Yukon called to tell me that Grizzly Lake was still frozen, there was still significant snow in the area, and they weren’t opening the site to camping for at least another week. Yes, this was June 20th. Still: I was elated that the near-death scenario was lifted, and we could now go from our skill level of “easy” hiking (having botched the “moderate” attempt of Nares the week before) to more “easy” hiking, NOT jumping from “easy” to “difficult”. Hallelujah.
We still got to do the first 5K of the Grizzly Lake hike, taking us up to Grizzly Ridge: all really is well that ends well…
Halfway up, I looked back to valley of the Dempster…
This is Cathy, our hiking guide, who taught us lots about how to “cleanse” with native species… which I filed away for times when I have access to more than just outhouses. Also featured: Quebeckers! My people WAY exceeded the others in number and pure physical prowess! Well, we exceeded others in colour, anyway: the couple in this photo were hiking with their teacup dog, Gucci—we’d actually encountered them before, because they were parked *right* in front of us at the Midnight Dome on the solstice. They were also on a 6 month tour of Canada from their Westphalia. AND still speaking to each other, they pointed out proudly… Amen. Our group didn’t make it 6 *minutes*. 
First glimpse of Mount Monolith… 
And at the end of this valley is Grizzly Lake, our once-destination, now relegated to long-distance photo op… 
I hadn’t actually *seen* ferns growing before in the Yukon. 
Just add wildrose petals and water, and leave in the sun for a day… 
OK: so, see the rain? And by, “see the rain?”, I mean, of course, “see the epic mother of all downfalls that’s about to crash down upon us, complete with thunder and lightning RIGHT ABOVE?!” Nothing, and I do mean *nothing* stayed dry in this deluge… And this is climate change. Yukon is supposed to be dry—it explains the beringia. Yet, here we are: a massive thunderstorm on June 23, and by June 25, it would hit 30 degrees. This is NOT normal—nor is the fact that, as I hiked, my street in Calgary remained evacuated from floods. So let’s talk about alternatives to oil and gas, maybe? 
And this is just to show you how the mountains are misleading: Tombstone mountain is light grey, like you see here at 7:00—but you also see here a variety of mosses and lichens, the green one dead centre being my favourite, and the black one from 1:00-3:00 being most prevalent, as well as the reason why Grizzly Valley appears flanked by dark and ominous mountains.
The hike was lovely, really, and not at all the hardest thing I’ve done—but apparently, having 40lbs of gear on your back is a real game-changer. Maybe someday…
And then, I was done: soaked to the skin, we had no tarp (don’t even ask), and the mind-games were tiresome: Tombstone became History and my carful, anyway, went back into Dawson to get gas and head for Whitehorse.
Arriving in Dawson at 4:01pm on Sunday means we missed getting coffee by 1 minute. Mmhm. But I got the chance to get a picture of the amazing-melted-permafrost house, in front of which was parked these two smiley guys, who wouldn’t move until I snapped them first. Done!
I’m glad I went, in spite of a number of disasters along the way, and I feel really certain I’ll go back—if nothing else, I’ve got to finish driving the Dempster. Any takers? 🙂
waywayupthere 