Tonight we are snug in our camper at Congdon Creek Park, on the shores of Kluane Lake, north of Haines Junction. We're back on the Alaska Highway that we first met outside of Fort St John, but now at km 1680. (All points on the highway are still marked by mileage, now in kilometers, as well as the occasional historical milepost number. Even the guidebook for the entire north - BC, Alberta, Yukon and Alaska - is called The Milepost.) We've taken three weeks of perambulating to reach this far. I still can't imagine how it was all built in under a year.
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| This looks sturdy enough, but still I'm glad I'm not in a tent. |
The reason we are snug IN OUR CAMPER is that we are in the area that has the highest grizzly bear concentration in North America. The campground has bigger and more threatening warning signs than all the other campgrounds, a large notation in The Milepost about carrying bear spray when you walk to the outhouse here, and even an electric fence enclosure for tenters. I'm suitably terrified. Our neighbours, German tourists in a rental camper, have set up their camera and tripod and are sitting by their fire. I wonder how they think they'll get the bear to pose for them.
Today was definitely a high point in our travels. We drove north of here another 80 km just to see if we could spot Mt. Logan, Canada's highest peak. It is a massive block of granite deep in Kluane National Park, above the Gulf of Alaska. With 11 peaks over 5000 m along its ridgeline it forms a gigantic wall of ice and snow in the St Elias range. One would think something that big wouldn't be too hard to spot, but being so far away, and nested behind another range of giants, it's elusive.
There's a notation at km 1739 in The Milepost that you might catch a glimpse of several of the big peaks, including Mt St Elias (our second highest), and Mt Logan. We've driven this road before, but clouds filled the distant horizon, and we doubt that today will be any different. But what's a detour of 160 km to these intrepid explorers?
Nothing but trees cover the western horizon at km 1739, but we continue north to find a good turning spot. Lo and behold, we reverse direction, and there, glowing in sunlight, high in the distant clouds is a towering wide block of Canadian geography. Proudly rising above the nearer peaks, at 5959 m or 19,551 ft it is truly stupendous. There's no mistaking this big broad beautiful mountain today! I'm beside myself with joy!
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| Mt Logan, big and square, fills the distant horizon. Mt St Elias is the pointy peak just to the right. |
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