Scott Stoness Offline Upload & Sell: On
|
p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Tombstone Yukon - Grizzly/Divide/Talus Hike - Day 1/2 | |
Well, I just go back from 1 week in Tombstone Yukon and 1 week in the high Arctic, and I am tired.
For my first week, we (my son, his girlfriend, and 2 other friends) flew up from Calgary to Whitehorse, and then drove to Dawson City and then on to Tombstone to hike. The hike ended up being about 50km and 10,000' of elavtion gain in 6 days. The Alpine hiking association recommended 1) Hike to Grizzly Lake 850m, 2) Hike up above Grizzly Lake for high shot of Talus mountain, 3) then hike to Divide Lake, then hike to Talus Lake, and then return through Divide and Grizzly to the trail head. We decided to follow this route.
The first day was supposed to be 11km and 850 meters. I have done lots of 600-700m hikes (but not with a heavy pack) and so I thought it would be just a bit harder and I would push a bit. What I did not recognize was that 850m was the net elavation gain and the trail was very rough (exposed, rock piles for at least 1/2, undulating, no easy water, driving cold rain alternating with sunshine and 50 degree inclines, and the total elevation gain was probably double the 850m [might be exaggerating] ). Needless to say, after 9 hours of hiking (mostly shuffling in a daze after the first 6 hours trying not to stumble on rock crossings) with my tent, sleeping bag, tripod, 3 lens and big body, and other stuff when I pulled into Grizzly Lake I could barely set up my tent and was determined to call Grizzly Lake my destination for 5 days. Whew, it was tough for an old 53 year office worker.
There was some color in the sky but there was not enough color in me, so I went to sleep about 11AM in the very bright afterglow of sunset. This was my first photography failure - I was too tired to stand up. Sun went down around 11 and back up at 4 and it did not get dark at night - it was about equivalent to 6pm in the far south. This site is on a similar latitude to Fairbanks, AK.
Next morning after sleeping through about 4 hours of sunlight, I got up around 9AM. I was feeling well enough to attempt the hike for the Talus Lake view. But after after 2 hours of 30-40 degree pitch, and foolishly taking tripod and all my lens and lots of water, I gave up the next hike and watched my 24 year son head off with his girfriend while I took lower level shots. Failure number 2 - missed the Talus Lake High Elavation shot because of tiredness.However, after that relaxing day, I determined that I would try the next leg to Divide Lake - If I survived 11km, the next 5km must be easy.
I will continue in my next post tomorrow.
But here are my best (not great) pictures near Grizzly Lake
1-4 of 4
Comments and feedback are appreciated.
Scott
1 - Grizzly Lake from Grizzly Lake Campground
2 - Alternate view of Grizzly Lake from Campground showing Flowers
3 - Grizzly Lake at Midnight - Overlooking the Campground - on Return
4 - 400 meters above Grizzly Lake on my easy day - the white dot near the right of the lake is the cook tent and above that is the avalanche chute that is the start of the hike for the next day
|