A lesson in

1) How not to hike, OR
2) How to take calculated risks.

As you drive into Haines Junction, Mount Decoeli is the rightmost peak in the row of prominent peaks.

It’s a 17km hike with 4350ft elevation gain, estimated at 8-10 hours and rated “Very Hard”. Along comes Eric:

• It’s 2:30pm (dusk is around 8:00pm, and he doesn’t have a watch)
• He’s alone (besides a faithful doggy)
• He was up until 2:30am coding for a business (oops)
• He’s stiff from two recent beginning-of-the-season gymnastics sessions
• The Kluane mountains are fully capped with snow
• He meets two German hikers at the trailhead—they took two days to do the climb, and saw a bear
• They give their literature to Eric, who reads of frequent grizzly bear sightings
• The first long stretch of the hike is along “Bear Creek”

Eric notes the warning signs, assesses the danger, and up he goes.

Bear Creek is a small but noisy flow, which, when I’m dodging in and out of tall willow along the creek, puts me on high bear alert. It’s best, of course, not to surprise a bear. I try as always to minimize this risk by exercising my lungs.

The recommended approach is circuitous, and much more moderate than a direct ascent: hug the right side of the rock glacier for quite some time, and go right around another minor peak. It seems like this route would take you far out of your way, but it does in fact connect to the peak nicely through a saddle.

Instead of this route, on the way up I tackled the long, steep, exposed talus slope to the peak directly—beware the teetering, spontaneously sliding, bone-crushing boulders.

At this elevation, there is plenty to see. One can see Mount Logan, 100km away, on a clear day.

On the way down, knowing wildlife has increased activity at dusk, I stayed above the creek, to be more visible, audible, and remain appraised of my company. All told, I was down 5.5 hours from my departure.

I highly recommend this hike. It gets you into the middle of some very interesting, rugged terrain (“primordial”, reads one description). I’m so glad to have fit a real hike into this summer of restrictions.

Amazingly, despite my gymnastics-related soreness, I still felt great on my return to the trailhead, did some more gymnastics training the next day, and biked 55km as I passed through the Ibex Valley later that week—but that’s another story.

According to Hikes & Bikes, Desrosiers Trail near Lake Laberge is 14.1km and bikeable. The stream crossings were easy, but the mud bogs necessitated some tricky footwork to keep the shoes dry while packing the bike (not entirely successful, I’m sad to report, as I pride myself on almost always finding a dry route).

I shortly stashed the bike (which I thought I might do anyway, as I miss the hiking benefit of enjoying the views at a more leisurely pace).

The trail led to the base of the mountains at the right of the photo above. Into the alpine, fall has arrived, and the trail skirted this lovely terrain.

I didn’t know what the trail would reveal further along, but from what I saw of its trajectory, I doubted it would be as fine as what I had found, so I climbed the steep bouldery slope onto the ridge.

Unfortunately, time was getting short, and the ridge fell away before making the final ascent, which would have revealed the expanse of the provocative other side.

I’ll probably never know what’s there, but I’m mostly content with what I had.