An Odyssey Through Southeast Alaska

Introduction

This is the story of our journey through the Last Frontier State (Alaska) and its friendly neighbor, Canada. On this journey, Kessler (my nine year old son), Shaylee (my seven year old daughter), Kimberly (my beautiful wife) and I climbed several mountains, rafted a river and crossed the mountains from the coast of Alaska and over the passes to Canada.

It was a beautiful trip and these photographs are only a few of the nearly 2000 photos that were taken. Southeast Alaska is a beautiful place!


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The King of the Mountain as seen from the Mount Ripinksi to 3920 Traverse. June 23 2011.June 17: West Glacier Trail

After arriving at the Juneau Airport late the night before, Kessler, Shaylee, Kimberly and I took a taxi from the airport to the West Glacier Trailhead. The trail starts out gently, but then climbs rather steeply with some scrambling. It was a cloudy day, but the mountains and glacier were very visible and there were several excellent viewpoints along the way. There were some tricky stream crossings as well. Unfortunately, we forgot our mosquito repellent and the mosquitoes were fierce at times.

We hiked sand scrambled up the trail to some excellent viewpoints looking down on the glacier. After enjoying the views, we also scrambled on the climbers trail towards Mount McGinnis, but we didn

June 23: Mount Ripinski/Peak 3920

Today, Kessler and I set off to climb Mount Ripinski. After spending the night at the Bear Creek Cabins, we caught a ride out to the Skyline Trailhead with the owner of the cabins since he was headed out to town anyway.

It was a beautiful and clear day and we made our way up the mountain through the forest. Not long after starting the hike, we met a seemingly nice, but delusional old man hiking the trail. After having a short and strange conversation with the man we pushed on.

After we emerged from the forest, the views got better and better as we got higher and higher up the mountain. Since the weather was so clear the views of the surrounding mountains were very impressive.

We made our way rather quickly to the summit of Mount Ripinski. I thought views from Mount Juneau was spectacular (and they are), but views from Ripinski-Peak were absolutely stunning. The views of the Cathedral Spires and other peaks (hundreds and hundreds of them) are much more spectacular than even places like the Tetons, Wind Rivers and the North Cascades (and I'm from Washington).

We had originally planned to climb Ripinski only, but the weather was fantastic and it was still early. We had been told that the traverse from Mount Ripinski to Peak 3920 takes 2 or more days, but looking at the map the route seemed quite reasonable.

After lunch, we set off towards Peak 3920 seeing many bald eagles and mountain goats along the way. The traverse wasn’t too hard and we made our way along the ridge towards Peak 3920. Along the way we saw some HUGE brown bear tracks. Just before the summit there was a nice and short vertical scramble (it had a fixed chain up it somewhere, but at the time we didn’t know this and missed it) before we reached the summit.

After enjoying more fantastic alpine views we headed down the mountain and to the Seven Mile Trailhead. It was a steep route down and we saw one other climber along the way.

We had completed the alpine traverse of Mount Ripinski and Peak 3920 in 8 hours. This included 10 miles of rugged terrain with 5100 feet elevation gain. Kessler (age 9) had a great time and it was one of the best days ever.

It only took less than a minute to catch a ride that would take us back to Haines. The lady who picked us up said she didn’t want to see a child standing out there in the hot sun. It was about 68 degrees outside, but hey, this is after all Alaska.


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Kessler approaching the summit of Mount Ripinski.


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Looking out over the Chilkoot Inlet from the slopes of Mount Ripinski.


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Kessler on the summit of Mount Ripinski.


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Near the summit of Mount Ripinski.


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Summit of Ripinski.


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Kessler on the ridge between Mount Ripinski and Peak 3920.


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HUGE brown bear track (fresh looking too) on the Ripinski-Peak 3920 Ridge.


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Looking back to Mount Ripinski as we approached Peak 3920.


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This is the last scramble just below the summit of Peak 3920.


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Kessler on the summit of Peak 3920.


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The summit of Peak 3920.


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Descending Peak 3920.June 24: Chilkat River

Today we rafted the Chilkat River through the Bald Eagle Reserve. We saw hundreds of bald eagles and other wildlife, but no big brown bears (which are known to frequent the area).


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One of the many bald eagles we saw along the Chilkat River.


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Running the Chilkat River.


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Hitting the beach after over a week of climbing mountains. Haines Alaska.




June 25: Mount Riley

Today we were hoping for clear skies so Kessler and I could show Kim and Shaylee all the fantastic views of the mountains that you can have from the peaks surrounding Haines. Fate was not with us and it was not to be. The cloud line was 1000-2000 feet elevation so the really spectacular peaks could not be seen.

From Haines, we took a taxi to the Beach Road/Battery Point Trailhead. We made our way up Mount Riley hoping that the clouds would lift a little, but the cloud ceiling never did lift above 2000 feet. Along the way we saw a very colorful woodpecker. After reaching the summit of Mount Riley, we ate lunch. It was raining a bit, but the weather wasn’t terrible.

From the summit we headed north towards Lily Lake and then took the trail down to the Mud Bay Road, completing a full traverse of the mountain. From there it was a fairly long road walk back to the Bear Creek Cabins. Along the way we met a female biker who had just got attacked by a pit bull. We felt bad for her, but were glad that we didn’t run into the pit bull since we had small children with us.


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Tree seen on the route to Mount Riley.


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Climbing Mount Riley on June 25 2011.


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Deep in the forest on the lower slopes of Mount Riley.


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Summit of Mount Riley.



June 26: Skagway Trails

After attending church Kessler, Shaylee, Kimberly and I hiked around Skagway visiting many of the interesting historic sites.

June 27-July 1: Chilkoot Trail

June 27

Today was our first day on the Chilkoot Trail. Kimberly, Kessler, Shaylee and I would hike the 7.5 miles to the Canyon City (ruins) Campsite.

We started at 8:20 AM and headed up the first steep hill before dropping down the other side. The trail got gentler after this, but the mosquitoes were absolutely horrible! Because of the mosquitoes we walked fast, but had a lunch break in the hut at the Finnegan

Wow, Scott - excellent report! I am in such awe of your kids; the things they've seen & done are amazing! The Chilkoot Trail is one I'm dying to do one day...

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Wow! Good stuff!! My daughter lives in Juneau. I visited her last summer but didn't have time to do much hiking. Maybe in a year or two if she is still there then. Looks like you made the most of your trip.
RP

Awesome man!

This one amazes me each time I see it. Awesome :cool2:

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The Chilkoot Trail is one I'm dying to do one day...

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It's a good one for sure!

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This one amazes me each time I see it.

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Thanks. It was a beautiful location.

Awesome!

I came to peak and comment. WOW! I will have to come back when I have more time to enjoy this report. Did I say this once before WOW!

I think there needs to be a special award for serious content!

Great stuff. Brings back memories. I love Juneau! Been to many of those places, what a trip. Very impressive.

I keep looking through this again and again. AWESOME REPORT! :cool2:

Nice! That blue ice is awesome!

Nice report!!!!! :2thumbs:

Congrats on the featured TR on SummitPost. Great report and pics :2thumbs:

That Trip Report is epic! :hail2thechief:

Thats a wonderful report, thanks for sharing!

Awesome trip report. I was very entertained by the Chilkoot trail. I just got through reading about the gold rush and how the people had to take several trips to get all the required supplies to the top of the pass, and then build the boats at the big lake at the bottom. Your pics really show how difficult that must have been - I can't wait to do it someday.

Thanks for the comments. It was an awesome trip!