Yukon Part 2: Kluane National Park

The scenic Haines Highway offers great views of glaciated mountains and offers a variety of scenery, from coastal forests to alpine tundra. After winding through a wide alpine valley, it descends into Haines Junction, the gateway for Kluane National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site which includes Canada's highest peak Mount Logan (5,959m). After a visit to the visitors centre, we hiked the Sheep Creek trail that climbs along side of Sheep Mountain in the hope to see the Dall sheep. Despite the stunning view of the valleys, mountains and glaciers the only glimpse of a Dall sheep we saw through the binoculars at the visitors centre. At this time of the year, they are high up in the mountains but can be seen at lower elevations during spring and fall.

View of Kluane National Park from the Sheep Creek trail

The majority of the park can only be explored by hiking and mountaineering, however, we did explore the Alsek Valley road only accessible with a 4x4. After driving for about 10km along a bumpy road crossing several flooded areas we got to a point where the road was barely visible and we decided to track back. The scenery was absolutely stunning though.

Alsek Valley

Point of no return

Kluane National Park has been home of the Southern Tutchone for thousands of years living a nomadic lifestyle in order to take advantage of the abundances of of wildlife and plants throughout their territory. After being denied access to hunting, trapping and fishing in the 1940's the First Nations have reasserted their right to carry out their traditional activities throughout their territory with the implementation of their land claim.
The Kluskhu First Nations Village offers a glimpse into the life of a First Nations summer fish camp. This village is used by the Kluskhu First Nations to catch salmon and to dry the fish before returning to their permanent village for the winter.

Kluskhu First Nations Village

Our camp for the night was at a private campground along Lake Kluane, as the Provincial campground nearby only accepted RV's because of the bears in the area.

Cottonwood Park Campground