AMO and REO

We had an amazing two week adventure surrounding the Chilkoot Trail in late June/early July. We drove from Anchorage to Skagway by way of Whitehorse, 2.5 days each way, car camping along the way. There were forest fires surrounding us and sending smoke our way for the entire trip, start to finish. Ava and Daddy joined another family and Aunt Laura and Uncle Jerico to hike the entire 33-mile Chilkoot Trail, from Skagway, AK, to Lake Bennet, BC. Ava and her friends, ages 7 and 9, summited like champions. The summit day would have been too big for Rosemary, so Rosemary and Mommy hiked in with the group on the first day, 5 miles to the first campsite, then hiked out, traveled to Bennet, and hiked in 10 miles over 3 days to meet the group after they went over the pass. All kids are excellent backpackers now. There was fun swimming at most campsites. Rosemary turned 5 on the trail, and everyone marked the occasion with backpacking s'mores. Daddy toasted the marshmallows on a JetBoil. These pictures are assembled from shared photos from all adult participants, so they're probably out of order and in a bit of a jumble, but the general feeling of cool mountains, interesting history, and fun hiking should make it through.

The drive there

Matanuska Glacier

Lakes in campsites in the Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge

The international border

Campsite near Haines Junction

A tree swallow nest at eye level

Tiny wild strawberries on a trail

Some kind of ephemeropteran hatch was going on

Chilkoot begins!

The first campsite, Finnegan's Point

Rosemary and Mommy on the hike out

She rubbed cottonwood fluff on her clothes and said "I'm a sheep!"

Ice cream.

Mommy and Rosemary's hike in

She got a fly bite on the corner of her right eye, and it swelled up for a few days, despite Benadryl.

Taking the initiative to rub arnica on a bug bite because I had explained that it is an herbal medicine for owies.

sunscreen

Meanwhile......

Reunited, Rosemary's birthday, the hike out

The girls were happy to see each other again after 4 days

Ava lost a tooth on the trail (the tooth fairy came)

Pirate ship

Ava and Uncle Jerico made dragon art in the cabin at Lindeman

Birthday s'mores

The charming Italian guy tries his first s'more

Group stretching at Lindeman

At Deep Lake Mommy and Daddy went on a botanizing hike

One of the artists in the artist-in-residence program helped the kids make an awesome map of their experiences on the Chilkoot Trail.

The one time the smoke mostly cleared for a few hours

Bare Look camp site (actual loons present)

Yoga

Aunt Laura brought weird candy

Hiking out to Bennet

Bennet, train station, train out

Driving home

On the drive home we actually drove through an area of active forest fire next to the highway. Official emergency vehicles escorted the line of cars through. The girls wanted to know when we would be driving through more fire.