Route: Chilkoot Trail (AK)

Exhausted, dehydrated & humbled. I arrived 7 minutes ahead of scheduled shuttle pick-up. -- from the journal of Kent Holder's Chilkoot-in-a-day run, 23 July 1998

The following description is from www.n2backpacking.com:

The Chilkoot Trail is a walk back in time. It follows the trail that the stampeders used to reach the Yukon River and float their provisions to the gold fields of the Klondike over a hundred years ago. Many artifacts from the 1890’s still litter the trail and there is great diversity along the way: swamps, deserts, snowy mountain passes, lush canyons, and alpine lakes. The 33+ miles of trail take the backpacker across Alaska and into the Yukon Territory via the Chilkoot Pass. The hiker eventually winds their way down into British Columbia and completes the journey at Lake Bennett via a return trip to Skagway on a historic rail line that is often voted as one of the most scenic in the world. If you are looking for solitude, this trail is not for you since many thru-hikers complete the trek every summer. But if you seek adventure, great scenery, and Klondike history, then you will love the Chilkoot.

The National Park Service has information on this route.

Kent Holder sent information about the Chilkoot Trail, and a run he did of the trail on 23 July 1998. Kent was hoping to do the trail in 2-3 days, but was disappointed to discover that all overnight permits where issued long (1-2 years!) in advance. "After some considererable arm-twisting-persuading with the RCMP I was able to secure a 1 day hiking permit," said Kent in an article on his trip published in Ultrarunning Magazine. "They were very reluctant as I intended to do the entire trail in one day. Only after I showed them my WS100 silver buckle did they relent."

During Kent's trip hikers were diverted near the end of the trail due to bear activity, and had to do an extra 4 miles or so. Kent completed the route in 10h41m, which included roughly 2 hours for stops to read the historical markers along the trail. Here are some more exerpts from Kent's article:

The trail is like running through a museum. The history here jumps at you. The trail follows a river for a few miles with considerable climbing & descending over glacial moraines, around chasms and outcroppings. At about 16 miles you obtain the pass by climbing 1500’ in about 3/8 mile. The route is all roots, bogs, rocks, tundra and more rocks of every size & description in your very worst nightmare! Chilkoot Pass itself makes Wasatch’s “Chinscrapper” seem easy. I crossed so many streams, snowfields and rock fields it all blends into a memory of this being the most difficult physical feat I have ever attempted in less than a day. There is one 4 mile section where backpackers are advised to allow 10 hours. (this section took me 4 hours). During my run as I passed backpackers, they were jealous of my light fanny pack and my ease of negotiating the difficult terrain unencumbered as they were with their heavy packs. Once over the pass & into B.C. the trail tends to be downhill but still with many climbs around & over “stuff.” Rocks, snowfields & wet conditions from the rain & glacial runoff combine to make the going pretty slow. Of course there is the required reading of historical signs & taking breaks to soak in the wonder around you. The temperatures were 35-60 deg. & everything that can fall from the sky including brilliant sunshine, did. The winds were light except at the summit at Chilkoot Pass. There’s about 7000’ of climbing & 3000’ of descent. I carried minimal survival gear & relied on 8 packets of GU energy gels & 3 Cliff bars. I treated my water from the streams with iodine.

After receiving the information from Kent, I contacted Parks Canada to see if they knew about other people running the Chilkoot Trail in a day. André Gaulin, Client Service Representative with PC, responded that "We believe that many people have hiked the trail in a single day as far back as the early 70's, i.e., once the bridges were completed. We also have noted that people ... have run the trail from Dyea to Bennett back to Dyea in a 24-hour period."

I also exchanged email with Carlin "Buckwheat" Donahue from the Skagway Chamber of Commerce, who had apparently organized races on the trail in 1997 & 1998, in commemorating the Centennial of the Klondike Gold Rush. He provided the following information: "Every year there are folk that make the dash from Dyea to Bennett. I have some names for you that have done it one way and one that went both ways. In 2002 there was some kid from Anchorage that did it around 7 hours 30 minutes. Glenn Frick from Juneau comes in at 8 hours. He's an old fart now, like me. This was a twenty year ago event. Fastest local time was a guy named Michael Yee. He moved to Antarctica a few years ago. He's an 8 hour guy too. Hillary Lindh (from Juneau) won a silver medal at the Sapporo winter games in Alpine skiing. She did some training running to Bennet and back. I don't know what her times were."