Day 3 – Day hiking in Tatshenshini-Alsek Provincial Park, BC

This was a day of great exploration. A chance for us to explore the remote areas of northwest British Columbia, Canada. It’s about an hour drive along the Haines Hwy into Canada. The highway follows the Chilkat River. The river is rich in salmon who come up the river to spawn. Every October thousands of bald eagles come to the area to fish and eat.

We had no idea where we were going, just driving up the road into Canada. After a little bit we saw a sign for a provincial park (and an outhouse) and decided to check it out. According to the sign at the trailhead, the Tatshenshini-Alsek Provincial Park is very popular with day hikers and backpackers. The Chuck creek trail was a 17 mile loop that goes to the base of Samuel Glacier and based on the map, there was a good view from a hill about 5 miles in. We each packed our day packs, grabbed the bear spray and started off. The weather was iffy. Some sun but it looked like it was going to storm.

The hike felt like walking in another world. At first there was a trail and then it disappeared for a little while. We just followed the rolling hills towards what appeared to be a valley below the glacier. We knew sort of which direction to go from the map at the trailhead. The area was pretty remote and we only saw a couple of backpackers and day hikers. This is grizzly territory and when we were going through some thick brush/alders or high fireweed, we would yell: “Hey bear! Humans coming through.” After topping a small hill, we saw the glacier in the distance. After about 4 miles in, we decided that we went far enough as it was getting late in the day.