August 26, 2024.
14.3 mi | 1360′ ele. gain | 5:30 hr.
We recently attended an open house at the Kluane Lake Research Station, where we met a bunch of scientists and locals who shared a love of the north. We spent much of the night chatting with three ladies from Whitehorse who gave us a bunch of recommendations of things to do in the area. One of them said we could ride our mountain bikes up to the Samuel Glacier viewpoint. It would be a long day with several creek crossings, but she said she’d done it and it was totally doable for our experience level. How exciting!
I’d had this trail on my radar after seeing it on Yukonhiking.ca. But the thought of riding (vs. hiking) across the tundra to a glacier sounded like a totally unique experience. We loaded our packs for a day in the Canadian backcountry, which meant all the layers, sandals and bear spray.
The ride
The low clouds and cool temperatures did not exactly embrace us from the get go. Nor did the unexpected feeling of steepness on the trail. The elevation gain would have been barely noticeable on foot, but the climbing hits different on a bike. Dense shrubbery grew right up to the edges of the trail on each side. I looked closer: soapberry. It’s the grizzly’s favorite food, and we were whizzing right through their dining room.
As had become our custom, we talked constantly as we rode. If I had nothing to talk about, I’d just shout out whatever I saw: SHRUBS! FLOWERS! STICK! HILL! Aaron did the same. Sometimes my small vocabulary made me feel like a toddler, but the fear of surprising a bear was much greater than the fear of feeling silly. We also took frequent stops for all the reasons: trail got too steep, huge ditch across trail, poor tread, rock structure that was hard to ride on, etc. We may have done as much walking as biking.
And then there were the stream crossings. Lots of them. We swapped into sandals and sloshed across many streams. They weren’t deep, but they were wide. A few of them we were able to maneuver across by rock hopping. Eventually, it became impossible to ride, so we ditched our bikes at the edge of a large gravel bar and continued on foot. After a quick walk across the tundra, we had the glacier in our sights. Despite having seen many glaciers on this trip already, each one has its own unique magic. I don’t know if I’ll ever get sick of seeing one. With less cloud cover, we’d have a truly epic view, but the skies were being temperamental today. We’d gotten sprinkled on several times, so I was just glad it didn’t turn into a total rainout.
We retraced our steps and hopped back on our bikes. With knowledge of the terrain ahead, I felt much better prepared about the ride. The one thing I didn’t realize about what we’d done so far, however, is just how much elevation we’d gained. I felt like we FLEW back. There were some sections that were just so perfectly flowy, they brought a smile to my face. We still had to walk our bikes through several sections, but the joy of riding across open tundra with 360 degree visibility across the landscapes was worth the gnarly bits.
As we approached the dense section of snowberry at the beginning of the trail, we slowed down and started talking to the bears again. Luckily, we returned to the trailhead with not even a bear sighting. We did it!
I was in desperate need of a shower, and although it was cold outside, I decided to just go for it. I set up the shower stall outside the back of the van and cleaned up. Then we hung out in the van, relaxing, giving our bodies a rest after our big adventure. Later that evening, I stepped outside to use the pit toilet across the parking lot. But something caught my eye: a grizzly bear foraging on berries not 50 yards from me (video). My first instinct was to run back to the van but then I remembered ALL the reading we’d done. With my eyes on the bear, I walked calmly back and got into the vehicle. “Aaron, there’s a grizzly bear in the parking lot!”
Wildlife watching
We pulled the covers off the windows and sat in our makeshift wildlife blind, watching this bear for the next hour! I couldn’t believe our luck. It snacked on the berries for a bit, then sauntered away, crossing right in front of the pit toilet and then turned to climb a hill (video). It meandered up through shrubs and rocks to find a resting spot on a nice outcrop partway up the hillside. It took a seat, looking much like a teddy bear, then rolled onto its back, its belly, its side, having a nice little nap. Eventually it left its kingly perch and walked right up the trail we had just ridden our bikes on.
I feel so lucky to have had this very safe encounter with a grizzly, during which neither us nor the bear felt threatened (minus my initial shock!). It was nice to be able to observe its behavior over such an extended period of time. If I ever took my eyes off the bear for a moment, to grab my phone for a picture (for example), I noticed it took me some time for my eyes to land on it again. Even though I knew exactly where it was! This taught me how well an animal as large as a grizzly can hide in plain sight. I’m sure we were close to many bears on our trip, but we never saw them. I have so much respect for these animals and I’m grateful that we can coexist on this planet.