Tonight when Alex and I were climbing the tobogganing hill for the hundredth time, I asked him if he thought the hill was steeper or taller than the Chilkoot Pass. We surveyed the slope, across from the Edmonton skyline and beneath the biggest full moon I've seen in ages, and decided that, no, I was a dummyhead for even thinking so.
I've been thinking about the Chilkoot Trail and Skagway lately. I guess partly because I pulled out my old tattered copy of Klondike in order to copy an excerpt for gabrielles' blog (she is doing a very interesting series on vampires, right now, so go check it out if you havent' yet) last night. I took it to work today and thumbed through it during lulls (which was most of the day, actually).
If you ever get a chance to hike the Chilkoot Trail, jump at it. It's amazing. And it may be the only backcountry trail in the world where you get to take a train back after you've finished. A nice, relaxing way to wind down after a few days on the trail.
And if you ever get a chance to read Pierre Berton's Klondike: the Last Great Gold Rush, or his photo-essay book, The Klondike Quest, which is a gorgeous coffeetable book full of old photos of the gold rush, it would be well worth your while. And you could use the coffeetable book to go toboganning afterwards. Because you should definitely jump at any chance you get to go do that.