Back in September, Kayla and I hiked the Auriol Trail. On that day, the clouds and mist were too thick to really see the mountains. This time, however, we were treated to a beautiful day. After our mandatory stop at the bakery in Haines Junction, we went on our way.
It was such a gorgeous day to hike, though a little warm. We powered through the first half of the trail and it felt like we came upon the campground in no time. We tried hiking the extension from Yukon Hiking. The snow remaining in the creek incisions was too much for us to get through, so that’ll have to wait for another time. We decided to stop then for our lunch: bagels and candied arctic char! Our spot a little up the plateau gave us a great view of the valley to the East.
We continued on the hike after finishing our lunch. We took lots of stops to take in the gorgeous scenery that we missed the last time we hiked the trail.
We were glad to have some waterproof shoes! The trail was covered in meltwater and we had to walk carefully.
After ducking back into the forest, the trail is somewhat “routine.” That being said, we had to watch our footing. There were many wet spots, and even more roots to traverse. Eventually, we hit the lookout point. This spot is definitely worth the small detour from the trail. You get a gorgeous view of the mountains, and looking back to Haines Junction. We stopped here for another snack.
I will be cycling in the Kluane Chilkat International Bike Relay in a couple weeks. We took a quick detour to drive my leg (#2) and see what exactly I have in store. I was relieved that it isn’t as bad as it could be, but I still have my work cut out for me. On the way back, we stopped at the pullout for Dezadeash Lake.
