Chilkat & Chilkoot
The number of peaks surrounding Haines, visible from just about everywhere in town, is astounding and one of the most epic things about this place. It isn’t just the presence of mountains, but proximity, they are just a couple miles away with peaks rising between 4,000 to 6,000 ft straight out of the sea, it is a mighty sight.
After a few weeks in Haines, after learning more about the individual peaks and ranges within the mass of mountains, I began to get to know the distinct sides. Like a pair of siblings, the mountains share foundational traits and then diverge significantly into two very different personalities.
These two names, Chilkat and Chilkoot, belonged to the Tlingit people who have lived in this region of Southeast Alaska for thousands of years. Two distinct tribes shared this land, and as you might have already gathered, the Chilkats lived along the west side of the peninsula while the Chilkoots on the east side by Chilkoot Lake.
These names not only describe the mountains, but more generally the landscape and watersheds to the west and to the east of the fjord. Along with the mountain range, to the west you have: Chilkat Lake, Chilkat River, Chilkat Inlet. Accompanying the mountains to the east you have: Chilkoot Lake, Chilkoot River and the Chilkoot Inlet.
There is also a Chilkoot Trail, an old trade highway, that begins in Skagway and crosses a mountain pass into Canada. The peninsula where the town of Haines is located divides these waterways, it is named Chilkat despite being in the middle of the two sides, and the collection of islands south of the peninsula are also claimed by the Chilkat side, named Chilkat Islands State Marine Park.
The Chilkoot Side
The Chilkoot peaks closes to Haines have a rolling, wave aesthetic. By no means am I suggesting they are hills, but from far away they are seemingly more mild than their neighboring Chilkat peaks.
However, just a mile or so down the Lynn Canal, the Chilkoot shoot straight out of the sea into a spectacular composition of peaks. My favorite peak looked like a giant thumbs up. Many of them look like fingers or gnarly spires that I’m sure look approachable to some people, but not me. One of my favorite traits these peaks was how every night they caught the last of the sun’s rays, often turning pink with alpineglow.
I don’t have much to stay about the Chilkoot because they remain a mystery to me.
The Chilkat Range
The Chilkat mountains run stretch out west all the way to the boarders of Glacier Bay National Park. Like all the mountains surrounding Haines they seem endless: merging together in glaciers and ice fields, divided only by ancient glacier carved valleys and huge waterways. They gave off a slightly more rugged vibe than the Chilkoot, but that is probably because Julie nicknamed them “the wild side”.
Where the Chilkoots are accessible from the village of Skagway, with several trails delivering hearty hikers up into their peaks, the Chilkat side is less accessible. Any venture to “the wild side” requires a water crossing of some kind, or since it’s Alaska, access by air isn’t far fetched. Once there, no maintained trails means following game trails, bush waking and general navigation skills are required.
From Haines, two glaciers are relatively accessible, but again require access to a watercraft. The Davidson Glaicer snakes down from the Chilkat Peaks to sea level where it terminates in a lake. There is well a trodden path from the beach to this lake, and several sources recounted wild strawberries growing along the way. The second is called the Rainbow Glacier and hangs in a valley at 3000 ft.
The Takshanuk Range
The Takshanuk Range rises out of the peninsula where Haines is settled. Unlike its mountain siblings to the east and west, this range traverses north and south. Though, I believe farther north the Takshanuk, Chilkat and Chilkoot eventually converge somewhere across the Canada boarder.
Unlike the wild Chilkat Range, there is a very well maintained trail that will deliver you to the first three peaks in this range: Mt. Ripinski, Peak 3920 and Mt. Tukgahgo. After these peaks the trail ends, but the alpine terrain allows hikers to continue on north with minimal bush waking. I also learned that a collection of mountains huts is in the works. They would be built periodically along the ridge and would be a very cool addition, especially for winter activities.