Chilkoot Trail
A historic gold rush route from Dyea, Alaska over the Chilkoot Pass to Lake Bennett in British Columbia, 33 miles long.
At a glance
- Starts in
- Dyea
- Ends in
- Bennett
- Length
- 53 km
- On foot
- ≈ 2–3 days
- Countries
- United States and Canada
About the trail
In 1897-98 prospectors carried tons of supplies over the pass on their way to the Klondike. Canadian authorities made each of them bring roughly a year's provisions, about a ton of goods, so most climbed the last steep slope to the summit dozens of times. Rusted stoves, boots and the remains of tramways and camps still lie beside the trail.
Today the trail is managed jointly by the US National Park Service and Parks Canada and is open in summer. It climbs from coastal rainforest on the Alaska side over the bare, often snowy pass and descends past lakes into the dry boreal forest of British Columbia. The number of hikers is limited by permit. Most people take three to five days.
No source gives the days on foot, so they are worked out from the length at 20–25 km a day.