Atlin BC

Day 13

7/3/26

It rained all night and we woke up this morning to a dusting of snow on the surrounding peaks of the lake. It’s still really cold outside 43’F with a slight breeze. Doesn’t look like a warm 4th of July. 

We drove south to the town of Atlin. In the distance to the south were big mountains and looks like a big glacier area…. maybe a big of the Juneau Icefield? 

Quick Atlin history. What we have learned about this community. It was part of the Klondike Gold Rush. The little town has saved many historical buildings and has many of them signed with their history. There’s even an old boat that was part of their tourism on the lake.

We walked around and I snapped some photos of town. Then we took a look inside my friend Jana’s husband Lance’s family home where they summered in Atlin. It has been remodeled on the inside but kept some of its original parts.

Juneau Icefield Research Project. JIRP has been located in Atlin since 1946. Our good friend Jana (from Anchorage) suggested we visit Atlin. Her husband has a family home in Atlin that they have had for many years. We didn’t know what or why we should visit but we decided we would.

Her father-in-law, Maynard Miller, was a famous glaciologist that started the Juneau Icefield Research Program in 1946.  He was a geology professor at University of Idaho in Moscow. He trained hundreds of students and scientists over the years in an 8 week program where they skied from Juneau (hiked up on to the Icefield) across to Atlin (down at the end of Atlin Lake is the terminus of the Llelewyn  glacier .  That’s where they ended and then had a boat bring them to the institute building. He was a remarkable teacher and man. 

Hike Monarch Mountain. 4.3 miles round trip with 2273 ft elevation gain. It was labeled moderate difficult. Moderate for distance but difficult for trail terrain and pitch. It was pretty much straight up with a few switchbacks )occasionally). It went from dirt to rocky to small sharp rocks through trees and open areas and windy and cold at the top. After making it to the top I realized that coming down was twice as hard. It was relentlessly down… hard on quads, toes and knees! I would rather go up twice. It was hard coming down for sure. Took us 4 hours with stops. The view was almost 360 from the top and really, really beautiful views of the lake and mountains below. I’ll sleep well tonight. 

Not too many people on the trail today. A young pair that seemed to scamper up and down the trail. An older local couple, one young solo man and another older guy with his dog. 

Caribou Laundromat & Shower. It was a pleasant surprise to see this business. After the hike today and a few days of travel a shower sounded like just what we wanted/needed. It was a coin operated (loonie) shower. $1/minute. Hot, clean and perfect. Always feels good to have a nice hot shower!

We decided to dinner out. There’s only one place in town and we are eating with visitors and the road workers that are chip sealing the highway. We’ve been chatting with one of the construction workers who drives a dump truck. He’s a chatty guy that works construction in the summer. They work everyday for about 4 months. That’s the life. Then he goes home to Prince George where he does snow removal and owns a clothing embroidery business. Really nice guy. He has two grown children too.

Midnight Sun. Sunset tonight is 11:15 pm.  Last light is 12:43 am. First lights 3:16am. 18.5 hours of daylight. 

Leap Frogging! For the fifth time we have seen Mr. WaWe (that’s what I call him) from Germany. (Jasper campground, Dawson City Alaska Highway sign, Liard hot springs, Sign post Forest and now Atlin. Crazy… I get the first for famous places but not Atlin. How many more??

Tonight we are “stealth” camping at the Institute building. I’m assuming the vehicles parked near us are students cars and they are up on the ice field.

Tomorrow we are going north and south to Scagway AK USA. It will also be July 4th! We are spending a day in Skagway and mingle with the cruise ship tourists all day and then on Sunday take the ferry over to Haines for the day. That’s the plan.