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2024-09-11, Day 5
Expansive views of the Donjek River valley and the Donjek Glacier unfold below the heights of Expectation Pass, Kluane National Park, Yukon.

To leave the Glacier and its remote environs, one must find a way to ascend to Atlas Pass. The helpful Parks Canada route description indicates that the most popular way to do this is to follow Bighorn Creek upstream and then head north along the first tributary one encounters. There is a narrow canyon in the lower reaches of Bighorn Creek and passage can be difficult if the water is high. Given the time of year, we didn’t expect elevated water levels but we knew for certain that crossing the creek would be cold if such a thing were required. The alternative is to find the narrow mouth of Expectation Creek as it exits the mountains and then ascend steeply to Expectation Pass by way of the constricted crease of its watercourse. From Expectation Pass, it is then possible to contour around the upper reaches of the watershed and finally to gain the summit of Atlas Pass. The route description suggested exceptional views might be on offer if one were to choose the second option and climb to Expectation Pass. Further deliberation felt unnecessary.

Breaking camp, we walked parallel to the Donjek River until we encountered the floodplain of the small creek that can be seen to the right of center. We chose to follow this floodplain upstream and toward the mountains until it became necessary to turn off and into the trail-less forest to begin the search for Expectation Creek. Following a climb through willow, moss, and spruce, we eventually intersected the Creek and located the beginning of the narrow, steep ascent to the Pass (down which we look in the photo). Curiously, where the climb began in earnest and the landscape opened up down below, we noticed half a dozen or more skulls littering the underbrush, the remnants of Dall Sheep. One had a significant length of spinal cord still attached and fur around the base of the horns. I picked it up for a closer look and instantly regretted it as the stench of death had not yet left and now clung stubbornly and putrescently to my fingers. We surmised that the sheep had died somewhere upslope and then been funneled down the narrow cleft in the landscape as snows slid, shifted, and melted. It seemed impossible that so many had simply died in the same small place.

The steepest part of the climb to Expectation Pass gains 1600 ft (500 m) in approximately 1.2 miles (2 km). We stopped part-way up amongst the boulders and drew a pot of water for tea from the small, splashing stream. Crackers, cheese, dried fruit, and cookies all made an appearance as we opened the food bags and leaned back into the packs, relaxing and waiting for the water to boil. I looked up from the stove and glanced down the canyon - a Grizzly Bear was about 400 meters away and climbing steadily up the canyon toward us. Interesting. It had not yet seen us but food was spread out everywhere, there was nowhere for us to go but up, and we could only manage a relatively slowly escape due to the grade. Lunch was hastily re-packed, hunger seemed all but forgotten, and I readied the canister of bear spray should we find ourselves bereft of luck. Climbing up and away from the bear as quickly as we could manage, I was relieved to see it angle off along the hill slope (on the left in the photo) and disappear from sight.

We gained the Pass an hour or so later and felt that another go at tea and lunch was in order. Backpacking is all about having a cuppa and biscuits in extraordinary places. As we supped, a band of 30-40 Dall Sheep dotted the meadows and talus above us, providing some confirmation as to where the skulls down below might have originated. Of course, there was also the fact that a Grizzly was likely not far away and could reappear whenever it liked. Wild country, indeed.

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. . . the blue lights.

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