Daily Didactic
Day two of our "relaxed" approach to the Chilkoot Trail starts at Canyon City. What follows is a nice and short five and a half mile hike to Sheep Camp. Sheep Camp is the one camp that almost everyone has to stop at, being the last camp before crossing Chilkoot Pass and thirteen miles in. Only the mighty Chilkoot day hiker skips Sheep Camp.

We hit sheep camp in the late morning and followed our regimen of reading and napping until dinner and a 7:00 ranger talk about the day to come. Tomorrow's climb over the Chilkoot Pass is only an eight mile hike, but the first three miles are an uphill trudge eventually brought to an end by a really steep climb up a chute of boulders. This spot, the Golden Stairs, is where the iconic photos of stampeders carrying packs in a line up a snow staircase was taken. It's what everyone on the trail looks forward to and worries about.

After the ranger talk and a bite to eat we hit the hay, alarms set for the ludicrous hour of 4:00 a.m..

Morning in Canyon City		Cori, packing in a minor construction zone
Theresa, doing a little organizing		We know it's nothing like the actual pass, but it's steep
Simulated action shot. Looks like he's shoveling more than hiking		Vole?
Old telegraph pole on the trail		Todd and Brian, happy to be on the way to Lake Bennet again
Pretty waterfall		The water was snowmelt clear
The Taiya River, rerouting itself		Forest fires from the north hazing up the sky
More picturesque streams		Todd, explaining suspension bridge construction to the ladies
Fireweed		Nothing but smiles
The old route across the river in Sheep Camp		Brian building our bedroom for the night
The old Sheep Camp cabin door		The old Sheep Camp cabin front
Theresa, ecstatic about the effectiveness of down

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