Current Chilkoot Trail staging area. Photo by Mike Swasey.
Improvements to the gateway to the Chilkoot Trail are expected to be made next year. The National Park Service will move ahead with expanded parking and other improvements to the Klondike Goldrush National Historical Park’s staging area off of the Dyea Road.
The Chilkoot Trail was one of two routes gold-seekers took to get over the mountains on their way to the goldfields of Dawson City during the Klondike Goldrush of the late 1800s. The trail had already been used for centuries by local Tlingit populations as a trade route.
Currently, at the staging area, there’s a lone interpretive sign across the road from the trailhead, a vaulted toilet, and a dirt area people use for parking. Klondike Goldrush National Historical Park’s Jason Verhaeghe says they will be giving the trailhead’s parking area a new look.
“We are going to have new interpretive signs helping folks learn about their opportunities out in the Dyea valley, specifically highlighting the Chilkoot Trail, of course, being directly across the way. We’ll also be clearing a small area to create a viewing site for the river. It’ll include interpretive panels, teaching a little bit about the river and a little bit of its process of how it carves out this valley,” said Verhaeghe.
There will be a one-way loop drive for RV’s, a bike rack, a trail from the campground and parking will be improved as well.
The public input period closed earlier this summer. The comments received included questions about the impact of development on Boreal Toads and rare plant species. There were questions about building in a flood zone and insufficient time for public comment. The park service addressed each of these concerns but ruled there would be no significant impact on the park’s resources. That’s a box they have to check before moving forward.
Work on the project is expected to begin next spring.
“We hope to have that work completed that same season, no later than 2023 will hikers be able to park their vehicle there. But maybe if we’re lucky, we can see those parking spaces available before that at late summer of ’22,” said Verhaeghe.
Recent visitors to the trailhead may have noticed the iconic Chilkoot Trail sign is missing. It’s being refurbished and will be replaced as soon as it’s finished. .
“And then it will be re-installed on the other side of the road. That was a safety consideration, we realized that we were sending people across the street to get that iconic photo with the sign without any formal crosswalk, or any kind of safety mitigation. So to make that a better experience, and perhaps a better backdrop for the photo, we’re going to move the sign over to the left side of the road,” said Verhaeghe.
The Chilkoot Trail is open for hiking this season, but it is a shortened route. American citizens will need to turn around before crossing the Canadian border just past the historic Golden Staircase.
