So we decided to camp out under the Skookum Volcano in the name of researching my writing.
Skookum Volcano getting more ominous as darkness falls.
Did I mention there’s local legends about creepy things watching from the hills that like to cut off heads?
Yeah…
So, where did I leave off last week?
It got dark. Really dark.
Only available light was from our fire and our one gas lantern.
No ambient light whatsoever. Not even from the moon or stars since the night was overcast. Beyond the firelight, the woods were black as pitch. We enjoyed our evening by the fire, drinking wine, and watching the shadows shift in the woods.
Enjoying the fire and a glass of wine. Trying not to think about the legends of the Cet’ aenn, “The Tailed Ones” of Ahtna Legends who live in the mountain.
Not being able to see far is an uncomfortable feeling in the backcountry. Not just because of stories of mythical creatures, but because of the real threat of bears. As I mentioned in another post, when you camp in the Alaska wilderness, it’s important to keep the food away from the bears. We pack everything in bear resistant containers and make sure to properly dispose of all food waste.
Bear resistant container. All food products that have a scent need to be packed in a container like this.
As you can see from the size of our cooler, it’s not very big, so meal planning is essential. We do a lot of single pot meals to maximize space and minimize waste.
To maximize space, we pre-plan single pot meals like pozole (pictured above)
Even with careful planning, there is risk of a bear attack. We typically sleep in the tent with a pistol between us. We leave the bear spray and outside so as not to risk discharge in the tent. We also leave an extra weapon outside (usually the rifle) if someone has to leave the tent in the middle of the night. We do everything we can to ensure our safety in the Alaska Backcountry.
Campsite out at Jack Creek, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park
We had a great night camping out at Jack Creek in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. We hope to go back next year and hike to the mines. The Devil’s Valley (coming 2021), sequel to the Dark Land, is set on this side of the park, in winter rather than summer.
If you haven’t read The Dark Land, it is currently available on Amazon. The setting for this story is on the McCarthy side of Wrangell-St. Elias, near McCarthy and Kennecott. I have done a few posts about my research:
Hey, let’s go camp under an ancient volcano in the middle of the Alaska wilderness.
Oh yeah, this area has a longstanding oral tradition of creepy creatures watching from the hills that want to kill humans.
Sounds like the plot of a horror story, right?
Part One of our night in under the Skookum Volcano
Wrangell-St. Elias National Park is the inspiration for my currently Published horror novella, The Dark Land, and the sequel The Devil’s Valley (coming 2021). As you can imagine, I was thrilled to get to travel this summer to a part of the park I had never been to before.
But with many trips, getting there is just half the adventure
The Nabesna Road is one of only two roads leading into the park. Only the first 10 miles or so of the 42 mile stretch is paved. My husband used to live and travel in this area, so we were fairly prepared for the rough ride, still there were a few surprises. As you view my pictures, keep in mind that this is considered to be a “maintained road.”
Creek Crossings
One of our biggest trepidations were the creek crossings. Multiple creeks cross the road deeper into the park. Depending on rain and run-off, the creeks could be impassible. The creeks are notorious for stranding unsuspecting tourists. We made sure to keep and eye on the weather, before venturing out. We managed to cross the deepest one with ease.
We put the definition of 4WD to the test here.
Ruts in the Road
This was a surprise. And it was even deeper than it looked. We bottomed out both front and back. Decided to grab some rocks on our way back to fill in the holes.
Deep rut in road
Devil’s Mountain Lodge
The Road dead ends at the Devil’s Mountain Lodge. The lodge sits at the base of Devil’s Mountain. A B&B that has been in business since the 1950’s, they provide flight tours, and guided hunting tours into some of the more remote areas of the park.
View from the Devil’s Mountain Lodge
Camping
This side of the park is pretty remote, and not generally a huge tourist hot-spot. Thanks to Covid, there were even fewer people. We didn’t have to fight anyone for a campsite.
Watershed Divide
Our campsite at Jack Creek was just stunning. An interesting fact is that this creek is on a water shed divide. While Wrangell St. Elias National Park is known for being home of the Copper Glacier, headwater of the Copper River, this creek does not flow into that watershed. Though less than 30 miles from that river, it flows into the Tanana instead. This river cuts north across the state before dumping into the Yukon. Many of the local native legends revolve around these two diverging water sheds.
Jack Creek Campsite in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park
Skookum Volcano and Devil’s Mountain
Inspiration for my novels came from local Ahtna (Head Water’s People) legends of the area. It’s no coincidence, looking at the terrain, that there are oral tales of things watching from the mountains above. The Skookum Volcano and Devil’s Mountain are both rich in heavy metal mineral deposits and are riddled with caves.
The Volcano is riddled with caves, can you imagine what might be lurking inside?Native copper flakes floating in puddles
We spent the evening setting up camp and marveling at the beauty around out campsite.
Pond behind our campsite at Jack Creek in Wrangell-St. Elias National ParkEnjoying the fire
Then darkness fell…
Hmmn…why did I think it was a good idea to go camp in an area known for creepy creatures????
To be continued next week…
Thanks for reading. My Alaska wilderness horror novella, The Dark Land is available on Amazon:
When the Excelsior pulled into Seattle with a “ton of gold”
mined from a small tributary of the Klondike River in 1897, a million people
made plans to head north. One hundred thousand people crossed the Canadian
border. Forty thousand people passed through Dawson City during the summer of
1898, only to find that most of the claims had already been taken. Tough
conditions, disease and back breaking work weeded out the weakest.
Plain cross, person unknown
Ghosts of the Yukon
It’s not surprising that the Alaska-Yukon Goldfields are riddled with ghostly tales. Spectre dog-teams in the night, towing evanescent passengers. Haunted ships cruising on empty lakes under the midnight sun. But one of the most famous haunted places is Dawson City’s Palace Grand Theater.
The Palace Grand Theater, built in 1899 by Arizona Charlie. One of the Most haunted buildoings in Dawson City.
The Finest Theater in the Paris of the North
Built by showman Arizona Charlie, The Palace Grand Theater didn’t open until 1899. By then, Dawson’s boom was almost over. People were already moving on to the next strikes in Nome and Fairbanks. But the Palace Grand was the finest theater in the “Paris of the North.” When the boom finally faded, Dawson’s historic buildings were abandoned and left to decay. In the 1960’s Parks Canada made an effort to restore the buildings and retain the Gold Rush history.
The Palace Grand Theater puts on multiple shows a day as part of their historic presentations. Multiple people working in the theater have recounted paranormal tales and activity. I have included a link to this video from Yukon paranormal.
Yukon Paranormal, Episode 3 Ghosts of the Klondike
Some believe the footsteps echoing through the second story
belong to Arizona Charlie, the famous showman and friend of Buffalo Bill. Does
he come back and visit his box to watch over his theater? Or is it one of the
other “Kings of Dawson,” who dug a fortune out of the Yukon and lavished it on
the “Goodtime Girls”?
“The poor ginks just gotta’ spend it, they’re scared they’ll die before they get it out of the ground.” –“Diamond Tooth” Gertie Lovejoy on the miner’s spending habits
As I have mentioned in previous blog posts, one of the
disappointing aspects about researching is that you can’t include ALL of the
fascinating things you find. While writing my series about Dawson City in 1898,
I have tried to include as much as I could about the real characters of the
Klondike Rush.
Kings of Dawson
Some of the other potential candidates for the male ghosts
haunting the Palace grand would be “Big Alex” Mc Donald who dug a fortune in
gold out of his claims, but died a pauper in 1909 after spending it all, always
assuming there would be more. To his credit, he didn’t spend it all on ladies
of the demimonde. He was known for donating money to charity or lending money
to people in need. During the Typhoid outbreak in Dawson when the first crudely
build hospital burned down, he donated money to fund the building of a new one,
earning him a knighthood from the pope.
One of the Kings of Dawson, “Big Alex” McDonald. He made and lost a fortune, but he was remembered for his generosity and civic responsibility, even though he died a pauper on his claim.
“Swiftwater Bill” was well known for making a fool of himself with the ladies of the redlight district of Dawson. According to Lael Morgan’s book, Good Time Girls of the Alaska Klondike Gold Rush, he made and lost three fortunes during his stint in Dawson. He frequented the saloons and dance halls, lavishing gold on his wives and mistresses. He even commissioned this gold belt for Rose Blumpkin.
Gold nugget belt made for Rose Blumkin. Image UAF-1964-79
Klondike Kate: “Queen of the Klondike”
“To us she was laughter and beauty and song. She was
forgetfulness of hardship and homesickness. But she was more than that, she was
our friend—a square shooter.”—The introduction as Klondike Kate was honored at
the annual Alaska-Yukon Pioneers Stampede in Oregon in 1931.
Klondike Kate Rockwell, Queen of the Klondike ASL-P-41-56 P. E. Larss Photograph Collection, 1898-1904. ASL-PCA-41
A Lonely and Queenly Presence
Multiple people have described encountering a presence in
the dressing room that once belonged to the most famous and boldest of the “Good
Time Girls,” Klondike Kate. Others have seen a lonely red-haired woman on the
second floor in the boxes or on stage after the theater closes when they are
locking up for the night.
Sweetheart of the Sourdoughs
A woman ahead of her time, she made her way north to seek
her fortune, purportedly disguising herself as a man to get around the Mounty’s
restrictions around women rafting over the “Five-Finger” Rapids.* She was
determined to get to the Klondike, where she was sure fortune awaited. When she
got to crowded, muddy Dawson city, she set about making a name for herself. She
was known for her famous “Flame dance,” where she would use fans to keep 200
yards of chiffon airborne while she danced in front of red lights. She was also
known for roller-skating on stage in a skimpy leotard. While a talented
actress, she was well known amongst the miners for her kindness, and quickly
became the “Sweetheart of the Sourdoughs.”
*The Five Finger Rapids was one of the more treacherous parts of the “weeding-out” process. Especially considering many of the rafts were home-made. So many of the boats wrecked going through the canyon that the RCMP started inspecting the rafts before they launched. They felt that women should not shoot through the rapids and forced them to hike around.
The Wrong Man
Unfortunately, she fell for the wrong man. Head-over-heels
for bartender Alexander Pantages, he fleeced her for thousands of dollars then
dumped her for a younger woman. Heartbroken, she tried to recover the money by
suing him (they were business partners). But after a year she was only able to
recover a few thousand dollars. A few years later he was accused of raping an
underage girl and was sentenced to 50 years in San Quentin. He served 2 years
before being later acquitted, he died five years later never recovering from
the ordeal. Some accounts speculate that the entire crime was a set up by some
of the miners who loved Kate and had a spite at Pantages for the heartbreak he
had caused her.
“I was the flower of the north, but the petals are falling awfully fast honey.” Klondike Kate at 71, in an interview she gave before her death in 1956.
She lived life to the fullest, marrying 3 times. Now when the lights go low in the Palace Grand Theater, her ghost walks the stage and the boxes. People smell roses or rosewater in her dressing room. Perhaps this summer when we visit Dawson again as part of my research, I’ll get the chance to say hello to the spirit of this amazing pioneer woman.
A picture of me at one of our favorite surprise stops in Dawson, the Sternwheel GraveyardThe Dark Land, Available on Amazon
Lured by her high peaks and vast forests, adventurers swarm to the siren call of Alaska’s backcountry. Her harsh bite scars many. Some never return
The legend of the Headless Ravine is steeped in blood. Its hunger for human flesh never sleeps, even in the deepest cold of winter.
Thanks for reading. If you sign up for my newsletter, you’ll get a sneak peak of the sequel to the Dark Land.
