My wife was away, and I was flying solo for the week, so I decided to do a mid-week hike with the kids, and Fish Lake trail was a great option. It’s easy to access and close to town, with spectacular views. After getting the kids on board, we made some sandwiches, loaded up the dog and headed for the hills.
Fish Lake is only 15 kilometres from Whitehorse, and is a very popular outdoors spot year round. During the summer, it’s a great place for hiking, fishing and boating. There is an adventure ranch nearby, and if you’re so inclined, you can take a horseback tour of the surrounding area. We’ve done this a few times, and it’s a great way to see the back country.
To access the trailhead you drive along Fish Lake Road until you reach the lake. Once on the dike, turn right and follow the road until it turns into a narrower dirt road and arrives at a fork with enough room to turn around. You can park here, and the trail head is straight ahead of this point.
You are going to make about 1100 feet of elevation gain from the trail head to the summit, with the majority of the climb in the tree line. Once you break into the sub-alpine, the incline starts to level out, and you will reap the visual rewards of your efforts. The trail moves through the scrub along a well worn trail to the base of the first summit. From there, it’s an easy ascent, with spectacular views of Fish Lake, and the valley behind. At this point, you’ll see the topography between the first summit and the second summit forms a saddle, and it is an easy hike to move between them.
The trail itself from the start of the subalpine follows a seasonal creek bed, that was still shedding winter run off in spots. You’ll find this part of the trail a little muddy and slick. The trail is used by the horse tours, so you’ll run across sections of manure as well, so watch your step. Also, this is the Yukon, so bring your bug spray! Once you break the tree line the wind helps to keep the bugs at bay, but in the trees you’re a moving buffet for mosquitoes and no-see-um’s, and they’re hungry.
For me, a large part of hiking is self reflection, and I learned something on this hike; I’m getting older. For years I always slowed my pace to keep the hike enjoyable for the kids, and in a very short amount of time they have physically matured to the point that it seems like they could sprint up the mountain, and I found myself bringing up the rear going up and coming back. Although I am infinitely proud of their abilities, I can’t help but feel my age. Somewhere along the way hiking poles have crept into my standard gear, and rest breaks seem to come a little more frequently. I could make excuses like this was an evening hike after a long day of work, and the temperature was 25 degrees above, etc, etc…, but none of that changes the fact that I am starting to feel the march of time; and this reinforces my feeling that I need to do more, I want to do more, and I can do more….but I really need to recalibrate the work life balance. The views from my office will never compare to these.
With that in mind, if you have the time, this is a very enjoyable hike. From a difficulty level, I would rate it as easy. The path is well marked, it’s easily accessible, and you get to move through the different zones of the forest, sub-alpine and alpine. The views are spectacular, and you get a really good perspective of the surrounding landscape on both sides of the valley; and I guarantee that if you are stopping to have dinner on the summit you’ll have the best view in the house.
