How far would you go to fulfill a dream?

Stampeders moving supplies on the Chilkoot Trail faced the exhausting problem of transporting a ton of goods from Dyea to Lake Bennett. Those who carried their own loads had to choose between lighter packs of 50 pounds that required more trips and heavier packs of 80 pounds that meant fewer trips but a slower pace. Every mile traveled with a load also meant another mile walked back empty, and some stampeders walked 2,600 miles to move their supplies the 33 miles to Lake Bennett. Along the route up Long Hill and toward the Golden Stairs of Chilkoot Pass, the strain could be overwhelming, as Mont Hawthorne recalled seeing a man sitting on a Yukon sled in the middle of the road, worn out and repeating to himself, “It’s hell. It’s hell.”

Skagway, Alaska · United States