The hike to Grizzly Lake in the Yukon’s Tombstone mountains is, to say the least, a bit out of the way. The trailhead is at the 58.5km mark (about 36 miles) along the Dempster Highway, an unpaved road notorious for cracking windshields, whose start is some 300 miles north of Whitehorse. If you do find yourself in the wilds of the Yukon, however, the Grizzly Lake hike (and its extensions to Divide Lake and Talus Lake) makes for an outstanding and surprisingly moderate short backpack through incredible scenery. The photos and brief description below are based on a two day trip my brother and I took in summer 2010, camping for one night at Grizzly Lake.

Approaching Grizzly Lake in the Tombstones

The 11.5km (7 mile) long trail to Grizzly Lake starts with a climb through the forest to Grizzly Ridge and a viewpoint down the valley toward Mount Monolith. It’s pretty much the only maintained trail in Tombstone Territorial Park, and although labeled as “very difficult” in the park literature it’s a very clear route whose only challenge comes from a decent amount of climbing