Chilkoot Lake - Topography

Topography

The Chilkoot Lake is marked on the quadrant map of the Skagway B 2 USGS in the Heines County at an altitude of 30 feet (9 m). The lake is about 3.6 miles (6 km) long, and about 1 mile (2 km) in width and maximum depth of water in the lake is about 300 feet (90 m). It is located at the foot of the Takshanuk Mountains to the west and the Freebee glacier and unnamed mountains to the east. It has been declared as navigable. The lake is in the upper part of the Chilkoot Watershed that spans 100 square miles (260 km2) of land 20 miles (32 km) in length and 5 miles (8.0 km) in width. The waters of the lake display turquoise color. The lake is surrounded by mountains and is glacial fed. The lake is deep water body with maximum depth of 300 feet (91 m). The 1,600 acres (6.5 km2) of land around the lake is mostly under the control of the State. The Upper reach of the river from its mouth at the lake up to the glacier head is about 16 miles (26 km) and the land is with the State. The lake area is generally windy.

The Upper Chilkoot River originates from a glacier and flows in southeasterly direction for 16 miles (26 km). As a braided river, it has a bed slope of 1% in the first 5 miles (8.0 km) stretch from the lake and about 2% in the balance reach of the river. The river is blocked with debris, rifles, log jams and boulders. Hence, the upper reach of the river is not navigable. The upstream reaches of the Chilkoot River and all other streams which flow into the lake are barred for fishing. Canoes are the best form of boating facility for fishing on the lake as the shore line is considered difficult.

The Lower reach of the Chilkoot River below the outlet from the Chilkoot Lake is about 1.5 miles (2 km) long (a figure of 1 mile (2 km) is also mentioned in some old records) up to Lutak Inlet, about 75 yards (70 m) wide and2 feet (0.6 m) deep on an average. It is navigable up to about 0.5 miles (0.8 km) upstream of the Lutak Inlet extending to the fish and game weir site (established by the Department of Fish and Game to enumerate the fishes), when under the influence of tides. The river in its first 1⁄₈ mi (200 m) has formed a pool, and then flows through a number of rapids strewn with boulders in some stretches and the remaining part is flat but with rocky bed. The estimated average discharge in the river varies widely from a minimum of 59 cubic feet (2 m3) per second in February to a maximum of 2,490 cubic feet (70 m3) per second in August.

As the lake thaws during April and May, when fishing for Dolly Varden and sockeye salmon is common.

The lake and the recreation area on the southern shores of the lake are approached by road along the Lukat-Chilkot River Roads (also popularly known as Bear Highway as brown bears frequent this road in search of salmon) only up to the southern shores of the Lake. The lake is 10 miles (20 km) away from the town of Heines.

However, building of any new or additional structures and/or road above the Chilkoot Lake has been banned to prevent any harmful effects that may be caused due to the road access, garbage and sewage disposal as that would jeopardize the sensitive salmon spawning grounds in the lake watershed. The Chilkoot Watershed Coalition monitors this closely to prevent any such development. A healthy upper watershed 5 by 1.5 miles (8 by 2 km) covers the Chilkoot Lake is considered essential to propagate sockeye, coho, hooligan, bears, moose and many other species of wild life.