Hike to Lower Dewey Lake

Lower Dewey Lake is located in the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park near Skagway Alaska. The hike to the lake has a few steep switchbacks and you should plan on it taking about 1-2 hours. There are trails to extend your hike if you want to walk around the lake, to hike to Upper Dewey Lake, or to hike to the Devil’s Punchbowl. This post is just about hiking to Lower Dewey Lake which is just under a mile round trip with 500 feet of elevation gain, to hike around the entire lake is a total of 3.6 miles with nearly no elevation gain.

I would recommend exploring around the lake as there are plenty of photographic opportunities to shoot nearby streams. Be sure to bring your tripod to take some longer exposures of the flowing water. Everything is so green and the forests so dense, it feels like you are in a rainforest.

To get to the trailhead head east on 2nd Ave. (in Skagway) past the railroad depot. When the railroad tracks cross the road, turn left and follow the tracks about 120 meters north to the trailhead (please beware of trains when crossing the track). The trail will eventually branch off to the right as you go up the hill from the trailhead (if you go straight you will find yourself on a steep power company maintenance road).