For more than three decades, Tim Bourcy’s tour company guided clients on a historic, 33-mile hike between Skagway, Alaska and Canada. Among his guests have been tourists, film crews and U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski.
Bourcy sold his company a few years back. But he’s among those who are reeling over the reality that hikers have not been able to trek the entire Chilkoot Trail for six seasons – going on seven.
“It's just colossal failures at the government level, is really what it boils down to,” Bourcy said during a recent interview.
The Chilkoot first shut down in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Canadian side reopened soon after, but the U.S. side saw more closures due to flood damage. Both sides were finally open last summer – but crossing the border was not allowed.
That still applies this year. Both the U.S. and Canada have decided hikers will not be able to complete the full trail because its international boundary – which sits atop a rugged mountain pass – is not an official port of entry. At least for now, there’s no indication that will change any time soon.
“All individuals seeking to enter the United States must do so at a designated port of entry. Failure to do so is illegal,” a spokesperson for the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol said in an email.
The decision comes amid an increasingly tumultuous relationship between the two countries fueled by ongoing trade disputes and President Donald Trump’s repeated statements that the U.S. should annex Canada.
The closure has led to a major drop in trail visitations – and impacts on the local economy.
It also interrupts the Chilkoot’s long, storied history as a crucial thoroughfare between Southeast Alaska and Canada — for coastal Tlingit people, Klondike God Rush miners and modern day adventurers.
“The Chilkoot Trail had been traveled by Tlingit people since time immemorial,” said Jaime Bricker, president of the Skagway Traditional Council, a local tribe.
“To not have that route open in an area that traditionally didn't have borders, is just really heart wrenching,” added Bricker, who is also the local tourism director.
Murkowski – who played a major role in designating the Chilkoot a national historic trail – tried to intervene in the situation, albeit unsuccessfully.
In a letter last June, she and Ranj Pillai, the former premier of Canada’s Yukon territory, called on relevant agencies in both countries to find a solution.
Kristi Noem, the then-head of the Department of Homeland Security, replied in September. She said all hikers are required to cross the border at an official port and emphasized the agency’s focus on national security threats, including “foreign terrorists.”
“The remote and rugged nature of the Chilkoot Trail, which lacks any U.S. or Canada Border Services Agency customs infrastructure, poses significant challenges for verifying legal entry at the border,” Noem wrote.
Noem added that hikers must cross the border at a designated port of entry. The closest to the Chilkoot’s border crossing is in Skagway, 22 miles away.
Far fewer people have been hiking the trail since the closures started. Between 2017 and 2019, the trail drew more than 3,000 each year. Last year, just 370 people registered, according to data from Parks Canada.
“There’s certainly a drop in interest,” said Carrie Wittmer, acting superintendent of the Chilkoot National Historic Trail.
Bourcy, the long-time guide, said hiking just half of the trail as an out-and-back route is simply less appealing than completing the full thing.
“It’s not the same experience. Both sides of the trail are very unique and very distinct with regard to the ecosystems that you're traveling through,” he said. “If they can't cross the pass, you know, they aren't going to do it.”
That reality has local ramifications. Skagway’s economy runs on tourism, specifically from cruise ships. But the Chilkoot used to be a reliable attraction for thousands of independent travelers, who tend to come to town for longer periods – and spend more money.
The closure has “crippled our ability to attract independent travelers,” said Bricker, Skagway’s tourism director.
“It affects the entire community,” Bourcy said.
Both Bricker and Bourcy emphasized that the effects extend beyond dollars and cents. Namely: the border closure marks a departure from a long history of travel, dependence and camaraderie between the two remote regions.
“We survive up here, with our Canadian neighbors, right?” Bourcy said. “And that's the way it's always been — and it's the way it should always remain.”
Starting in June, permits are required to hike the U.S. side of the trail, which starts in Dyea, Alaska, just outside Skagway. Hikers can register now at recreation.gov.
