KLONDIKE GOLD RUSH Hikers on the Chilkoot Trail: A Descriptive Report

In most research reports of this kind, there exists a section dealing with recommendations for management based on the study's findings. We do not attempt such an undertaking in this report. Our study of hikers on the Chilkoot Trail was not in response to a specific management problem. Rather, our purpose was to provide management with a descriptive profile of the hikers: their personal characteristics, use-patterns, and opinions. As such, the information contained in this report serves as baseline data with which to compare similar information of future user populations. The importance of this study for management, therefore, rests in its ability in the future to document changes in the population of hikers visiting the Chilkoot Trail. This does not mean that we shy away from providing management with advice given the opportunity to do so. We feel that the insights we gained from this study are of value to management in evaluating prospective management policy and in suggesting solutions for management problems. This task can best be fulfilled in a continuing dialogue between researchers and managers.

Boothill, cemetery at Lindeman