Yukon River

Mon July 30- Quite a few things on our to-do list today. First of all we gave the Subaru a much needed cleaning inside and out. We washed off over a million dead flies, mosquitos, etc. from the front of the car. We also called new parents Avital & Ben; WELCOME NOAH!! (we wont hold it against you that you prevented your parents from joining us on our Yukon canoe trip..hehe) Then it was time to prepare for our next week- paddling down the Yukon river. The plan is to fly into Eagle, Alaska from Fairbanks- then paddle/float 150 miles to Circle, Alaska- then get flown back to our car in Fairbanks. Lots to consider when packing up... like can we take camp fuel and bear spray on the flight? The airline (Everts Air) explained that yes all was possible... but very complicated... we would need to get fire resistant boxes, a hazmat form, an ammo-can and $30... So we decided to forget flying with the hazardous goods...we could buy (double priced) fuel in Eagle and we decided to forget about the bear spray. We packed our food, treated some of our clothes with permethrin (against the bugs), got some additional camping supplies, posted our pevious blog and had a sushi dinner (since the pizza place was closed on Mondays..)

View of the Yukon river shortly before landing in Eagle

The mail plane after landing in Eagle

Tue July 31- It was an anxious night because Everts air had specifically told us that they had a lot of mail to fly to Eagle and they could only guarantee us each bringing 30 pounds of baggage on the flight. We did not have a scale at the campsite... but our bags certainly felt heavier than 30 pounds each (8 days of food and all our gear gets pretty heavy!). So we got to the airline early expecting to plead with them to bring the extra weight- but luckily our excess baggage was no problem because we were the only ones on the flight...pheww. Soon after getting our handwritten ticket, our flight got put on hold due to bad weather in Eagle. No need to wait around at Everts Air...they would call us if the flight was going. So we went to downtown Fairbanks- did some internet, made phone calls to the home front, had coffee.... By mid afternoon the flight was for sure not going. The operations manager showed us the web cam in Eagle - all clouded in - we were happy to wait until better weather because the small airstrip in Eagle does not have radar- the pilot needs to see to land! We setup our tent again at our favorite Fairbanks campground, made some late lunch (lesson learned- don't throw out your perishable food before you are sure the plane is leaving) and decided to go to Chena Hot Springs for the afternoon. On the hour drive to the hot springs we saw 8 moose! After bathing in the springs, we had a beer and burger at the bar. Sitting next to us at the bar was Bernie Karl, the owner of the whole hot springs complex (the springs, hotel, restaurant, green houses, thermal power, ice museum, future ski slopes, etc.) Fun guy to talk to- what a character! He even offered LB a job.

Maurits floating down the Yukon



Captain LB navigating, brrrrrrr!

Wed August 1- Soon after getting up we got a phone call that the flight was definitely going, the weather was nice and sunny. By 10am we were in a Piper (a real Alaskan mail plane - that Sarah Palin named her daughter after - useless fact) on our way to Eagle. Smooth flight for such a small plane, very noisy, great views! Mike from Eagle Canoe Rentals picked us up at the air strip and he drove us around the town. We made a stop at the National Parks Service to pick up a bear barrel, picked up camp fuel at the store and got dropped off at the boat ramp where our canoe was waiting for us. Mike had an excellent river map for us, much better than what the National Park people had to offer. (The ranger had actually never been on the Yukon river... crazy.) Just before we were ready to get floating, three people docked their boat at the ramp (Andy, Kate and their female guest who's name we have forgotten). Andy invited us to come over to his homestead 12 miles down the river. We could camp across the river from his place and he would come pick us up. And so we did. It took about 2 hours to float to the river bank across from the homestead. The Yukon river is big and wide and flows at about 6 to 8 miles per hour. No need for much paddling. After setting up camp and just before we wanted to make some dinner, Andy came across the river and picked us up for a showing of his homestead. Andy and Kate are pretty much self-sufficient; grow food in the short summer months (outdoor garden and greenhouses), fish, trap, cut their own firewood, harvest sustainable energy (wind and solar power)... and the list goes on, pretty amazing place. Andy has built all the log houses on their property by himself (including a sauna- great for the cold dark winter months- the temp can get down to -70 degrees!) They had just caught two large salmon that afternoon and Andy showed us how to filet them. Best of all he gave us a piece of salmon, seasoned and in tin-foil for our dinner the next night! On top of that we enjoyed with them a home-brewed-beer and salmon with pasta dinner! It was great talking to them- about subsistence living in Alaska, about the various adventure-classes they teach in summer and winter and about the terrible ice-flood that destroyed most of Eagle in 2009. Andy let us listen to an excellent CBC podcast/interview that is posted on the web about the flood. All in all an unforgettable evening. We should go back to their place in the winter and go dog-sledding with their 24 awesome sled dogs... Check out their website www.alaskayukonadventure.com.

Dried salmon at Andy's homestead

 

Andy with a couple of his dogs

Smile!!

Thu August 2- Late start today. Took us a while to get organized so we got on the river shortly before noon. Cloudy day, rain on and off, but beautiful. We paddled in the rain (or else it got too cold) and floated when there was sun. Nice to relax, look around, read a book or read about the history of the Yukon river included in our map. One hundred years ago this area was bustling with activity, gold miners, trappers, trading posts and other fortune seekers. Now it is almost completely deserted. Since the weather was not great our plan was to stay in one of the six public use cabins (a cabin/hut you can use free of charge on a first come, first serve basis). The first cabin at Nation River was already taken by two kayakers (the first people we saw that day), so we paddled on to the second cabin at Glenn Creek. This cabin, unlike the first one, sat right on the river. A beautiful spot! We had paddled 48 miles and it was around 830pm before we got to Glenn Creek. First thing we did was make a campfire with the firewood provided by the National Parks Service! We cooked the salmon, enjoyed the warmth of the fire and had a great dinner.

Campfire, salmon, wine...

Big sky Yukon

Fri August 3- Cloudy, rainy and windy today. We do not like headwinds! Because the wind was blowing pretty hard- we had to paddle almost the whole day. In normal conditions it took us at least a mile to cross the river from one side the other (the current would be taking us down river while we were paddling across). But now because of the strong wind, it took forever. We had to work hard in a not very well balanced canoe (we did not load it properly). In the end we paddled 26 miles and camped on the river bank just upstream of where the Charley river entered the Yukon. It was nice to camp on a clean river. The Yukon is very silty- it looks like grey milk- and the water is not drinkable. During the whole trip we were always on the lookout for clean water to use for cooking and drinking. Another lesson learned- next time we should bring a large water cannister. We setup camp, found two thin logs and even managed to setup our tarp. Great shelter to cook under in the rain!

The cabin, fireplace and view of the Yukon

Sat August 4- After a rainy night we woke up in the mist. But as the sun got higher, the mist disappeared and it turned out to be quite a nice day. As we were making breakfast, we saw some fresh, big moose tracks around our camp. We must have had a nightly visitor... We did not see big wildlife at all on our trip. Plenty of bear, moose and deer tracks, but no sightings. We did see a lot of birds, including bald eagles. As we floated down the river, we made a stop at Slavens road house. Up until the 70's there was a productive goldmine here, now it is a public use cabin. We walked the 1 mile mosquito-infested trail to an old large mining dredge, took a picture and ran back to get away from the bugs. Further down river we made a stop at Smith's/fortymile cabin. Another public use cabin. It was not that nice, so we decided to camp on the river bank a little further downstream. We paddled about 27 miles today. LB tried to make some popcorn, but unfortunately the attempt failed. When it was not drizzling, we did enjoy a nice campfire using firewood we 'found' at Smith's cabin.

Where the Charley river meets the Yukon river

Sun August 5- A beautiful, but cold morning. No wind, some scattered cloud, plenty of sunshine, but it was chilly. We were all bundled up while floating the last 38 miles to Circle. We did not paddle much, just floated, and enjoyed the scenery while reading our books. Very relaxing last day, especially since it warmed up during the day. We got to Circle City around 6pm, dropped of our canoe and setup our tent right on top of the boat-ramp (the town's official camp-site). Circle is a bit of a depressing 'city.' 100 years ago the city's population was over 2000! Now not even 100.. The picnic tables/campsite at the waterfront are a very popular hangout for the locals, and tonight was no exception. They did share two of their beers with us though!

Our camp. Notice how we 'MacGyvered' the tarp!

Mon August 6- Not a cloud in the sky! Murphy's law.. Anyway, at least Everts Air would come and pick us up. There is no cell phone service in Circle, so we had to use 'ye old pay phone.' After a 20 minute fight with the phone (one of those ones that does not accept coins, just cards) and some local help we got in touch with Everts. We were all set. But we did need some additional local assistance to find the 'airport', somehow we could not find it... We could not bring our big bear barrel on the plane (no room), but in retrospect that was no problem with the National Parks Service anyway. Other than that the flight was fine, a little bumpy, a bigger plane and great views. Back in Fairbanks it was the usual drill of shower, laundy and groceries. Setup camp again at the same Fairbanks campground and a rotissery chicken salad for dinner. Excellent camp food!

Maurits and the canoe on a cool morning

Tue August 7- It drizzled and rained the whole day. High 50's (13 C) .. Pretty cold actually! We were still tired and decided to stay another day in Fairbanks. We spent some time at the local coffee shop, saw a movie, bought new socks and new tent stakes (all this car camping on gravel roads is destroying the stakes rapidly) and just relaxed.

The Circle campsite

Going back to Fairbanks

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