Carmacks - Dawson City
26.05.
We slept until 11:00.
Then we took care of the boat's engine. It desperately needed an oil change.
Of course this was not without problems. I immediately spilled half a bottle of engine oil on my beautiful Fjällräven pants. After washing them once in the washing machine, the oil stain was still there. Dale showed me a trick. Spray on some WD-40 and wash again and the pants were clean, though not odorless...
We both had a double cheeseburger and a Coke. In the evening Dale gave us his wife's van.
We drove to Carmacks and were able to update the website at the city hall. Unfortunately the internet connection was very slow, so we couldn't put many pictures on the website.
After that we went to the bar and bought a six pack of beer for Dale to thank him for the nice evening.
Samantha gave us two folding chairs, so now we both have a backrest in the boat.
In the evening two RV's came to the campground. Some of these monsters. The idiot in the RV left his generator running all night.
Promptly I couldn't sleep and stayed up until 6:30 in the morning until the RV moved on....
Now I understand why Dale is not crazy about these RVs...
Ah.... finally a backrest, thanks Samantha !
27.05.
I woke up around 11:00. We went to Dale's for coffee.
Last night an American arrived with a canoe. He had done some expeditions in Canada and Alaska. We talked and exchanged emails. He is one of those people who is really interesting and also travels a lot.
Dale drove us up the mountain in his 4x4, where we had a great view of Carmacks and the surrounding area. The drive up was great.
Back at the campground I talked to the American for quite a while. He had done some really great expeditions, in the Arctic and in many parks in the USA, Canada and Alaska.
Around 15:00 we had fish and chips with Dale and Samantha and said goodbye. At 15:30 we took the boat to Carmacks. There Stefan got another 25 liters of gas. Then we headed for the 5 Finger Rapid.
The chairs are a blast to ride in, the boat is worlds more comfortable, thanks to Dale and Samantha.
After about 30 km we saw the rapids. From far away we could see and hear the waves. We secured everything on the boat, put on waterproof clothes and headed into the rapids.
On the right side there were high standing waves, on the left side Stefan saw a pretty clear channel. It went up and down a few times and then we were through. Absolutely ideal line....
We continued to the Rink Rapids. They were easy to get through on the right side.
After that we went on towards Minto. On the way we saw two more moose.
We were able to get close to one of them, but that put us in a side channel that became very shallow and of course we put the motor on.
It crunched and crashed terribly, but we were lucky not to get stuck.
Around 23:30 o'clock and about 85 kilometers the day we reached our camp on a sand island, which was just above the waterline.
On the same island I had camped on the 2004 expedition and taken beautiful photos of Canada geese with chicks, but unfortunately we did not see any this time.
Dale on the top of the mountain in front of Carmacks
(Thanks for the ride Dale)
28.05.
I realized that I had left my nice Fjällräven pants hanging on the bridle at Dale's after washing them, bummer.
Around noon we continued towards Dawson.
Just before Minto we stopped at a resort and bought a cold coke. What a treat here in the bush.
We continued to Minto, of which only two dilapidated huts are left.
Shortly after Minto we saw a herd of Dall sheep on a mountain. We stopped and I climbed up the mountain and approached the sheep. I got some nice shots. However, by the time I got to the boat I was soaked with sweat. I am really not in the best shape...
The weather is fantastic today, bright sunshine and blue skies. We reached the Pelly River and Fort Selkirk. We looked at some of the buildings and took some pictures. Then we moved on because it was too dangerous for me to leave the boat in Selkirk because there were still lots of logs floating past the dock. I did not want to risk a broken Tube like in 2004...
For the next 30-40 km there were no suitable islands for camping, either they were under water or too densely overgrown.
So we drove on to Selwyn and ended the day there after about 96 km. We set up our tents, made a fire and prepared some food.
Oh yes, we also saw two moose today.
After writing the daily reports, sorting and editing the digital pictures it was already 2:00 in the morning.
Dall Sheeps at Minto
29.05.
We left around 15:00 for Kirkman Creek. The weather was mixed, sun with some clouds and later some rain.
Shortly before Coffee Creek we saw two moose.
When we arrived we looked around. The cabin was in bad shape, the roof had caved in on one side. But it didn't look much worse than it did a year ago. I hope this place will be inhabited again soon, otherwise it will fall into disrepair, which would be a shame.
Bad weather came up, so we drove on to Kirkman Creek and pitched our tents there. It costs 5 Can $ per night.
Unfortunately there were a lot of mosquitoes. I crawled into the tent to write the daily report.
The owner, Linda Taylor, grew up on Stewart Island. The cabin behind Stewart belongs to her brother.
In the cabin at Coffee Creek
30.05.
I was awake until about 5:00 in the morning.
The dogs at Kirkman hunted all night, barking loudly. Around 10:30 we got up and packed our things.
We talked with the owners for a while. Normally they would have prepared breakfast for us, but they only arrived a few days ago and nothing was prepared yet. Bad luck again.
We said goodbye and headed for Dawson City. First we drifted and prepared our breakfast. Kellogs cornflakes with powdered milk, hot chocolate and water. After that we continued under motor until we reached the White River.
We entered the delta and suddenly saw an orange tent. We drove to the sand island and went to the tent, but nobody was there.
A little farther away from the tent some things were deposited. No canoe or kayak anywhere. We went further into the delta until it was too shallow for our boat, but we did not find the owner of the tent (we met him later).
We just had time to put on our rain gear when it started pouring. Stefan was lucky, he sat under the bimini top. I sat behind the engine and got the full brunt of it.
It cooled down a lot and it got very cold. After about 86 km we ended the day on a sand island across the Sixtymile River. Today was our lucky day, we saw 10 moose.
Now we prepare something to eat. The sun is back and it is nice and warm.
There are no mosquitoes here, not yet.
It was raining like cats and dogs....
01.06.
The night was quiet again. Around noon it got hot in the tent. We loaded the boat and went up the Sixty Mile River, but we didn't get very far.
After about 3 km it was over. It was just too shallow, so we went back to the Yukon River.
The sky was darkening. We passed a camp that I had stored in my GPS years ago. We decided to rest there.
Just as we put up the tarp it started to rain. The sky got darker and darker and there was thunder and lightning. So we put up our tents and ended the day there. We had a cup of hot chocolate with rum and lay down in the tents for a nap.
Just as I was about to fall asleep, someone suddenly called out, "Hello, is anyone there? It was Uwe, a German whose tent we had seen in the White River Delta. He had been on a mountain on the other side of the delta watching us.
He was on the Pelly River in a Klepper folding boat and now on his way to Dawson City. We talked for a while.
The weather calmed down a bit. Uwe said goodbye and paddled on.
Good thing I had the camp saved in my GPS on one of my previous trips!
02.06.
In the morning the sun was shining and it was quite warm. We packed the boat and headed for Dawson City.
At the Ancient Voices Camp before Dawson we stopped and met Uwe. The camp was still closed, too bad, because there was always good food here. Bad luck again.
This year I am just too early on my way to the Yukon. We made some hot chocolate and talked a bit. I climbed the mountain at the camp and took some overview pictures of the Yukon River and the camp.
We said goodbye to Uwe and drove on to a creek outside of Dawson City where my friend Dorian is building a new cabin. After some searching we found the place, but Dorian was not there, only his cotton tent with stove. So we past on to Dawson City. Actually we wanted to camp on a sandy island before Dawson, but all suitable islands were under water. Now we had to drive through to Dawson.
When we arrived, we saw that the pier where I had camped in 2004 was also under water. So we sat in the boat and thought about where to spend the night. The campground on the left side was too unsafe for us, the hostel was on a hill.
How were we going to get the heavy boat up there? We drove to the other side and I went to the hostel and immediately met Dieter Reimund, the owner.
He offered to drive our boat up to the hostel with his truck. But there was a catch, his truck had a high roof rack.
So first I wanted to try to transport the boat with the small trolley for folding boats. I went in the direction of the boat trolley and saw Uwe, he was also in the hostel.
He immediately helped me to bring the trolleys to the boat. There we tried to lift the trimaran onto the trolleys, but with little success, because the middle boat was in the way, the wheels of the boat trolleys were just too wide.
So back to the hostel. Dieter came with the truck. We loaded our stuff on the back of the truck and lifted the boat onto the roof rack.
Stefan went ahead on foot and made sure we didn't hit any trees with the wide boat. I climbed onto the roof of the truck and held the boat.
Uwe clung to the back and secured the boat from there. Then the bumpy ride began, as we could only get the boat on the truck lengthwise, it was overhanging more than a meter on both sides, but everything went well, we could unload the boat safely at the hostel.
Thanks to Dieter and Uwe.
We set up our tents and immediately went to the bathhouse to wash up. Man, it felt good to be clean again...
Then we went into town to one of the bars where we had a few beers with live music.
Around 2:00 a.m. we went back to the hostel.
On the ferry it started to rain. Arriving at the hostel we immediately disappeared into the tents...
Uwe at Ancient Voices
( Hey Uwe, sende mir mal deine E-Mai Adresse !)
Continue with: Dawson City - Eagle
Only those who risk going too far, will discover how far they can go!
Expedition in USA, Alaska & Canada, Scandinavia with folding boat, motorboat, catamaran, motorcycle, off-road vehicle, bicycle ...
