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Wilderness Canoe Tripping
Yukon Territory - Big Salmon/Yukon River Canoe Trip, Trip Report
Chapter One -- An Introduction
First, the Participants:
John Snively teaches biology, geology, and some general interest environmental type courses at Clackamas Community College south of Portland, Oregon. He's been wilderness canoe tripping for about 40 years now. John is our gadget freak, and also takes most of the pictures on our runs. Diana Bradshaw is a housewife in a suburb of Portland, Oregon. She and her husband, Fred, both longtime friends of John, have done a lot of canoeing, though not much extensive wilderness river tripping. Fred is a medical doctor and couldn't arrange his schedule to make a trip this long on short notice. Diana is an avid birder, artist, and photographer, and in the last few years has taken up scuba diving and underwater photography. She's had several Web sites up in the past, I'll see if I can find some of them and post here. Christian Bauer is a tool and mold maker at a BMW plant northeast of Munich, Germany. Christian has been whitewater canoeing and kayaking about 20 years, with several wilderness canoe trips since the early 1990s, four into Canada and one into Finland. Christian is an avid and superb nature photographer, and has recently initiated his dream of going professional. Christian's wife, Ingrid Bauer, is now a mother and housewife, and still works part time in a hospital. Ingrid started whitewater canoeing and kayaking about 16 years ago, after she met Christian, and has been on all of his canoe expeditions. Other interests for both Ingrid and Christian are karate, birding, hiking, white water kayaking, and the great outdoors. Luise (Lou-EE-see) Bauer was 20 months old on this trip. The Big Salmon was her first canoe expedition, though she had been in a boat on the water before in Germany with her mom and dad. Luise's interests now are language and the exploration of her immediate surroundings, including that of life itself. Luise now has a brother, Michael, born on 24, October, 1997. Yup, Ingrid was six months pregnant on our Big Salmon River wilderness canoe trip. Hank and Laurie Hays manage a small kayak and canoe paddle manufacturing business based a few miles southeast of Portland, Oregon. They have been wilderness canoeing for over 30 years. Hank is the one writing most of what you read here, with some input from the others. He's a reader, and likes playing with computers and the internet. Laurie likes reading, quilting, hiking, gardening, photography, and birding. And Why This Particular Trip?John, Dennis, Hank, and Laurie originally met Ingrid and Christian on the Nahanni River in 1993, and some of us have managed to meet them somewhere for a short trip every year since. Ingrid and Christian had an Alaska trip, focusing on Denali Park, planned for summer of 1998. A relatively easy canoe run to complement that trip as baby Luise's introduction to wilderness canoeing would be a nice addition. They wanted a pretty one, and some wild life is always nice.
John, Laurie, Hank, and others of our paddling group had mentioned our
previous Big Salmon River run to the Bauer's before, and it
was also recommended to the Bauer's by other paddlers they knew who
had been there. Ingrid asked if we'd do it again with them. Heck yes!
We arranged to meet them for a run despite logistics being complicated
by the Portland contingent deciding to also do another river trip before
getting to Whitehorse. Read the
Seven paddlers in three canoes, and the Portland crew brought all three boats to keep rental costs down. John, Laurie, and Hank (and Dennis Deck with his wife, Ginny) had paddled this same Big Salmon route in 1989. This would be Diana's and the Bauer's first run. Between-trip activitiesThe day between our runs, Saturday, July 12, 1997 In Whitehorse, Yukon Those complications: At this point, four of us are in a campground in Whitehorse, Yukon. We drove the 260 miles here (420 km) after taking off the Liard River near Watson Lake, Yukon late yesterday morning. That was a 13 day whitewater river run used as a warm-up for the Big Salmon trip, and you can read about it via a link in the paragraph above here. We are to put in tomorrow for our Big Salmon River run and have lots to do before we can go -- including cleanup, laundry, equipment and grocery shopping. We have to drop Dennis Deck off at the airport and pick up Diana Bradshaw, who will replace Dennis as John Snively's bowman for the coming 12 day trip. We also need to find Ingrid and Christian Bauer, German friends who are finishing up their five week driving tour of Alaska and the Yukon with this canoe trip. We ate breakfast at one of the restaurants across the road from the Whitehorse airport, then drove into town to do laundry, grocery and gear shopping. While there we made contact with our car shuttlers to make sure everything was still fine and dandy with them. Bauer's evidently were not here yet. Diana had flown in late yesterday, and we picked her up at her hotel in late morning, then had five people in the car for the day as Dennis didn't fly out until early Sunday morning. For 'after chores' entertainment, we toured Beringia, a new Ice Age land bridge museum, then the Yukon Interpretive Center. Dennis and Diana also did the Klondike Stern Wheeler tour, and in that parking lot we had a chance meeting with Linda Starr and David MacKillip, some other Portland, Oregon paddlers we knew. Neither party knew the other was in town. David and Linda had just come off of an Alsek River trip with even more paddler friends known by many of us. The Alsek is a whitewater run starting south of Whitehorse and ending at the Pacific Ocean east of Yakutat, Alaska. Bauer's were waiting in the campground when we returned about 8:00 pm. They had spent a week in Denali National Park, Alaska, with hot weather and bad mosquitoes, then toured more of Alaska and the Yukon before getting to Whitehorse. We all had supper at Fuzzy's Restaurant across from the airport. Very good food and pretty quick service. Not inexpensive, but prices aren't bad for the Yukon, either. Back to camp and in bed before too late, lots to do in the morning. Day one, Sunday, July 13, 1997 Up at 6:00, very sunny. John and I dropped Dennis at the airport for his 7:30 am flight, returned to pack gear, and reached Fuzzy's for breakfast about 8:00. We picked our shuttle drivers up at the appointed 9:30 and headed south on the Alaska Highway for the first part of our 2.5 hour drive to the put-in on Quiet Lake. Stopped once for gasoline, soft drinks, and cinnamon buns at Johnson's Crossing. We crossed the high bridge over the Teslin River, and almost immediately turned north onto the South Canol Road, Yukon Route 6, towards the town of Ross River. This is a gravel road built back during the early 1940s to access oil fields in the Northwest Territories during the Second World War. Read more about the road at this Canol Road link. The sky clouded up to about half overcast during the drive, but was a relatively warm day. It's 98 km from the Alaska Highway to the left turn off for Quiet Lake, then another km or so along that little side road to the boat ramp we used as this year's put-in. There were no mosquitoes in Whitehorse, some at a bathroom stop half way up the Canol Road, and more at Quiet Lake. Mosquito population may be elevation related right now, as the higher we go the more there seem to be. We unloaded and started packing the canoes as the shuttlers left with our cars. They were to pick us up about noon at the take-out in 12 days. We left the boat ramp at about 2:45 pm and rode a pretty good tailwind towards the end of the lake about 5.5 miles away (8.6 km). A couple very light sprinkles on the way were no problem. Quiet Lake is about 20 miles long (32 km) and we had paddled the full length on our first trip, most of it against a stiff headwind, adding an extra unplanned day to that 1989 run. We made sure this trip to not repeat that mistake. We decided to make this a short day and camp at the end of the lake, so found a good site in the woods near an old cabin sitting just west of the lake outlet. A guided group of Germans went by and into the river soon after we pulled in, then another German couple in an inflatable camped in another site in the trees just to the west of us. Ingrid talked to the latter a bit, and said she didn't think they had the slightest idea what they were getting into. Mashed potatoes and chicken "something" for supper about 8:30 pm. Two power boats roared around intermittantly. One was relatively polite (well, for a motorhead, anyway) and kept his distance, but the other tried to sneak in towards shore a lot farther, in sort of an unnecessary semi-buzz of the campsites. The water was shallow, with some submerged logs, so he couldn't come very close. Unable to harrass us much, they soon left. Shallow river travel means we probably won't see more motor boats until the Yukon River, many miles downstream, though they can come up the Big Salmon a short ways from that end. We did see one motor on the lower Big Salmon our first trip, but none this year, it is not used much by power boats, at least before the Salmon run. Christian and John did a little fishing at the lake outlet. Christian pulled in one grayling, and released it. The sky stayed about half overcast, but no more rain. We had a tarp up anyway, of course. Mosquitoes were pretty bad when the breeze wasn't blowing so Luise stayed in the tent most of the time at this camp. Christian had rigged a foam children's car safety seat for her to ride in, both in the car and in the canoe. It had a sun/rain shade on top, and mosquito netting could be pulled around it if the bugs were bad on the water. They paddled Hank's and Laurie's 18½ foot (5.6 m) cedar strip canoe for this trip, and were quite leary about it's practicality so far. We kept telling them to not worry about it, they won't hurt it this trip. They usually paddle an inflatable and despite having an Old Town Tripper at home, were not much used to hard boat performance or travel. Day two, Monday, July 14, 1997 Up at 7:00 for a breakfast of eggs and toast. Bauer's ate separately and usually had cold granola for breakfast, with different baby food for Luise. We did go together on several meals later in the trip, but the fact that none of the Portland paddling contingency have ever had children meant we were leary about providing food for a young one. We kept it simple by just cooking in separate groups this year. We packed the boats and pushed off from camp at 8:45. There were some grayling in the mile and a quarter (2 km) of river between Quiet and Sandy Lakes. None of the fishermen managed to reel any of them in, but as we paddled into Sandy Lake, there were some big fish under the boat at the drop-off between the shallow river and deep water of the lake. Steam rose from under them as both 'fishing boats' screeched to a halt here, and Christian hauled in a five lb. (2 kg) lake trout almost right away. He killed it with a karate chop behind the head while holding the fish across the gunnel of the boat. We spent about a half hour there, but no more luck, so the fishermen started trolling as we slowly paddled the two mile (3.2 km) length of Sandy lake. Christian hauled in another trout and let it go. We told him to keep any more he got so there would be enough for supper for everyone. He added one more to the stringer before leaving Sandy Lake. Another short river stretch (2.2 mi, 3.5 km) put us into Big Salmon Lake. We stopped at the first breezy point on the south shore of the lake for a break, then again at the lake's outlet for lunch. Big Sandy Lake is about 6 miles long (10 km) but we only had to paddle 3.4 miles (5.5 km) of it as the river comes in from the south at about the lake's midpoint. John and Ingrid had both seen a marten along the lake shore just before we stopped for lunch. Hank and Laurie saw another marten along the river bank later that day. The Marten is a member of the weasel and mink family, larger than its smaller cousins. About a mile and a half (2.5 km) from Big Salmon Lake, the river splits around a large island. There was a log jam there, which had a narrow channel we were able to run through on our 1989 trip on this river. It was completely blocked this year. We chose the right channel around the island and had to pull over some logs in three spots, with short runs through narrow channels between the lift-overs. We don't know what the channel to the left of the island was like, but I'm sure both change some every year. The way we skidded the boats over the short logjams without unloading them (Luise stayed in too, and had some extra fun rides!) significantly reduced Ingrid's and Christian's fear of hurting the strip canoe. Or they didn't seem to worry about it as much after that, though were still pretty careful on the rocky beaches. A guided German group was onshore, downstream of the log jam a couple miles/km. They had flipped one canoe and were drying clothing by a small fire. Several in the group were looking at something in the river, and as Christian drifted by, he asked them if they were catching butterflies. They said no, there was a fish in the water out there. Christian hauled up his stringer and said, "Like these?," and their eyes got huge. He was happy. Because of the population pressure, fishing in Germany is very regulated. Rigorous testing to procure a license makes it a difficult, expensive hobby, so most Germans only get to fish when abroad. We pulled over at about 3:30 pm to camp on a large gravel bar on the right bank several miles/km below the log jam. Mosquitoes were bad when the wind went down. Lots of pictures of the lake trout before they got cleaned and eaten. In fact, John borrowed Diana's small Swiss Army knife and had Christian use it in the pictures with the fish. He showed him his own larger knife and said, "Everyone will think the knife is this big so the fish will look bigger!" Christian laughed, and used the small knife in the pictures, of course. Fish and potatoes for supper, a cooperative meal with Bauer's. Christian reeled in a nice Dolly Varden just before bed at 9:30 pm, which was released. Day Three, Tuesday, July 15, 1997 Up at 7:00 with some clouds, and cold enough that there was a light mist on the river. Very heavy dew on our tents. The trick this morning was to try and figure out where we were. The 1984 map we were using no longer agreed with the actual river course in and below the log jam. Things change...and I hadn't kept very good track of where we were yesterday. Too much catching up with the Bauer's who we hadn't seen in a year. It ended up that we hadn't gone as far as I thought, so were a little 'behind' our very loose schedule. We didn't figure out exactly where we were until just before Sheep Creek, which is quite a ways downstream. Most of the first couple of days worth of paddling below Big Salmon Lake is quite slow with lots of meanders. The stream is not real big, lots of sweepers, and some other small, sneakable log jams. There was good current in many places, but it averaged faster farther downstream. We had lunch at Sheep Creek after a couple of short rain showers on the way there. Sun often, but lots of clouds. Christian caught a grayling at lunch, which he released. Pulled into camp not far downstream at 3:15 pm. This one was on a big gravel island, but one channel was shallow enough that we could walk to the mainland for our toilet. Some mosquitoes, but not bad until we went to the very brushy mainland. Trying to get rid of all the bugs collected before going back to camp so they didn't bother everyone one else was a chore. A German couple in a red canoe passed us before we started our macaroni and cheese supper. To bed at 9:30 after watching an Arctic Tern fish from the top of a small overhanging spruce across the river. Christian took a lot of pictures of it, trying to catch it the instant it hit the water for a fish. Day four, Wednesday, July 16, 1997 It was raining in the morning, but it didn't last long. Up at 7:00, granola for breakfast. Pushed off at 9:00. The German couple in the red canoe who had passed us yesterday evening was camped at Moose Creek and getting ready to push off themselves. They caught us downstream where we had stopped to photograph two bald eagles perched on the same tree branch. They stopped to get some pictures, also, and we saw each other a couple more times that day. The 'Rock Garden' is one of the few rapids on the Big Salmon trip, an easy class two at our water level, with a few rocks sticking above small waves in good current. I remember it as being a little harder to pick a route on our previous trip, which had less water because it was later in the year. More rock dodging at lower water levels. There was no sign of one of the campsites used on the '89 trip that we paddled past today. We could see other potential sites, but not the one we used. It surprised me how quickly the river changes. What we considered great campsites eight years ago were unusable now. Got a good look today at a water thrush, a bird that was very mystifying to John and Dennis in 1989. They had heard its call practically the whole length of the river that year, but never saw one the whole trip. Found several this year. Christian caught another dolly varden shortly before we stopped to camp. We pulled over about 2:30 pm on a sand/gravel bar on the left a mile or so below Bat Creek. A light rain fell from about 5:00 pm to 6:00 pm, but we had the tarp up already. Spanish rice and tortilla chips for supper. Mosquitoes not bad if any breeze. The sun was back out by 7:00 pm. Bed at 9:00 pm. Day five, Thursday, July 17, 1997 Up at 7:00, cloudy, but no more rain last night. Breakfast of eggs and toast. Pushed off at 9:30. Slowly cleared up and sunny by 11:00, but clouded up again later. We pulled over before lunch for John to take pictures of some beaver works on a side creek, and saw another water thrush there. 10 miles by lunch (16 km), and had stopped to look at a lake that had a moose at the other end, a half mile away (800 m) from us. Not worth pictures. There are lots of small lakes very close to the river that are often worth checking for wildlife. In areas of river meanders, course changes leave oxbow lakes, often just a short 25 to 100 yard/meter walk from the river. They can contain feeding moose, or caribou getting a drink of water. More animals can often be seen in them because few river travelers know to stop and look for them. We watched the map for lakes that looked real close to the river and stopped at ones when we had time. We saw several moose this way in 1989, fewer this year. Of course, best viewing times are early morning and late evening, times paddlers are not likely to be on the water. At 3:30 pm we stopped at a campsite we used last trip. It's at the mouth of a little unnamed creek coming in on river left, and a great site because of the grand vista of rocky mountain slopes across the river from us. Game trails all over the faces, but no animals that we could find. There are both beach tent sites and several great ones in the woods if the bugs aren't too bad. We used sites in the woods last trip, but set our tents on the beach this year because of the mosquitoes. It looked like it was going to rain, and an intermittant breeze helped keep mosquitoes down. A red rental canoe passed us about 5:00 pm. The two Germans we saw in the inflatable while camped at Quiet Lake went by about 6:00 pm. Rain and supper started at the same time, but the rain quit about 7:00 pm. Supper was scalloped potatoes with broccoli, ham, and diced pepperoni shared with Christian and Ingrid. Rain started again at 8:45 pm so into tents as it looked to be a long one. Heard a loon call from a small pond across the river. Despite the late rain, a very nice day. Day six, Friday, July 18, 1997 Up at 7:00, and ate a pancake breakfast with Bauers. Luise loved them, ate most of four small ones. Christian wasn't sure about these American things at first, but he ate at least six. We used not quite all of the generous batch of batter. Pushed off about 9:45. The red canoe that passed us yesterday contained a couple from England who were camped at the next creek downstream. We checked two or three small lakes along the river, but saw nothing interesting. A few common birds was all the evident wildlife. Snapped some pictures of a bald eagle in an overhanging tree when eating lunch. Played leap frog with the English couple several times that day, but saw no one else before supper. The campsite we were aiming for, a large sand bar used previous trip, was not usable this year. Any one or a combination of factors -- higher water, the sand and gravel washed away, or encroaching vegetation could have done it. We paddled another four miles (6.5 km) before finding a suitable bar, a nice large one 20 miles (32 km) below last night's site. Here we were only about four miles (6.5 km) from the South Big Salmon River confluence, a good camp site used on our first trip. An experimental supper, I don't know what it was -- ouscous of some kind, flavored with something. Bed just before 10:00 pm. Another very nice day. Day seven, Saturday, July 19, 1997 Up at 7:00, sun was out. On the water at 9:15. The English couple was camped at another sandbar about half way to the South Big Salmon. Lots of easy wind, mostly from behind, and the river was moving well. Clouds slowly creeped in during late morning. A 45 minute break at 11:30 on a big gravel bar, then lunch about a mile (1.5 km) later (13 miles, 21 km so far). More sun after lunch, though it looked like rain before that. Pulled off to camp on another big gravel bar at 2:30 pm. Hot sun, some clouds, and very windy. About 5:00 pm a big gust lifted John's tent off the pegs and sent Bauer's tent spinning around one peg. It also made us put the boats up higher and tie them better. The cooks thought about starting supper about 5:45 pm, but rain at 6:00 pm postponed the project for almost an hour. A light rain, just the edge of the storm. Blew over, and the sun came out again, though we thought we might get more rain later. Stroganoff with chicken over mashed potatoes. The wind died which did allow mosquitoes to come out. Saw and felt a few, but they weren't bad on this big gravel bar. About 9:00 pm, Laurie and Diana tried toasting marshmallows over the campstove. It isn't any easier than on a campfire. Bed about 10:00 pm, no more rain that night. Another really nice day. Day eight, Sunday, July 20, 1997 Up at 7:00, sun out again this morning. Hash brown potatoes for breakfast. On the water at 9:10. It looked as if our 'equisetum camp' from eight years ago moved downstream about a quarter mile or more. Maybe just bank erosion, though more likely faulty map reading. This was a campsite we used the previous trip, remembered by the vegetation we slept on. Stopped to fish at the confluence of the North Big Salmon, very limited success. The English couple was there and we talked for almost an hour. Geoff and Val Welch are their names, from England, but living and working in Holland right now. They've done a lot of paddling, both around home and some in other countries, like South Africa, Turkey, the USA, and Canada. They are taking 18 days to paddle the Big Salmon and Yukon Rivers all the way to Dawson on this trip. Their campsite was well developed and in the woods, but they said the wind kept the mosquitoes down last night. Ingrid and Christian took a short hike to the top of an esker behind their camp and saw a moose with two calves from the high view point. Lunch not far downstream. Collected a bunch of small, pretty rock samples at a large bar below the lunch stop. It started to cloud up, and we figured we were a day early so we pulled over at another camp used eight years ago and set up. Another huge gravel bar on a big bend just downstream of Illusion Creek. The sun came back out after erecting tents and a tarp. This campsite was on a huge beach, lots of camping spots. So large that we may have been a hundred or more yards or meters away from our camp eight years before. We looked to be the first on it in this area this year, and many recent moose, caribou and wolf prints, and no other human prints reinforced that claim. Ingrid saw a caribou while taking a walk just after landing. Spaghetti for supper with garlic salt biscuits, which were much too salty (bring garlic powder instead, next trip). Some rain during supper, but it quit soon. Little accumulation from any of the rains we've had on the trip so far. No more after going to bed at 9:30 pm. Not much in birds today. Otherwise, another nice day. Our dreams tonight were of a supposed recent river course change just below here starting about river mile 12 or 11. It was mentioned in Bauer's and the Welch's river description by Gus Karpes and reputed to contain a class three rapids. Day nine, Monday, July 21, 1997 Up at 7:00, sunny. Oatmeal for breakfast. The sun stayed out most of today, but there were some clouds. On the water at 9:30 and started looking for the river course change and its alleged rapids. The book had the change marked in a box drawn on the map, but it turned out to be in a different place. It actually started near the downstream end of the marked area and went on outside of it. Reportedly, an ice dam caused the river current to short cut across several large bends, cutting at least a mile, maybe two (1.5-3.2 km), off the trip length. Still some sweepers, but no rapids. A high, left hand, cut cliff bank marked on our map was no longer along the river. We stopped at a steep hill hike at the next left bend and went to the top. We could see the left bank cliff mentioned above from up there. There was a good, but very small campsite across the river from the hill we climbed so ferried the boats across and ate lunch there. Around the next loop, we stopped at a good fishing eddy. Several whitefish (a bony species) and grayling, all released. Another small, but good, campsite on the point inside of the bend with a built-in fishing hole. We paddled on down to the last Big Salmon campsite used eight years ago, but it was gone -- unusable. Checked the small woods site just downstream, but Ingrid prefers to not have Luise in the brush if at all possible. There are more mosquitoes in the vegetation, and it makes her harder to find if she wanders around. We drifted down to the next gravel bar which was on the right, and it was pronounced okay. Started setting up camp at 3:00 pm. It was only a bit over a mile (1.7 km) to the Yukon confluence, now. 14 miles today (22.5 km), all on fast current, and we took our time paddling. We set up the tarp for shade. Luise was tired and cranky for the first time on the trip. The bright sun made their tent too hot for her to take her afternoon nap. Ingrid finally got her settled down. We heard a plane in the distance, sounded to us like it was taking off from the Big Salmon Village area. We had been told in Whitehorse that there was a 'Warden' of some kind doing a recreational river use survey at the Yukon River confluence, and the noise could have been a supply plane. Few mosquitoes these last couple days, even in the woods. At least during the day. No rain today, maybe the first day without any. Hardly any accumulation during any rain, so far. A very nice day, except a very hot sunset. 11:45 pm is official sunset, and sunrise tomorrow is at 4:57 am, all according to John's GPS. Bed at 10:00 pm. Day ten, Tuesday, July 22, 1997 Up a bit before 7:00. Ingrid had waked us up about 5:00 to show us the very red sunrise. Rain looked inevitable, so we packed the tents and as much other gear as we could before starting a pancake breakfast. Sprinkles started almost immediately after the major packing was done, and we cooked and ate under the rain tarp. Still raining lightly when we pushed off at 9:15. A mile (1.7 km) down to the Yukon River confluence and there was a pretty good rain falling by the time we got there. Not a real downpour, but more than we've had up to this time. Big Salmon Village is an old historical Indian fishing camp that had some log cabins for people to live in. No one has lived there now for many years, and the cabins are in various stages of disrepair. The roofs have caved in on some. One that had been full of old whiskey bottles in 1989 was empty of them this year. Probably collected as souvenirs by river travelers. A Yukon government employee motored over from an outpost across the Yukon river to give us a questionaire on river management. He said the fire we'd been traveling through since before the North Big Salmon confluence happened last year. Also, that the noise we thought was an airplane yesterday was actually a large four-engine boat of some kind traveling upstream towards Whitehorse. An average of about 30 people a day come past here, most down the Yukon. Sometimes 40 or more check in at his station every day. The Yukon is a historical route because of the 1897-98 Klondike gold rush activity downstream, near Dawson. A very high percentage of the Yukon (and Big Salmon) River travelers are Germans following this historical gold mining canoe route. We left the Village about 10:30 and drifted and paddled down to Byer's Camp (also labeled Fricksen's Camp on another map we have) where we start setting up tents at 12:15 pm. Paddled 15 miles (24 km) on the Yukon in 1.5 hours today. There's a framework for a tarp cabin here, judging from the mess and garbage, probably nailed together by hunters. We have John's tarps up over the framework for an easy kitchen and dining space. Four or more old log cabins were still standing in this area, but few have roofs. It is an old wood-cutting camp to supply the boilers on the steam engine stern wheelers before the Alaska Highway went in in the mid 1940s. Rain quit about 1:00 or 1:30 pm, though still very gray and overcast. Two people in a double sea kayak paddled by a couple hours after the rain quit. Spanish rice for dinner. Still not raining, so about 9:30 pm Christian said he was going to go catch a salmon. He came back about 10:00 pm with a couple of unopened beer cans in the plastic 6-pack holder that he had snagged from the river. Kokanee, no less! A British Columbia beer brand named after a species of salmon. He had reeled in one small grayling, too. Bed about 10:15 pm after the beer excitement. Alcohol reserves getting dangerously low, and John is reportedly a mean one when sober. Day eleven, Wednesday, July 13, 1997 Up at 8:00 to oatmeal for breakfast. A no travel day. Rain had started about 4:00 am. Not real hard, but persistant. Bauers stayed in their tent until late morning, then came out one at a time while the other entertained Luise. She was very good during her 'confinement'. She did spend some time outside during later rain lulls. There was a very pretty fireweed stand in burn areas on the west side of the Yukon River. Would have been great for pictures in dry weather. Rain most of the day. Slowed down some about 6 pm and could see the sun through thin spots in the clouds, but it picked back up again before quitting about 7 pm. A lone red canoe went by about 10:00 in the morning. A string of about ten Kanoe People boats (a large outfitter in Whitehorse servicing the river) in single file on other side of river about 10 minutes later. A big group. For us it was a sort of 'eat all day' situation, or at least between naps. Macaroni and cheese for supper. Two more red canoes went by about 8:30 pm, after the rain had stopped. We took one tarp down and repacked the food to shorten preparation time in the morning. We wanted to leave by 7:00 and do most of our 24 miles (39 km) to the takeout by 10:00 o'clock if we could. Day twelve, Thursday, July 24, 1997 Up a bit after 5:00. Not much sleep last night, maybe in anticipation of having to get up early. Granola breakfast and finished packing. On the water early and started paddling. It's only about 20 miles (32 km) to Little Salmon Village where we took pictures of the cemetery Spirit Houses built in the modern grave yard by local Indians. It was much overgrown from our last visit -- surprising to us as the tribe was maintaining them well back then (we watched some being given a fresh coat of paint in 1989). We understand that all the local Indians have now moved from here to Carmacks or other area towns. We drifted the three miles (5 km) downstream to our take-out, washed boats and sorted gear. Afterwards, we all slowly gravitated to the highway, and our two cars showed up at 12:00 noon, right on time. Same drivers. We loaded the cars and headed off in the direction of Whitehorse. The road was very muddy from the recent rain. Our cars were a real mess, we hated to touch them because of the mud. Even just opening doors was difficult to accomplish without getting dirty. Not far to Carmacks where we gassed up and bought some snacks. We stopped at a car wash on the outskirts of Whitehorse and knocked most of the mud off the outside of the cars. Dropped our shuttlers off then headed for showers at Robert Service Campground. Up to Fuzzy's for a goodbye dinner (with Kokanee beer!), said our good byes, then on the road. Drove about 120 miles (195 km) along the Alaska Highway and pulled into a gravel pit about 11 pm to camp for the night. Mosquitoes very bad there (we were fairly high in elevation). Going Home --Up early and on the road. Ate breakfast at the Jct 37 restaurant, and headed down the Cassiar Highway. A late supper at a 'Chinese cafe' of some kind in Smithers, and ended up at a motel near Prince George very late. Up early again, breakfast in Quesnel (Heritage House Restaurant, a nice place). Lunch at the Dairy Queen in Hope, supper at Wendy's in Fife, WA, and home just after midnight Sunday night. Ingrid and Christian had a few days left before their date with the airplane home. They visited Kluane National Park (pronounced Kloo-AH-nee) in SW Yukon for a day, then afterward, had to drive through a lot of flooding between there and Anchorage. They still had an extra day, so drove down to the Portage Glacier to get some pictures of it before flying to Munich.
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