Yukon Territory - North/Black/Liard River Canoe Trip, Trip Report

Chapter Eight -- More Liard River and on to Whitehorse (To a 56kb Text-Only version, no pictures)

Day 11. Wednesday, 9 July, 1997

Up at 7:00 and had oatmeal for breakfast. While eating, Dennis found the source of a cheeping sound we have been hearing. A solitary baby bird under a bush on the ground. Multiple sound sources indicate there were probably others, though we didn't look for more. Dennis thought we might have been hearing frogs, of which we have actually seen a few. We didn't know amphibians came this far north. On the river about 9:45.

Lazy Liard River enlarge me (41kb)

Allan Creek was about 12 miles (19 km), we passed it about 10:15. John had hit it right on with the GPS coordinates. Several braided stretches of river don't agree with the map. We ate lunch on a sandbar a couple miles (3 km) before Sambo Creek, another 12 miles down (19 km), then saw a black bear along the river just below Sambo. There was also a river bank in that area (on the right) that started muddying the river a bit. Not bad, but no longer as clear as before. We had a head wind all day, some generated by our own speed and the river current. We sometimes hit 10 mph (16.6 kph), and averaged over 6.5 (11 kph). Several high cut banks were pretty and contained lots of bank swallow holes. There was much low land, and wet mud on some sand and gravel bars indicated the river level was dropping quickly.

Meister campsite cliffs enlarge me (31kb)

We decided to go on towards the Meister River confluence and arrived about 3:00 pm. (Meister Confluence Map, future link) We camped on the left, right across from the mouth of the Meister on a huge gravel bar -- long, wide, and surprisingly free of drift wood. A high alluvial cliff across river from us generates small, random rock avalanches. Few mosquitoes at this site if we stayed in the open, but there were lots in the vegetation farther from the river. There was a line of wolf tracks pretty much the full length of the beach and some old human shoe prints. A motor boat came down the Meister about 5 pm, but didn't stop. Probably from a cabin up that river. It explained the foot prints on the beach. The Meister was larger than I thought it would be, maybe 10kcfs (280 m³/s)?

Distance paddled today was just over 31 miles (50 km). We have 43 more river miles (69 km) to go. We wanted to reach the take-out before noon on Friday, so planned for about 30 miles (50 km) tomorrow, then the rest the next day. In bed by 10 pm.

Day 12. Thursday, 10 July, 1997

Up by 7:00, Hashbrown potatoes and ham for breakfast. Mostly cloudy, but broke to mostly sun by the time we pushed off at 9:40. As we left, we took pictures of the holes for a large bank swallow colony in the cliff across and downstream from camp.

Bank swallow colony enlarge me (27kb)

We reached the Frances River at 11:30 (13 miles, 21 km below the Meister) and had a short rest stop there. (Frances Confluence Map) Passed the Rancheria River mouth at about noon, then had lunch at the big gravel island just downstream. On the water again at 1:20 pm. Did another 10 miles (16 km) and pulled over at 3 pm to camp. We were at the upstream end of another big island on a large gravel bar. Very few mosquitoes here, though the area terrain was low and boggy. Breezes and limited vegetation close to us helped to keep bugs down.

We seemed to be right under a major flight path for jets to Whitehorse, Fairbanks, or Anchorage. We were only about 8 miles (13 km) line of sight from the Watson Lake airport. Must have been a flying club with about seven or eight small planes in quick succession that went overhead not long after we set up camp.

Liard River log jam enlarge me (24kb)

The Liard was now 40kcfs (1130 m³/s) or so, the Frances had contributed at least 2/3rds of the flow. The Rancheria River was little, maybe 5kcfs (142 m³/s), lots smaller than I thought it would be. We were along it occasionally as we drove to Whitehorse the next day. All other side streams except the Meister contributed very little water. Current on the Liard was very fast, seven mph (11.6 kph) or a bit less, though the last ten miles (16 km) before the Frances came in was slower. Lots of bank erosion both before and after the Frances. Some wood in the river, which probably came down the Frances. No floating logs the next day, so it might have just been one log jam breaking up. The river didn't seem to be fluctuating.

It's 6:25 pm, a really nice day. 75°F degrees or so (24°C), and sunny, with some clouds. A storm is building to the northeast, though. Still had missed us at 9:30 pm. Chicken stroganoff over mashed potatoes for supper. This was our last night on the river. Distance paddled today was 27 miles (43 km). Only about 13 miles (21 km) to the take-out bridge now. A light sprinkle for about 15 minutes after going to bed at 10:30 pm.

On to Whitehorse

Day 13. Friday, 11 July, 1997

Up at 6:30, granola for breakfast as we wanted to get on the water quickly. Light overcast, but the sun came out occasionally. We pushed off at 8:00 for our last couple hours on the big river. Some wind, some sun, and good current. We started seeing river bank houses then reached the Alaska Highway bridge just after 10 am, 13 miles (21 km) below our campsite.

Upper Liard Village take out enlarge me (43kb)

The take out is a steep bank on the right (west shore) maybe 75 feet (25 m) upstream of the bridge where a gravel road comes near the water. (Take Out Area Map) Hank walked about 400 feet (120 m) to the Upper Liard Motel and called for a cab. Bill, our pilot, and Lawrence, the mechanic, weren't at the float plane base when he arrived there, but Ralph, another NLA pilot, helped find the car keys and load the couple bags of food and gear we had stored in the office to keep them out of the hot car while we were on the river. Back to the bridge, loaded the gear and the boats as we chatted with a couple of local Indians about building a strip cedar canoe, then drove to the Route 37 junction (Cassiar Highway) for gas and lunch.

On the road again towards Whitehorse about 1:00 pm. Got to town about 5:30 pm, and found the Robert Service campground where we were to meet Bauer's before our run with them on the Big Salmon River. We left them a note on the bulletin board, took showers, then headed off into town for supper at a restaurant. We were back and in bed by 10 PM. Bauer's had not arrived yet.

Continuation...(Link to the Big Salmon Trip Introduction)

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