The trip would be split into 2 sections, first from Whitehorse to Carmacks (around 300km), including crossing the 50km long Lake Laberge, and then from Carmacks to Dawson City (around 400km). If you look at the map below you will see that there aren't many roads even today, and the river which used to be the main means of getting to Dawson during the gold rush times, is much less direct, ie much longer, than the road.
Day 1 (distance covered 23km)
We were dropped off with our canoes and equipment at the junction of the Takhini and Yukon rivers just outside Whitehorse. After packing the boats and some brief instruction on paddling technique we set off on our big adventure. I would be steering a canoe with Svan at the front, Marie and Tiziana in the other. Unfortunately the hour that I spent canoeing with Svan in Hamburg in June had not really paid dividends and it occurred to me that watching Marie steer a canoe on dry land was far easier than in the water! This became increasingly obvious when the wind started to blow! Our canoe zig zagged from one side to the other as I kept over correcting when trying to keep us moving in a straight line. We really weren't making much progress - and you know just how slow you are going when you are overtaken by pieces of driftwood! Marie our guide was very patient and said that this was normal on the first day! However, it occurred to Svan (and to me) that taking this route meant that we were actually going twice as far as we had to. As this dawned on us we both then looked forward to the next 15 days on the water with dread. There were some tears on the boat, and we thought this was going to test our relationship. When you are in the back steering trying with all your might and concentration to keep the snaking canoe in a straight line there is not much you can say to your partner sitting only a few feet away with their back to you, other than trying to assure them that you are doing your "best".
I did try blaming the "current", but after the third or fourth time Svan saw through this rather weak argument, and as we reached Lake Laberge the current disappeared and we were then faced with waves!
To help us get over this rather traumatic first day, after setting up our tents, Marie cooked us a delicious Pizza on the camp fire, and we enjoyed the food as the sun set over the lake, and talked about our experiences from the first day.
Of course before going to bed we had our first experience of going to the toilet - the real business. As we were to find out there are few official campsites on the Yukon and none come with running water or electricity. So no hot showers and no flushing toilets. The best one could hope for was a picnic table and sometimes a smelly 'outhouse'. Usually however we put up the tents wherever we liked and going to the toilet involved walking into the forest armed with toilet paper, bear spray and a shovel making enough noise so you don't catch any passing bear by surprise, picking a tree to hold on to, digging a hole with the shovel and then squatting. I will say no more, but it was certainly an experience and one we laughed about while cleaning our teeth with our still fully charged electric toothbrushes (we are such die hards). We then fell asleep in what would be our new orange home for the next 16 days.
Day 2 (distance covered 14km)
Paddling on the lake was hard work. Even though my steering was slowly improving there was now no current to help us and there were waves we had to negotiate!
With progress slow and conditions becoming dangerous for novice paddlers, Marie came up with the idea of heading to shore and build a catamaran as the prevailing wind was from behind. To do this we would strap the 2 boats together with tree trunks and then using a tarpaulin as a sail across 2 paddles. We were more than a little sceptical but we loved the Robinson Crusoe idea of building our own boat!
I grabbed the saw and set to work with Svan at felling the 3 trees that we would need to strap across the boats.
After the trees had been felled and trimmed we then needed to strap them securely onto the boat, using the beams on the inside of the boat to tie them onto, using splints where necessary. This whole process took a couple of hours out of our day and when it was finished and ready to set sail everyone, other than Marie, thought the whole thing would never hold together as soon as it was buffeted by the waves....we had seen Tom Hanks in Castaway....
We broke through the first few waves and then out into open water, Marie then turned the boat in the right direction and opened the sail. The wind caught the sail and we started to what felt like flying across the water! We were so stoked that it was working and that the time we had spent building the boat, soon to be nicknamed our "Canoemaran", was paying off.
Day 3 (distance covered 34km)
With the wind on our backs we made great progress in the morning. At times when we would normally have had to head for the shore as the waves on the lake became too high to safely carry on canoeing, the greater stability on the water of our canoemaran again paid off!
Later that day the wind changed direction, and we had to take down the sail and start paddling hard. If we were to stay on schedule for meeting the other group in Carmacks in a few days we had to get to the end of the lake by the end of the day. We had a couple of "false dawns" as Marie mistook where the lake actually ended and the river re-started, but we set ourselves the target of getting there by 7pm and we did it with 5 minutes to spare. It was a relief, but the Lower Laberge campground was very nice, and we enjoyed Marie's grilled pork with asparagus as we watched the sun set over the lake.
Day 4 (distance travelled 61km)
As we were back on the river we had to break up the canoemaran and go back to separate boats. It was a sad moment as the canoemaran had brought us all together over the previous couple of days.
The current was strong, and the weather was kind. We made good progress and passed the Teslin river en route.
Marie found us another great campground at the end of the day, where I asked her if I could start the fire. After a few pointers I lighted my first fire, and felt that after chopping down trees I was becoming quite the boyscout!
After dinner Marie introduced us to another Canadian "delicacy" (I had already started taking maple syrup in my coffee earlier in the trip). "Smores" consist of a toasted marshmallow with slightly melted chunks of chocolate, sandwiched between 2 wafer biscuits. Very tasty and also very messy!
Day 5 (distance travelled 56km)
Today we found our first grizzly bear paw print - fortunately though he wasn't around any longer - so Marie and Svan started to fish just past the Big Salmon River.
Again we made good progress, but I felt tired by the end of the day when we arrived at Cyr's Dredge campground.
Tiziana had informed us that she would only be joining us on the trip until Carmacks, at which point Marie told us that we would be joined by another guide (Alex) plus 8 Germans.
With Marie not being as familiar as myself with the German language and culture and in order to help her break the ice with the new participants, I taught her what I thought was the perfect conversation starter:
"Guten Morgen, Ich habe keine unterhosen an"
Which loosely translated means good morning, I am not wearing any underwear.
She got practising...
Day 6 (distance covered 60km)
As Tiziana had ridden with Marie the whole trip to this point and to give her some experience of steering it was agreed that we would switch the canoes around so that she would ride with me and Svan would paddle with Marie.
We set off a few minutes late that morning as Tiziana and Marie, sharing a tent, overslept, strangely only woken by a passing Swiss cuckoo!!!....or was it just me working on my bird noises??
After about 30 minutes on the water we came to an island where we had to go left "ferrying" across strong currents. This was a baptism of fire for poor Tiziana as she was still getting used to steering the boat and as we fell further and further back from the lead boat it became clear that we weren't going to make it around the corner. I said to Tiziana that we should turn around and make our way back to a smaller island where we could re-group. We swapped positions in the boat and then gave it another go. By paddling for all we were worth we made it across, to find the others looking somewhat relieved that we had finally made it as they must have lost sight of us for around 20 minutes. It was only then that Marie reminded us that we could have gone the long way around the main island if we couldn't get across the current! Well she clearly thought we needed the exercise after our big breakfast.
With Tiziana back in the steering position we then continued to make good progress along the river.
During the trip the issue of how best to wash and stay clean had obviously come up. That night as we planned our walk down to the river we spotted that there was another couple camping on the opposite side of the river. Unperturbed, Svan with her Pippi Longstocking hairstyle (pigtails), said that whoever was on the other side was a long way away and in any event she would never see them again! So she proceeded to march down through the bushes wearing nothing more than a bold smile holding her bottle of biodegradable soap wash! Believe me bathing in a river has its challenges as I found when I slipped, lost my footing and then had to swim back upstream. We joked that my bottle of soap wash that I had dropped would end up in Dawson before us!
Day 7 (distance covered 30km)
This was to be a short day as we only had a half day's paddling before reaching Carmacks. Shortly after arriving and bringing the boats up onto shore we noticed that the boat we had seen from the night before also pull up at the jetty. This was going to be interesting, we had to hope that they were not keen birdspotters! After we had eaten lunch Svan went over and introduced herself to the couple. It turned out they were a nice Austrian couple. They joked that they had seen Svan the night before and had called it a "peep show". It turned out that
they also had a fishing rod and had been catching fish regularly on their trip. Svan took this personally that they had been catching her fish, as she hadn't even seen one in the river let alone caught one! Just to cover herself in case the elusive bite never happened, Svan posed for the camera holding the Grayling fish the couple had caught that very morning during a brief break!
After lunch we went into town to check out the local pub, where I had my first pint of Yukon Gold, made by the local Yukon Brewing Company. It tasted good, and felt well deserved!
As the evening approached we said our emotional goodbyes to Tiziana and waited for the arrival of the Germans. We highlighted to her that we did not want her to leave as we had all been getting on so well and this was only the rough halfway point.
The other group arrived at around 9pm, and it soon became clear we had been misinformed...
Day 8 (distance covered 24km)
At breakfast we were introduced to the new members of the group, it turned out that yes there were 8 new paddlers, but only 2 of them were German, the new group members were made up as follows:
Helmuth and Susie (Austria)
Steve and Paula (UK)
Daniel (Switzerland)
Matthias (Switzerland)
Manfred and Christina (Germany)
I hear from a very reliable source (who wishes to remain nameless) that even though only 2 of the new members of the group were from "mainland" Germany, Austria and Switzerland can still be counted as "provinces"!! :)
As we had to go through some tuition on technique with the rest of the group, it was a late start on the water and not very much ground was covered.
Day 9 (distance covered 50km)
This was the day we would get our first experience of rapids, the Five Finger Rapids. Whilst these are only rated a 2 in a scale of 5 they would still be our first, and some of the group were still coming to grips with steering their canoes! After Alex and Marie gave us much instruction on which line to take and how to position the boat, each of us set off one at a time to follow the line which Marie had taken. These same rapids had been the graveyard to many boats back during the Gold rush especially for those who had not known which line to take through them. We had joked nervously that morning that the bears would be waiting on the shore to help fish us out!
We all went through unscathed and had the feeling that we wanted to do more. It was a truly great memory!
That night we made our first camp on an island, where during dinner we saw a guy paddling a 2 man canoe. That looks crazy we thought. Marie shouted over to ask him if he wanted to join us for dinner. He managed to stop the boat and come over. His name was Harri from Finland, and to us he became known as the 'Finnish Mountain Man' after he recalled many interesting and funny tales from his times skiing and mountaineering. Harri told us that on a whim he had decided to hire a canoe in Whitehorse (only able to get one for two people) and then paddle all the way to Dawson by himself in around 5 or 6 days, staying on the water 12 hours a day (we were only paddling for 6 hours/day) using maps he had borrowed and with limited canoeing experience. On arrival he would then hitch hike back to Whitehorse! You have to admire people like that. He seemed to like company more than his ambitious goal and was found to tag along with us for a couple of days.
Day 10 (distance covered 55km)
We arrived at Fort Selkirk after a warm and pleasant day on the water (ie no headwind for a change). In order to give others some steering experience we switched canoes around a little, Svan rode with Marie and I joined Daniel. During each day's paddling we would have several breaks, sometimes rafting up and letting the current take us along (although clearly slowly) whilst eating energy food such as chocolate or granola bars, and then of course there were regular stops on shore for toilet breaks. The latter increased in frequency along the trip as we all realised how easy it was to get de-hydrated which normally resulted in headaches, and thus encouraged us to drink lots.
As Alex addressed the German speaking contingent we overheard him use the word, "pinkelpause" ie "pee break". Being the mature adults that we are we decided that this was a great word, really a "keeper" and one we would use very much thereafter! :)
That night at camp Marie found a frisbee so Harri, her and I played for a while before heading off to bed! It was great fun. Being at such a high latitude means that it was not getting dark until after 10pm most evenings. Time is easily forgotten and getting up in the mornings became difficult if we didn't make sure to go to bed on time.
Day 11 (distance covered 53km)
After a day of constant rain and head-wind on the water, Day 11 proved to be a real low point for Svan and I on this trip. By the time we reached camp we were tired, wet and cold. We definitely needed some cheering up.
Upon arrival at the shore, and a brief pause in the rain, Svan had an idea how she would ideally like to travel, ie being pulled, and started to craft the ideal canoeing style for a photo that should be submitted for the Ruby Range (our tour operator) photo competition. I was of course immediately inspired by the idea of canoe-skiing and the picture below shows me in action - let it ride!
Afterwards the rain started again and the mosquitoes were out in force, chasing us around our tents. By this stage of the trip, we had worked out that our rain clothes doubled as mosquito protection, and even when they were clammy to wear we just left them on. Be warned, mosquitoes can bite you through thin materials close to the skin, you are only safe with thicker garments, netting and of course plastic!
We went to bed early and exhausted that night and wished the trip was over:
- Everything was damp or wet, from our clothes and boots to our tent
- We were starting to feel the effects of having paddled 460km
- We were starting to miss our creature comforts of a hot shower and a warm bed
- The mosquitoes were getting to us and Svan in particular who that very evening had been bitten 5 times on one ear (ouch)
- The zips on our tent and sleeping bags kept jamming. This was getting to be a real pain in the a***, especially as it always seem to happen at the most inopportune times (eg nightime toilet trip)
Day 12 (distance covered 63km)
Fortunately after a good night's sleep, the sun came out the next day and everything seemed a lot better!
During this day Marie told me about the Yukon Quest River Race, a lung busting, arm wrenching, nausea inducing race of 740km along the Yukon River, where the winning team will look to complete the distance (actually slightly more than the distance we would be covering) in a seemingly unbelievable 2 days - not the 16 days that it would take us! The all time record for the race is actually just under 40 hours! Competitors do not take toilet breaks on shore instead they use a bottle on the boat, they paddle all day and all night. The only reason I can think this is possible, must be their lightweight kevlar or carbon fibre racing boats not the heavyweight fully loaded touring boats that we were using - hmmmm or maybe they have better technique? It is hard to imagine they cover the same distance in 2 days that we cover in 16 and we are no push-overs! Amazing!
Of course, Svan immediately hatched another 'great' plan. She suggested to Alex and Marie a two canoe race - you will have figured out already that Svan would be unlikely to actually be in either of those two canoes; instead she hoped to organise the gambling activities on shore. This left me teaming up with Marie and Matthias supporting Alex in his canoe, with everyone else watching and cheering from the elevated shoreline that we enjoyed at this particular camp. Although Alex thought it was a good idea it was only through Svan's persistence that the race got off the ground! I assume the actual distance and in particular the upstream paddling must have dawned on him - needless to say, Svan is a very persuasive woman! The weather was great that evening and the race started at 9.15pm. It would involve us paddling against the current upstream for about 1km, to then go around an island of about 0.5km and to then make the return trip of 1km. The winners would get beers in Dawson City plus $40 in prize money! There was also a side bet of who could guess the winning time, at a dollar a go! Big stakes indeed!
The start of the big race..(if you look carefully you can see the island that we had to go around in the distance, on the right)
Although we had all hoped the race would be close with even a sprint finish (to raise the winning tea towel) it ended up a little one-sided, as Alex and Matthias beat Marie and I by 2 minutes, with a winning time of just over 27 and half minutes. That said, it was all great fun and enjoyed by participants and spectators alike. Guesses for the winning time ranged from 18 minutes (me) to 31 minutes (Suzie) but Paula guessed closest with 28 minutes and won a cool $12 in the side game which she planned to re-invest wisely on the Blackjack tables in Dawson!
Day 13 (distance covered 48km)
Day 13 was August 16th and Svan's Birthday - our guides had arranged for us to stop at a family home on the river where they had made us cakes - Svan enjoyed her Rhubarb pie! Later on we stopped at the junction of the Yukon and White Rivers for a late lunch. We hiked up a hill and enjoyed the views in bright sunshine! As we approached camp it started to rain as well as shine and we saw the most beautiful rainbow. I don't think I have ever seen the colours all so vivid and clear; then another rainbow appeared to mirror the first. It almost looked like our camp could be home to a pot of gold! If 2 rainbows were not enough we also spotted a mother and baby moose on the side of the river, and another crossing the river just next to our 'island'!
Unfortunately instead of the pot of gold we only found mosquitoes to give us a 'warm' welcome. Alex showed us to an area where he wanted us to set up our tents over the top of small bushes, but sadly this was mosquito central! Luckily a better spot was found on the beach (hard-packed mud). No better river views could be found - location location location - as with real estate, everyone else soon followed...
This was not the birthday finish Svan had dreamed of, she just felt the cold, the wet, exhaustion and all those bites. Aiming for the sanctury of her sleeping-bag after dinner, Alex and Marie presented her with a chocolate cake with candles and we all joined into a birthday song. We had a slice each but there was no wild party that followed.
Day 14 (distance covered 47km)
Things looked up when we found a nice island to eat lunch on on day 14, and had a leisurely siesta in the sun.
This raised everyone's spirits after the night before! By the time we reached camp that night there was a feeling that we were almost there.
Day 15 (distance covered 30km)
Although Svan was noticeably better on this day the rest of us were all feeling more than a little jaded even if most had only joined on day 7. We were all certainly looking forward to arriving in Dawson City the next day.
In order to provide some entertainment for the group when we arrived at camp that evening I managed to capsize our canoe and end up in the water. It all happened as we had to unload the boats while they were still in the water and our virtually empty canoe suddenly became unstable (maybe I was startled by a giant leaping salmon?) Luckily the only thing hurt was my pride. I was only in the water a matter of seconds (keeping my sunglasses on!!) and was soon out on shore and back in dry clothes. It did seem like a very silly place to capsize the canoe after we had made it through the rapids earlier in the trip so easily!
Day 16 (distance covered 35km)
We paddled, then we paddled and then we paddled some more into a non-stop bloody headwind. What we thought would be a cruisy last morning's paddling of just 3 hours took us over 4.5! The river simply did not want to let us go!
Then in the distance we saw the "bright lights" of a town, yes it must be, yes it was, the finish line was in sight:
'Viva Dawson City!' (in the spirit of Elvis) is what I belted out as we covered the last few hundred metres.
We had made it - emotions were running high. There was a tear in the eye as we looked back down the river and thought about what we had sometimes doubted could be achieved. We all hi-fived, hugged and took photos. We then dragged the boats onto shore for the very very last time!
I am sure, you can believe that we could hardly wait to check out the beds and showers in our hotel. At this stage even a humble B&B would have felt like the Hilton!
That night after dinner at Klondike Kate's diner we then went out to visit Diamond Tooth Gerties for the can-can and cabaret show, drinks and Blackjack tables! I have to say though that those high kicking show girls weren't half as memorable as Svan doing the can-can in her gumboots and canary yellow rain outfit! There is a time and a place, and the show was well choreographed and the Madame from the show took a shine to me - or was it my spiky hair?
Oh man, the beer tasted good that night, perhaps a little too good as my hangover the next morning paid testament. I certainly felt more than a little nauseous when we all met up the next morning to go panning for gold:
Sadly Svan and I found only a few tiny particles of gold between us - no large nuggets as we had hoped for. That said, it was a fun to find out more about "placer" gold mining and pan for gold like they did during the gold rush times. Just in case you don't know, placer gold mining is one of the 2 main ways to extract gold. It relies on simply water and gravity (plus time and patience of course!), so no tossing sticks of dynamite into a cave on this trip. With the price of gold going up this may be on the agenda next time!
After a long day drive back to Whitehorse where it all started, I am in awe at what we have achieved - physically and mentally! From building a 'canoemaran', to racing around the island or making silly noises to scare away the bears, unfortunately also the rain and mosquitoes or paddling into a strong head-wind, enjoying wildlife, camp life around the fire and skinny dipping all left me with great memories and many new experiences. This was definitely a real adventure into the wilderness that I will never forget! There is so much more to tell but hopefully this little diary has given a flavour of what we went through.
On a separate note, I believe two things may not have been given the attention they deserve. So in closing, I would like to highlight Svan's fishing and of course how much I dislike mosquitoes:
Fishing
As briefly illuded to, Svan went into the trip armed with her newly aquired fishing rod ($9.99) and fly ($4.99), plus annual $35 licence and returned the same way. No fish richer!!! Starting with high hopes, surely her cunning and skill gained during her youth, plus the expert guidance from our guide Marie, we all believed the fish would stand no chance. Despite the reported abundance of Arctic Grayling, Northern Pike, Burbot, Whitefish, Migrating Chinook and Chum Salmon in the Yukon river I was surprised at the lack of fish on my dinner plate. "Shooting fish in a barrel" was on my mind, not recreational line throwing - it did however make for good photos and even better jokes.
Mosquitoes
Mosquitoes will unfortunately be one of the things that we will remember about this trip. Luckily for me, but not so for Svan, they are actually attracted to women more than men! Whilst in Dawson I saw in a magazine that there is actually a World Mosquito Killing Championship at a place called Pelkosenniemi in Finland evey Summer. Here the mosquitoes are the hunted rather than the hunters, as competitors seek to kill as many as possible in 5 minutes. I am however sorry to report that the all time record is a measly 21 which seems pretty pathetic. The organisers argue that the mosquitoes are attracted away from the competitors by the huge crowds, hmmmmmmm....
I definitely vote for more of these competitions, less audience and more participants, higher stakes and a bigger dent in the mosquito population!
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