12 June, River Days-5, Total-6; Miles-32, Total-122 - Chuck

This portion of the Yukon surely must be the best of the entire 2300 miles because it simply cannot get any better. The water is an aqua color and clear enough to see the bottom whiz by when it’s six feet deep. Every bend in the river displays a new vista of steep banks with mountains in the background. The current flows at about 5 mph much of the time, so the only paddling really required is to steer, however we do paddle a lot. The weather has been near perfect, high 30's at night and 70's during the day usually with a few scattered clouds.

As we came around a bend, a young buck (deer) climbed the bank and watched us drift by from his vantage point 30 feet above us. This afternoon, a cow moose trotted along the shoreline, following along behind her was a very small calf struggling to keep up. And eagles, we see them every day. Today one flew low overhead as if checking on us.

The old wreck of the original Klondike paddlewheeler is on a sandbar in the middle of the Yukon, as we were taking photos we darn near crashed into it. The Teslin River joined the Yukon and increased its width by about 50%.

I filled my solar shower bag earlier and laid it on top of the canoe deck to heat in the afternoon sun. Tonight we are camped on the open shore of the River. After pitching the tent, I went down to a point of gravel along the water and bathed with the preheated water. I asked Bill if he would like to use the remaining warm water. He said he would just wash off in the River. He stood in about one foot of water and washed; this water cannot be over 40 degrees, if that. Bill built a bigger fire than usual and we sat by it, clean, eating dinner, watching the Yukon roll on and wondered how we could be so fortunate.