15 June: Day-8, Total-9; Miles-38, Total-252.
– Chuck
Only a few minutes after launching, we put in at the public dock in
Carmacks. This little village was named after George Washington Carmack,
who, in 1896, with his two Indian partners, Tagish Charlie and Skookum
Jim, made the first major discovery of gold on Rabbit Creek. The creek
was later renamed Bonanza Creek and the great "Stampede" of
gold seekers started to the Klondike. George Carmack started a trading
post at the place now known as Carmacks.
It was about 7:30 on a Sunday morning when we arrived, but the little
restaurant and the general store were open. I had a big breakfast and
gathered some information about the town from some of the locals who
were having coffee. The waitress, Alex, had only been there a couple
of weeks. She is from southern BC and travels a lot. Probably in her
20's she spent a year in New Zealand and has traveled all over Indonesia.
We had a very pleasant conversation.
I was on the phone quite some time sending email journal entries and
making calls. I was pleasantly surprised when I read a message from
our daughter, Susan, wishing me a happy Fathers Day. I had no idea,
it is easy to lose track of time when out of touch with the "other
world".
Bill found Jack & Nancy Lamar, the kayakers we saw yesterday. Later
I talked with them also, a fascinating couple. They retired a year ago
and are pulling a trailer while traveling around with their kayaks,
bikes and backpacks. They are not the couple that Jack Horner told me
about.
Bill and I both got some food items, especially fresh veggies, at the
very well stocked general store, the only store in town.
Back on the river, the Five Finger Rapids were beautiful. The water
was a little swifter with some haystacks but not at all difficult. Only
a few miles down stream were the Rink Rapids. We knew that the old paddle-wheel
companies had blasted a channel through these once very dangerous rapids.
In both Five Fingers and Rink we stayed to the right side, as recommended
and did fine.
Along the way we spotted a moose wading out of the water toward an island,
a few minutes earlier I thought I saw something, through the binos,
moving in mid-stream and discounted it as a tree or brush floating downstream.
We also had the company of a beaver for several minutes. It swam away
from the shore in front of Bill's canoe then apparently decided it was
too far across and reversed toward the shore but as the canoe got closer
it turned back away from shore again. This reversal sequence took place
three times before the poor guy slapped that big flat tail in the water
and dove to the safety of the rocky shoreline.
Unfortunately, we spotted our first bear on the river. It had been dead
for sometime and was on a gravel bar. It was bloated and most of the
hair had slipped off. It was huge and "barely" recognizable.
We camped at an abandoned way station called Yukon Crossing. A hundred
years ago, it was used as a stop for the stagecoaches going from Whitehorse
to Dawson City. Passengers and drivers could eat, spend the night, get
fresh horses, and load on a raft to cross the Yukon. Mother Nature is
reclaiming the old log barn and log way station, but the walls are still
intact and part of the sod roof is still on the barn.
During the night, I had stomach cramps and had to make unscheduled trips
into the bush. Don't know the cause, maybe some of the fresh produce
I picked up in Carmacks or the water I loaded up back at Claire Creek.
It was such a pristine and remote stream that I did not treat the water.
Bill had no problems but he said his family is very resistant to such
problems; I usually am.
Bill is a very good partner for this type trip. He is an experienced
back-country camper and canoeist, self-reliant, strong as a bull, tough
as nails, very aware of his surroundings and never complains. If he
were female and a lot better looking it might be perfection. Bill and
I were friends in high school, then went our separate ways. I had forgotten
how he lives life with such gusto. He has a profound way of making emphatic
comments that might be mistaken as carping when it is really this "animal's"
joy for life bubbling over. We both view life much the same, he is just
more exuberant. It is good to have a life long friend along on the trip
of a lifetime.