17 June: Day-10, Total-11; Miles-52, Total-356
- Chuck
It was a cool, overcast day, a great day to canoe down
the Yukon.
I worked on answering some email messages while floating, then paddled
to catch up; the time and miles seemed to fly. We stopped at Selwyn
Station to see an abandoned and decaying log house.
There are now a lot of islands in the river. Sometimes it just happens
that Bill and I go on opposite sides of an island or maybe even a whole
cluster of islands. While doing just that today, Bill saw a large moose
and her calf. He was very close to them, about 50 feet, look for great
photos coming, not so soon, on this very website.
Late afternoon, we saw our first live grizzly while on the river. It
was just coming out of the water as we were crossing toward it. After
shaking the water off, it stood and watched us, ambled a few yards and
continued to watch as the current carried us downstream. It was a thrill!
It took us longer than normal to find a spot to camp this afternoon.
We have had such great campsites that our standards are pretty high.
It seemed that all the semi-clear flat spots had a muddy landing or
were on a high bluff. We like a sand or gravel landing, preferably in
an eddy (out of the current), deep enough to float the canoes without
dragging, shallow and wide enough to easily wade around the canoes to
pack & unpack. We like the tent site to face east so the morning
sun will dry any dew, rain or condensation. Of course, we prefer to
camp and eat on a grassy area and certainly not in the mud or on large
rocks. A good breeze is nice too, it keeps the bugs away and makes for
pleasant sleeping. We don't get too concerned about having a good view
because there are no bad ones here, really. Anyway, it took us awhile
to find a suitable site, it was about 7 PM when we started unloading
and 8:30 before we finished dinner. Bill sacked out right after dinner.
It is now about 9:30, there is a light breeze, it is very quiet and
the river silently rolls on.