18 June: Day-11, Total-12; Miles-33, Total-389
- Chuck
It started raining last night sometime after midnight.
It almost stopped while we had breakfast and was increasing as we took
our tents down. Paddling in the rain was not uncomfortable since the
weather was not cold and we stayed dry. We went by a momma moose and
her baby, both lying on the bank at water's edge. When I yelled to tell
Bill about them, they looked our way but never got up, they kept their
eyes & ears trained on us as we drifted away.
A Canadian flag on a 20-foot pole marked the path that led up the bank
and 500 feet to Clayton Baker's place. A sign at the base of the flagpole
read: "Hund Friend, Kaffee". It looked like a welcome sign
to me and I looked for Bill, who had gone on the other side of an island.
As I got out of the canoe I spotted him several hundred yards away and
already downstream of my location. It would be very difficult and time
consuming for him to make it back up against the swift current. I waved
to him and met five barking dogs signaling my arrival. The six of us
walked up to a cabin that had multiple additions. I yelled hello to
a woman just going inside, she waved and disappeared into the cabin.
A minute later Clayton came out. He told me they live in Dawson and
come here by river (105 miles) every summer. A sign on their cabin advertised:
Gold Nuggets For Sale, Sandwiches, Coffee, Campground, Cabins. We talked
for a few minutes and I asked if I could get a picture, then said good-bye.
About a mile downstream Bill was waiting in a little bay out of the
current. He told me that apparently the nerve in the back of his neck
and shoulder was pinched again, it was very painful for him to move
his head or lift anything. He took some aspirin and we drifted with
the current so he did not need to paddle but he did need to steer. We
started looking for anyplace that we could use as a campsite, without
applying the campsite criteria mentioned earlier. We checked the point
of an island, but recent flowing ice had scoured it clean and the continuing
rain was making it a mud hole. On the map we saw a place coming up called
O'Neils Landing. Unfortunately, for us, it was being upgraded. The whole
area had been bulldozed and it too was now a mud hole except where they
had placed large rocks. As we floated along in the rain, Bill said he
had just passed an old cabin. I swung in to check it out while Bill,
now a couple hundred feet downstream, pulled in to await my report.
I darted to the top of the bank and saw an old fire ring and places
for at least three tents so I ran back with the good news. As Bill walked
back along the bank towing his canoe, I checked the site more thoroughly.
The good news was, it was a great site and even met most of our "picky"
criteria. The bad news was, there were bear tracks on the shore and
what looked to be fresh droppings up near the fire ring. We considered
the situation and decided to stay even though normally we would have
yielded the site to the bear. Bill needed to lie flat on his back to
relieve the intense pain. I knew he was in a really bad way when he
said he wanted to have a doctor check it when we get to Dawson.
After we got his tent set up, we threw in his mattress and sleeping
bag and he was laid out for the night even though it was only 4pm. As
I made dinner I asked if he would like anything to eat but he just wanted
to lay flat. That was about four hours ago, nothing heard from Bill
nor the bear and it is still raining. Hope Bill is much better tomorrow.