27 June: Days-20, Total-21; Miles-53, Total-728-
Chuck
It rained most of the night, but a dry, cool, overcast
day greeted us. Bill left a half-hour before me which gives us both
some really quality quiet time on the river; we love it. Bill has worked
out a system of paddling that seems to avoid the problem with his pinched
nerve. He paddles with a single blade canoe paddle rather than the more
efficient double blade kayak paddle. Plus, he takes it really easy,
trying not to put a strain on his neck/shoulder. Those of you who know
Bill will understand what a difficult time he is having. This very competitive
All-American and very high-ranking Masters swimmer is really frustrated.
My suggestions that it is an opportunity to learn a bit of humility
have not been well received :) The important thing is that he has worked
his way through it and our journey of a life-time continues.
Today we entered the portion of the Yukon known as the Yukon Flats.
This is the one part of the river that I have dreaded. The river becomes
braided with many islands and numerous channels to choose from and there
are many false leads that can result in wasted hours of paddling on
the wrong route. The terrain here is very flat; the high snow capped
mountains that we saw yesterday are gone. Also, the swift current that
we have enjoyed will slow somewhat.
Bill likes to do about 40 miles per day, so we started looking for a
campsite early in the afternoon. I checked one island as a possible
campsite, the mud was so sticky that I could hardly lift my feet, the
mud encapsulated my feet and sandals and they looked like footballs
of mud. We searched for an island with a gravel shore but nothing. We
decided to push on to the little village of Circle, population-175.
Soon we were on the beach landing directly in front of the Yukon Trading
Post/Cafe/Saloon/Package Store. Chuck John, an Athabaskan Indian was
at the counter. He informed us that the cafe and the saloon were closed
because the town had no municipal water source. I asked Chuck if we
could buy some salmon. He said they had just started "running"
and that he would ask around. The little store had a lot of bare shelves.
Chuck said there was one other store in town, plus a laundromat and
shower house. They only sold beer by the twelve pack and the only brand
was Milwaukee's Best, I tried it. We went to the H.C. Company Store
and met Dick Hutchinson, who told us his wife ran the store and a lot
of people told her to fire him.
I took advantage of the pay phone and sent emails, we showered and did
our laundry then returned to our campsite by the river. A truck drove
up and Chuck John gave us some salmon, it was already cleaned and ready
to cook. We decided to save it for breakfast.
Bill turned in and as I was typing this, Dick Hutchinson
drove up and gave us today's copy of the Anchorage Daily News. He said
that after 3 weeks on the river we might want to know the current news.