28 June: Day-21, Total-22; Miles-50, Total-778
- Chuck
Bill cooked the salmon in his pressure cooker with some
rice and onions; we had a feast for breakfast. We left Chuck John a
note telling him how much we enjoyed the salmon then bid Circle farewell.
The town was so named because years ago they thought it was on or very
near the Arctic Circle, it is really about 70 miles south.
For the next 200 miles we will be in an area known as the Yukon Flats.
The river is very braided and has hundreds of islands. Locals sometimes
have difficulty getting through this part. The waterways and the islands
are constantly changing. Large banks will be undercut 10-20 feet, then
break off and plunge into the water, often with large trees. The dirt,
rocks and trees are carried away by the swift current and deposited
downstream. Trees, alive & dead, litter sand bars, shorelines, and
the channels. It is really spectacular. We have seen and heard many
chunks break off and splash into the water. Sometimes small splashes
and some large ones that echo like a gunshot and splash water 20 feet
high.
Since we started, we have been using strip-maps, similar to ones used
by the old sternwheelers, to navigate. They are really good and very
easy to use. The area we are on now gets very little outside traffic
and strip-maps are not available. Bill bought a 1:250,000 map at the
Yukon-Charley Rivers office, but the scale is so small that we mostly
just try to follow the current. Many times the current divides and it
is hard to discern the correct channel. We took one side trip today.
At the first split the current in each appears to be about equal, then
a side channel may split again, and again until there is little or no
current.
A moose, which had recently died, was washed up on the shore; it was
a young bull with velvet still on his antlers. There are lots of ducks
and seagulls in this water maze.
A low, exposed island with a nice, bug clearing breeze became home for
the night. A thunderstorm arrived just minutes after we did. Perfect
timing; we tied our canoes to some shrubs on the shore, grabbed our
rain gear and watched as Mother Nature washed our campsite for us. It
was the hardest rain yet but only lasted 20 minutes or so and we pitched
our tents. I made a great salad, filling the gold pan that doubles as
a salad bowl.
Working on the journal, answering email messages and reading, I was
still up at midnight. When I extended my arm, the sun was two fingers
above the horizon.
We expect to arrive at Fort Yukon tomorrow. It has no roads to it; people
and supplies get there by either boat or air. Fort Yukon IS north of
the Arctic Circle.