13 July: Days-35, Total-37; Miles-24, Total-1297
– Chuck
It was a very quiet Sunday morning in Ruby after a full night of festivities.
We also took our time. Bill wrote a letter to the mayor telling him
about the friendly people, the warm welcome and how much we enjoyed
his fair village. We walked to the mayor's home. Not wanting to wake
folks who may have just gotten to bed, Bill was about to leave the letter
at the door. He heard footsteps inside and tapped lightly. When the
door opened slightly, he slipped the letter to the lady inside.
We packed and were just getting in our canoes as it started raining.
Within minutes it was pouring, I saw water running off the canoe cover
and was glad to have it. An hour or so later the rain stopped and we
chatted as miles slipped into our wake. About 2pm the wind started increasing
and there was a light chop. Also we moved onto a new map sheet. Unfortunately,
we are back on a 1:1,400,00 scale and the next and last map sheet is
the same ridiculous scale. No more detail for us. We were near the middle
of this mile wide river, we could see the river was turning a few miles
ahead but poor visibility and many side bays made it difficult to determine
which direction. As the wind increased and the waves grew, we had to
get to one shore or the other. We went left. The waves were now hitting
us broadside - not good. My canoe is not as stable as Bill's so I tried
to keep the waves at a 45 degree angle as I made a long diagonal approach
to the left shore. Bill went directly for the shore. Both of us were
paddling hard as the waves increased in size. It was a bit of a chore
to quarter the bow off the wind but dare not allow it to go too far
for fear of broaching. At times, the bow would plunge into a wave and
come up shedding water off both sides of the cover, then do it again
and again. Now I'm really glad I have a canoe cover - Thank You Terry
Gouan, you did good work.
As I slipped into the calmer water near the shore, I could see Bill
farther upstream making a determined effort directly toward the bank.
When he got near the shore he radioed that he might have stressed his
neck, we decided to pull into the sandy bank and wait for better conditions.
We started fixing dinner and would decide if we would camp or paddle
on, after we ate. Many times conditions improve in late afternoon or
early evening.
I had a huge salad to use some of the veggies before they went bad.
Half a head of lettuce, a cucumber, tomato, half of a large onion, two
carrots, some pepperoni, chunks of cheddar cheese and too much olive
oil all went into the gold pan. It was great.
With wind and waves still up, we decided to pitch right where we were.
This narrow sandy bank is a slope of about 30 degrees so good tent sites
are a joke. Bill found a little shelf higher up that he could get his
small bicycle tent onto. I removed the leeboard attached to my canoe
and used it as a shovel to cut & fill the bank. A spot just big
enough for my little backpacking tent soon developed. We have a home
for the night.
It is now 11pm, the water is much smoother, the wind is only a stiff
breeze, it is sprinkling rain and the sun is shining. Another good day
on the Yukon.