Running The Rapids | Carmacks, Five Fingers | Yukon River Day 6

[00:00:02]Just happened to wake up at 3:40, which just happened to be sunrise.

[00:00:21]We had another really nice night.

[00:00:24]I did actually wake up randomly at 3:30 and we got to see kind of sunrise colors, which was kind of cool. I can honestly missing that.

[00:00:32]And this morning it is seeming a little bit breezy and it's rained on us once.

[00:00:37]Today is the day Blondie in particular has been nervous for.

[00:00:40]We're going to go to Carmacks, which will be you know, resupply, maybe shower, stuff like that.

[00:00:46]But afterwards, in about 20 miles, we have some small rapids we have to go through.

[00:00:52]Everything we've read says it's not that big of a deal. However, it is something and there's always the risk of, you know, tipping over running into something.

[00:01:02]I am slowly getting adjusted to our schedule out here.

[00:01:05]It is still [laughter] just feels weird and wrong to me to get to camp with hours of daylight and to not have any sort of like natural schedule restriction because that's always the way it is when I'm hiking.

[00:01:18]But it is kind of nice. The harder thing is actually been getting used to having to eat, you know, away from the tent, away from my sleeping bag since unless we're in high-risk bear areas, that's normally what we do. So I set up the tent and two minutes later, you know, I'm in my sleeping bag.

[00:01:33]It was rather nice laying out on the beach last night eating our dinner and we had a very productive time as far as getting episodes up and all of that fun stuff.

[00:01:44]It is windy this morning. It's rained off and on. I don't know what the weather is going to do. The forecast seemed to jump all over the place. We have yet to actually find one that reliably tells us what's going on, what's coming.

[00:01:57]I don't care that much, but I would kind of like to know if we're going to have a, you know, 2-3 day rainstorm bearing down on us.

[00:02:04]We have still yet to see a single bear since getting out of the car. Though, we did see uh those pair of moose in that really pretty section right after Lake Laberge.

[00:02:18]And we finally got another friend.

[00:02:24]He hadn't even noticed them.

[00:02:27]Oh, he's got a baby.

[00:02:32]Man, we went from zero to excitement really quick.

[00:02:37]Blondie already loved this camp last night, but I think it went way up several levels because not only did I see a moose down there, but the moose had a baby. So, this is probably on the all-time top Blondie camp list, at least so far.

[00:02:53]If only I'd found a vegetable sticking out of the sand. It was a Mississippi thing.

[00:02:59]So, it is 8:39. We are just getting the last bits together. Seems like we are launching around 9:00 without really trying every day, which is fine cuz we seem to be finishing our miles around 5:00. Today might be a little longer because we are going to Carmacks, doing a resupply, and then we have some rapids that we want to clear just so we don't have to stress about them anymore.

[00:03:19]So, this was our science stick last night after we had a camp flooding incident on the Black Canyon paddle I used to go I got in the habit of just putting a stick right at the edge of the water.

[00:03:29]So, the water was barely lapping it last night. So, the water seems like it's going up about that much every night.

[00:03:38]The guys at the outfitters kind of indicated that the water will go up, but it's usually pretty gradual. The guide books that does say that in June be prepared for the water to shoot up a foot uh overnight.

[00:03:51]We actually used to have me in the back.

[00:03:53]It works this way better for filming because the steerage is mostly back [laughter] there. But Jen doesn't take quite as much joy on doing like big push-offs and then trying to leap into the boat as I did.

[00:04:05]Okay, so an early start to our second most moose-filled day on the Yukon.

[00:04:11]It has gotten a little deeper through here, so we've been able to go through some of these little back channels.

[00:04:16]Like I mentioned before, we just really like when the river isn't as big. It gives you more of a sense of motion. You get to see more stuff.

[00:04:23]Being out in big big water can be kind of fun for a little while, but then it just drags because it takes a long time to get anywhere. And it exposes you to all the uh wind and associated fun.

[00:04:43]So at least for the moment, the wind has died back a little bit. The drizzle stopped.

[00:04:47]We just saw it when we came into whatever this front was yesterday.

[00:04:51]Interestingly enough, the weather was actually warmer, not colder.

[00:04:56]I have my 10° sleeping bag cuz my uh warmer weather red one was actually needed to go in to get cleaned. I would try and clean the down every like season and a half or so.

[00:05:06]And I couldn't even zip it up until really early this morning.

[00:05:12]We have seen a couple of structures off to the side. We Thing is, like we can see that they're cabins. We're not sure if they are private cabins or if they are public kind of maintained cabins like the ones up in Death Valley. Per the guide, both exist.

[00:05:28]Um we have not seen a single like no trespassing sign or anything, but we also haven't uh looked around many of them.

[00:05:46]And we're in the last little bit before Carmacks. The campground where we think we can get water and a shower is going to be here and then the actual town is over there.

[00:05:55]Supposedly, it's not possible to miss this one. I'm a little gun-shy after some of those native villages. It's easy to go right past them cuz they're hidden in the trees and there was a note about that for some of the later stops.

[00:06:08]We have been nervous about missing this, but I suddenly do not think we need to be nervous. [laughter] Ooh, I like the shower sign, Blondie.

[00:06:17]Okay, so at least a good chunk of the people that we talked to, this was the takeout. They were just doing Whitehorse or the Teslin uh down to Carmacks and this is where they pick you up.

[00:06:29]For us, this is the chance for a shower, throw out to throw out some trash, get some water, and then we go into town to resupply and we have another week to Dawson, which is the next big town, which is where only a few people go and then beyond that almost nobody goes paddling, apparently.

[00:06:46]The guidebook talks about a race and it says a bunch of people come this far, like a few dozen go to Dawson and like maybe four or five people a year max will go all the way out to Eagle Bluff, I mean Eagle Bluff.

[00:06:59]The wind is blowing. It's We've been winding enough that we're generally not going into a headwind for very long, but it does feel a bit inhospitable here at the moment.

[00:07:10]We are not getting a lot of envious looks as far as hey, we're going to be doing this for the next 2 plus months, but we're having fun.

[00:07:18]We are currently working on getting showers.

[00:07:24]Sadly, I miss the coffee and all of the food is of the meat and bacon taters would not approve variety.

[00:07:32]So, because we have the boat and the gear, we are leaning on little short trips off the river instead of actually spending the night.

[00:07:41]So, there are washaterias along the way that have laundry. This is a campground and showers.

[00:07:48]So, we are going to take a quick hot shower, put on our same grungy clothes, and then keep moving.

[00:07:56]Much better. One of our lessons learned on the Mississippi, which is something we normally don't bother ever bringing, is a towel. So, we have these uh chamois towels with us.

[00:08:05]Oh.

[00:08:06]That was almost messy.

[00:08:13]Okay. So, we were quite efficient there.

[00:08:15]We are both feeling better.

[00:08:17]It was a little hard to uh like peel everything off and jump into the shower with like the cold wind and everything, but we are both feeling far, far better, at least for the moment, as we put then put on our uh crusty uh river clothes that we've been living in for a week.

[00:08:32]We did meet another guy there who is actually also going to Dawson. Though, at that point, he's actually going to be hiking the Dalton Highway, something like that. Wasn't able to look it up.

[00:08:43]Um he was all excited cuz we said, "Oh, yeah. No, we're going out to the Bering Sea."

[00:08:47]And welcome to CarMax.

[00:08:51]Unlike the Mississippi, where we got to have all sorts of fun bridge passages, they are uh kind of rare on this one, so we're told.

[00:09:00]After one or two odd experiences on the Mississippi, I actually stress more than Jen about finding a place to land so we can get into town, but looks like this one's going to be easy.

[00:09:10]>> [sighs] >> And so, Blondie is currently woman on a mission going walking to the store while I sit here and uh guard the canoe and do any of the online things we require.

[00:09:21]Division of labor well worn on the Mississippi.

[00:10:15]>> It is far more efficient when we send Blondie to do food resupplies.

[00:10:20]And she's better at picking out, you know, good veggies versus me.

[00:10:25]But I do get jealous of her getting to wander around in the store and look at buying all the things.

[00:10:38]Taters made a coffee run and she is now trying to find veggie wraps at a place before we take off and head for the rapids such that they are.

[00:10:47]And Taters was able to find food cuz she didn't want the burgers no matter how much like bacon and things they put on them. So now she got potatoes apparently. This is a vegetable. And then we take this other vegetable and we smear it around on it. I think there's a wrap in there also. It's in a [laughter] kind of a greasy thing, but you know.

[00:11:07]It's what you can get in the middle of not quite nowhere, but in Mokane.

[00:11:12]>> This is a nice town. Everything's in one spot. We have the the store, restaurant with fresh food, showers, laundromat.

[00:11:20]>> No paddles and no jackets though, so.

[00:11:23]This jacket is my R1 fleece that's been with me since the CDT. It was an emergency replacement we were in when we were on our way to Glacier. And I just got out here and I noticed it has gotten so thin on the elbows that it's time to replace it. And I have a spare, but it's currently sitting at home. So, we're looking for something in a I'm a hunter, I kill tourists by chasing them through the woods with an axe chainsaw sort of motif.

[00:11:50]Okay, so we made one more run out to the store to get a bag of apples. We did not get any more coffee because Blondie went instead of me. That's how you can tell and that is also why we send Blondie instead of me.

[00:12:02]And now we are loading up and after this 20 miles until our uh big rapid run. Done, done, done.

[00:12:13]But see, it's okay cuz I made this little business card that has a cute picture of us and I just posted it and said, "If we're lost in the rapids, this way the media has a good picture for looking for these two. They haven't been found in 2 years."

[00:12:26]Be Blondie approved.

[00:12:27]>> It is a cute picture.

[00:12:30]>> For our never mind.

[00:12:32]So, this is Blondie's safety cord for the event of catastrophic rapid failure.

[00:12:38]This cord will make sure that they at least find all of our gear with our bodies, I think.

[00:12:44]>> When we recover the boat, it will have all our stuff. It is a last resort thing.

[00:12:49]>> Uh yes.

[00:12:51]Okay, we are back on the water. It is 1:52.

[00:12:55]The weather keeps going back and forth between cold, windy, and unpleasant and a little but sunny and warm to the point where jackets are on, jackets are off, all of that. We have 20 miles until we hit the um Five Fingers Rapids where if we stay right, there is a relatively good chance um we will live. The research we did, it was like, "Oh, it's no big deal, made it through." The lady from the previous year, "Oh yeah, I was worried about it, but it was nothing."

[00:13:20]And then Jen looked up something while we were sitting there and it was for the race and it said, "Only two or three teams end up flipping over, but don't worry there's a ranger boat there and I'm like, hey not a ranger boat and is that like two or three teams out of like five? Cuz not many people go to Dawson.

[00:13:37]So now I'm a little concerned, but you know, eh, it's fine.

[00:13:42]So um we are still moving pretty good, so should be just a couple of hours, three or four to get down there. There is a second set of rapids, the Rink Rapids, that we are going to try and get past also. That is another one where as long as you stay right, you it should be pretty much nothing. And then uh we don't have anything else to worry about as far as rapids or non flat water for the remainder of this, we think.

[00:14:08]Also for the record, Carmacks did have LTE. Uh I was able to use it with our usual AT&T Elite plan, whatever it is that has, you know, US, Canada, Mexico and a few others included. However, it is really really slow. I actually tried to buy the Mitchener audiobook for Alaska and download it and unfortunately it's Mitchener, so it's like 800 megs and there was just no way.

[00:14:31]Um so it's a good thing I uploaded those episodes from the Starlink last night.

[00:14:36]Oh, that's sweet.

[00:14:38]Come to Alaska, they said, the water will be great. I mean, maybe it will in Alaska, we are in Canada. We know, we keep accidentally saying it because the map is a big old map of Alaska that we're crossing with a little bit of bonus Canada. We are still in bonus Canada, we love Canada, we're still calling this the paddle across Alaska.

[00:14:58]And we are starting to get a few more whirlpools and things. We are going back and forth, pretty much deciding that the other side of the river is always greener grass than where we are.

[00:15:31]>> We had a wind coming from behind and we're not going to be able to do it very long.

[00:15:35]We kind of had to. This is just so satisfying when it's really blowing and we just uh kind of launch across the waves.

[00:15:43]Okay, we're in practice mode. We just shot across the river to get into this back channel.

[00:15:48]Which got a little bit fun for just a little bit. Because, you know, if once we get to the rapids, if we don't do that correctly, we just oh, I don't know, die or something like that.

[00:15:58]4:00 and this is our last pre-rapid safety stop. Blondie is using her little red rope to wrap around things. I am using the internet to contact her school and get more life insurance taken out on her cuz safety first.

[00:16:13]Wait, oh.

[00:16:14]That guy she DOESN'T LIKE, HE'S HERE IN CANADA.

[00:16:26]Jen keeps saying she's not that worried about this, but there's this elaborate rope thing going on and she just said, "Not to sound paranoid or anything, but should you maybe have your inReach in your vest?"

[00:16:36]>> I I'm not even just for this, just in general.

[00:16:38]>> Just just in general.

[00:16:40]>> [laughter] >> You know, you go into a gas station, you might get in a gun fight and need your inReach, you never know.

[00:16:45]>> I am not nervous for these rapids. I have successfully turned all my nerves into excitement. I am excited for these rapids.

[00:16:51]>> You have officially turned your nervousness into my nervousness. Thanks a lot, Blondie.

[00:16:56]>> It is going to be really fun and there's you should still take precautions, just in case.

[00:17:02]>> And I quote the race guide, which says, "Only two to three groups a year will go over and the rangers will be there in a boat to save them, but we don't know how many groups go through." Two out of three out of 200, uh two out of three out of 10, two out of three out of three. I mean everything I'd found before she found that was like fine.

[00:17:31]We have actually been able to get the sail out maybe a half dozen times.

[00:17:35]Taking advantage of any time we have a long run, but we think we should be closing in on these rapids pretty quick.

[00:17:43]Okay, and it is go time.

[00:17:47]This is where we find out, can we manage to go straight or shall we turn straight to disaster?

[00:17:55]You got real quiet back there.

[00:17:57]Okay, so these are the Five Finger Rapids, the only real rapids on the Yukon.

[00:18:02]Um everybody says they're no big deal.

[00:18:03]The guide does say that a couple of people die periodically, but it's just if they go left or middle. As long as you go right only two or three people flip over in that race. So, yeah, you know.

[00:18:18]It's actually good we know that cuz the left does look kind of tempting at the moment.

[00:18:22]So, we are lining up. Um Blondie just checked the guide again, so there's a viewing platform up there. We go through here, and the trick is to kind of hit the middle. And then often with things like this, there will be a V right afterwards, and you want to go basically down the middle to avoid hopping over little ripples.

[00:18:41]Yes, yes, crows.

[00:18:42]That is the the gap that was kind of problematic. Oh, that's a bad sign, Blondie.

[00:18:48]That gap is problematic, and then that's the kind of side channel.

[00:18:54]Aren't crows like a bad sign?

[00:19:04]And after all that, even including one last minor freak out right before where she's like, "NO, WE HAVE TO STOP AND CHECK THE GUIDE AGAIN." AND AGAIN, I'M LIKE, "I know where you have to go. I can see it. We're good. And she's just trying to mess with me. She wanted to make me cry.

[00:19:19]>> for peace of mind.

[00:19:20]>> Unless we got sucked over whatever it is. Yeah.

[00:19:24]Anyway, we didn't die yet. Onwards to the next challenge.

[00:19:29]We did take a few little waves over.

[00:19:32]Um Jen might have some water to sponge out, but uh there is another minor rapid-ish thing in 5 miles. I don't think the river is in a real rough configuration right now. We know we're kind of running low. Sounds like that can be a lot more fun if it's uh high water.

[00:19:51]Oh.

[00:19:56]And welcome to the Rink Rapids, which are the second and the one that doesn't that says it's not really uh rapid worth worrying about.

[00:20:08]We're told to sail all the way right, which is interesting because left looks a little better, but here you go.

[00:20:16]And then after this, we think it is smooth sailing for a while, assuming we live.

[00:20:22]So, as expected, nothing too bad. We are also not in a racing canoe. These canoes are very, very stable.

[00:20:30]I was just telling Jen I've flipped in a kayak. As much as I'm more comfortable in a kayak being able to move with the paddle, I uh am I have flipped more times in a kayak just because they tend to be less stable, lower to the water, you bounce over waves.

[00:20:45]And the water would be bloody cold if we flipped here.

[00:20:48]And now that we're close, you can see this is the easy way around the just a slight bit of fun in the middle.

[00:20:59]But, waggle your left.

[00:21:01]We're looking at this campsite, but Bonnie was excited cuz there was a little bird we call the buck wiggler cuz they kind of like sit there and dance and wave their tail around. Wee, Blondie.

[00:21:10]And here Blondie tries to make it ashore in order to scout.

[00:21:14]Will Blondie make it? Will Matt drift off into the Yukon with nothing but a paddle in the wrong position and peepers?

[00:21:22]Who knows?

[00:21:24]Oh, that looks exciting, Blondie.

[00:21:28]So, we found a spot that looked like it was going to make Blondie very happy and it did when she went and scouted it.

[00:21:34]She's in this weird obviously there was some major floodwater that just went over everything and left, we're calling it the zone of destruction.

[00:21:44]I don't even know what would cause that.

[00:21:45]It's like 4-plus feet up. It's like 6 feet up in some places like here.

[00:21:50]So, we shall see if we survive this and have a boat in the morning.

[00:21:55]So, the reason we find this interesting is this is just higher up than the waterline that we've seen up above and there didn't seem like there was any sort of a construction that might have held water and brought it down in this big of a flood, but oh well.

[00:22:08]We are extra paranoid, so we have tied a rope.

[00:22:11]We are way up here.

[00:22:12]Now, we just have to get up into Blondie's little protected campsite.

[00:22:17]And this is the camp that is making Blondie so happy.

[00:22:22]She loves these ones that seem like we're up on a little island. We actually are up on an island. We're up on a little plateau on an island above the mystery zone of destruction.

[00:22:35]Oh, fun times.

[00:22:45]Could we find a campsite that is less work? Yes.

[00:22:49]But, would it make Blondie as happy?

[00:22:52]As usual out here >> [sighs] >> in these camps, there's both an indication that people have been here and done improvements and lack of anything like a reasonable boat landing to make it easy to get here.

[00:23:06]Really curious what the history of some of these sites are.

[00:23:10]I mean, I could see it like if you have a had a big power boat and you're just coming up and tying in, but that was kind of a fun dismount.

[00:23:20]So, it has started sprinkling on us off and on.

[00:23:23]We did make our 40 mi. We got past the big rapids, which were the only challenging spot that we had on our radar other than just, you know, wind slog, which will be the story of the hour down to the south.

[00:23:42]Yeah.

[00:23:44]On this little uh island in the middle of the river.

[00:23:51]>> Tonight's dinner is our usual pasta and tomato sauce with some fresh bell peppers and cherry tomatoes from Carmacks along with some canned artichokes.

[00:24:05]Camp is another one that I really, really like.

[00:24:08]Similar to last night, we have water on multiple sides of us.

[00:24:12]That's the main river off to the left, and then we have this uh side channel flowing to our right.

[00:24:23]There are these beautiful pink flowers, which have been here and there on the banks, but we have a lot of them right here at our camp.

[00:24:43]And we do get to be in the trees, which gives us a little bit of protection from the wind, which is going pretty good right now, and just creates a nice nice cozy feel.

[00:24:55]Home is sweet home for the night.

[00:24:59]>> It is 9:00. It is exceedingly breezy.

[00:25:02]Somebody got me new toothpaste that just happens to be bubblegum flavored kid toothpaste, and I am looking forward to getting in the tent.

[00:25:13]Must be all them rope climbing skills, huh?

[00:25:15]>> [laughter] >> Oh.

[00:25:18]Bloody, I think you murdered that little coil.

[00:25:21]I've been setting an alarm for the last few days because I was interested to see how dark it got, and this was 2:00 a.m.