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This trip was made with the <a href=http://www.rubyrange.com/>Ruby Range Adventure Company</a>

Yukon Canoe trip

Napajohnb
2006-01-03 20:11:24

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On the way Karsten told us about the fire that took out much of the local forest in '95. The Yukon is generally pretty dry, not getting much rain or snow compared to the coast and fires are a yearly danger. We passed miles of burned forest. The burned areas are covered now with grass and young poplars and fireweed so there is lots of good grazing in any case.

Got to Carmacks and found our group. We are picking up a trip in the middle and three of the group are leaving and we are joining the three who are making the entire trip from Whitehorse. The three going on are a Swiss couple, Lawrence and Sabine from Bern and a Japanese student, Toru, from Tokyo.

After a quick pack of the canoes (I figured out the bag) we are on the river, my instruction consisting of sitting in the front and paddling and allowing the more experienced Werner to steer in the back.

Werner is very open and friendly. Learned from him that traveling to the Yukon region is very popular in Germany and that there are two direct flights from Frankfurt to Whitehorse every week.

The river is an is an easy run with very little paddling needed . This is in contrast to what the first group just went through which included a 25 mile paddle across Lake Labarge in heavy weather. They did rig a sail with a tarp and paddles that helped them make some time. Sounds like quite an adventure!

Our first run was short, just a quick run out of town to a campsite on the river. No need to worry about blisters or soreness today.

We landed on an Island for the night and I got to meet Thor, our guide. He is also a German but in the process of becoming a Canadian. That makes four of our group with German as their Mother Tongue. Thor joked that the Yukon is the longest German river in the world.

As we proceeded down the river I was awed by he beauty all around. Forest and tall bluffs. An occasional Native ...