Click here to read my updated post on our Near-Death Experience on Lake Laberge. You'll encounter new pictures & far more details about our narrow escape from the icy depths of Lake Laberge!
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| Another Shipwreck on Lake Laberge? |
Forging a destined dream of paddling 460 miles of the Yukon River, my husband Jake and I constructed the Sundowner with old pontoons and mostly used lumber as a testimony of our devotion to pursue this rugged adventure. In 2011, fate finally sent us venturing north over 3,000 miles into Canada’s Yukon Territory where the Sundowner enabled us to navigate the river, fish, pan for gold, photograph magnificent landscapes & wildlife, write, and play in The Land of the Midnight Sun.
Showing posts with label Yukon Canada. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Yukon Canada. Show all posts
Monday, September 24, 2012
Sunday, October 23, 2011
EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT!
April Abernathy featured our Yukon River Trip in her Herald Bulletin
article "A Grant, a Boat, and a Dream"
on Sunday, October 23, 2011.
Click here to read the full article.
Sunday, August 21, 2011
10 Things I Hate to Admit about My Yukon River Trip
Here's a collection of thoughts, actions, or whatnots that I would have been embarrassed to admit before I went on our Yukon River Trip. But somehow, these tidbits seem like an important part of my adventure that I should share.
1. As I was standing in an empty partaking lot in Whitehorse directly after our time on the Yukon River, I felt nature calling. Before I realized what I was doing, I had already scoped out a bear-free bush to relieve myself…. Sorry I can't make this story any better; I only said I scoped it out; I didn't act upon my newly acquired natural instinct. Instead, I excused myself and walked into the nearby McDonalds.
2. The Canadian & US Border Officers we encountered were all younger than us.
3. While on our Yukon River Trip, I will admit that my survival instincts did surprise me. More than once I caught myself selfishly eying the remaining filtered water or coveting a larger scoop out of the dinner pan.
4. We listened to Meat Loaf's Bat out of Hell album and sang at the top of our lungs…a few times. (Hey, you try spending 14 days of your summer hauling an overloaded trailer while covering almost 7,000 miles; you'd be surprised what you resort to in order to stay awake and to divert insanity's scheme against you.
5. Almost 2 weeks after returning home from our summer adventure, I was still sleeping in my clothes. The Yukon nights got down to the low 40s (℉), and I was already wearing my warmest clothes when it was time to burrow into my sleeping bag. Furthermore, changing required more exertion than just crawling into my cocoon of promised warmth; changing for bed just didn't seem important or necessary at the time. I also slept along side bug carcasses--big ones, little ones…it just was not a priority to dispose of them before laying my weary head to rest for the night. The Yukon had a way of altering my priorities without ever really bringing them to my attention.
6. I cried like a baby on the river…more than once.
7. I went 20 days without a full head-to-toe shower or bath. Because the water temperature on the Yukon River was around 40 ℉, fully submersing myself in the chilly waters was not practical. I got my nerve up twice to fully dunk my head for a good shampoo. The water was cold and stabbed dull butter knives into any piece of flesh daring enough to linger longer than a brief moment or two.
8. I ate fallen food off the dirty cabin floor and deck of our boat--every precious calorie mattered!
9. After our first week back home, I realized that I had only taken two showers: one the morning we arrived home and one a few days later. During that first week back on my way to the grocery store, one glance in the rearview mirror revealed that I had not put an ounce of makeup on nor had I made any attempt to tame the messy bun that was atop my head. I had also neglected to put on deodorant (so unlike me!).
10. During our Lake Laberge horror, I begged and screamed prayers up to God and thought He wasn't listening.
1. As I was standing in an empty partaking lot in Whitehorse directly after our time on the Yukon River, I felt nature calling. Before I realized what I was doing, I had already scoped out a bear-free bush to relieve myself…. Sorry I can't make this story any better; I only said I scoped it out; I didn't act upon my newly acquired natural instinct. Instead, I excused myself and walked into the nearby McDonalds.
2. The Canadian & US Border Officers we encountered were all younger than us.
3. While on our Yukon River Trip, I will admit that my survival instincts did surprise me. More than once I caught myself selfishly eying the remaining filtered water or coveting a larger scoop out of the dinner pan.
4. We listened to Meat Loaf's Bat out of Hell album and sang at the top of our lungs…a few times. (Hey, you try spending 14 days of your summer hauling an overloaded trailer while covering almost 7,000 miles; you'd be surprised what you resort to in order to stay awake and to divert insanity's scheme against you.
5. Almost 2 weeks after returning home from our summer adventure, I was still sleeping in my clothes. The Yukon nights got down to the low 40s (℉), and I was already wearing my warmest clothes when it was time to burrow into my sleeping bag. Furthermore, changing required more exertion than just crawling into my cocoon of promised warmth; changing for bed just didn't seem important or necessary at the time. I also slept along side bug carcasses--big ones, little ones…it just was not a priority to dispose of them before laying my weary head to rest for the night. The Yukon had a way of altering my priorities without ever really bringing them to my attention.
6. I cried like a baby on the river…more than once.
7. I went 20 days without a full head-to-toe shower or bath. Because the water temperature on the Yukon River was around 40 ℉, fully submersing myself in the chilly waters was not practical. I got my nerve up twice to fully dunk my head for a good shampoo. The water was cold and stabbed dull butter knives into any piece of flesh daring enough to linger longer than a brief moment or two.
8. I ate fallen food off the dirty cabin floor and deck of our boat--every precious calorie mattered!
9. After our first week back home, I realized that I had only taken two showers: one the morning we arrived home and one a few days later. During that first week back on my way to the grocery store, one glance in the rearview mirror revealed that I had not put an ounce of makeup on nor had I made any attempt to tame the messy bun that was atop my head. I had also neglected to put on deodorant (so unlike me!).
10. During our Lake Laberge horror, I begged and screamed prayers up to God and thought He wasn't listening.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Jake & Susan Are Back on Dry Land!: Day 19 of the Yukon River Trip
Jake & I are happy to announce that we have finished our Yukon River Trip adventure! We pulled into Carmacks on the evening of our 12th anniversary, covering 202 miles of the mighty Yukon River. Early on in our quest, we decided to forego our original destination of Dawson City for a number of reasons. Though we definitely could have made the 460 miles to Dawson City, it became quite clear that we were losing sight of some of our original trip goals.
Our venture quickly took on the feel of all work and no play. Yes, we knew we had our work cut out for us, but even before we left town, we began to feel as though the planning of this trip was a second job. Then when it was finally time to depart, the six-day drive wore us down even more (we only stopped at three motels--the rest of the nights we drove on through to cover the 3,300 miles to Whitehorse. The weight and aerodynamics of the trailer and boat slowed us down much more than we anticipated.
Once arriving in Whitehorse (finally!), we took two nights at the Yukon Inn to recover...or so we thought we would. We quickly found ourselves running here and there--getting fishing licenses, last-minute gear, checking the river and launching sites, reorganizing our gear from the drive, making arrangements for storing our truck and trailer (thank you Sports North!), etc. When we finally hit the river on the afternoon of July 3rd, we were still exhausted from the months of planning, the 3,300 miles of driving, and the preparations once reaching Whitehorse.
As we got a handle on how the Sundowner maneuvered on the Yukon River, a river so different from any back home, we soon discovered that the wind was going to be our biggest challenge. Lake Laberge, the 30-mile lake we had to cross early in our route, surprised us by how calm she appeared to be as we entered her waters. At first, the glass-like surface and windless skies deceived us, as we later found ourselves battling the horrific winds and waves that Laberge is known to produce without notice. The structure of the Sundowner took quite a beating from Lake Laberge (and so did we).
After sneaking out of Laberge late in the evening and rowing through the night because her winds seemed to be the calmest then (thankgoodness for the almost 20-hours of sunlight), we found ourselves taking on the wind during the next stretch of Yukon River, known as the Thirty Mile River. It was apparent that we would most likely continue to battle the wind--not the river--the whole way. Jake & I found that we had not had any time to explore, play, recover, or even feed ourselves properly, and I wasn't journaling--simply recording the miles of the day and basic events. We were just too worn down. We felt we were putting in overtime covering miles, ignoring what the real purpose of our trip was.
So, we decided to take a couple of days off to rest up, reorganize the cabin, and play. Panning for gold and fishing were the highlights of this break; they were the first "just for fun" moments of the trip. This made us revisit our goals and begin thinking about changing our final destination. You see, Dawson City was not our goal; working together to live on our boat as we explored the awesome Yukon River and followed in the paddle strokes of so many before us. We weren't exploring; we were simply covering miles and wearing ourselves out as we battled the wind with our boat, watching the canoes and kayaks zip by us.
We did the math daily; we could still make it to Dawson City, but with the frequent and unpredictable winds the Yukon blows, we knew we needed to readjust the final destination in order to meet our goals. We worked hard, played a bit, and learned much during our fifteen days as we covered 202 miles of the Yukon River from Whitehorse to Carmacks.
Our venture quickly took on the feel of all work and no play. Yes, we knew we had our work cut out for us, but even before we left town, we began to feel as though the planning of this trip was a second job. Then when it was finally time to depart, the six-day drive wore us down even more (we only stopped at three motels--the rest of the nights we drove on through to cover the 3,300 miles to Whitehorse. The weight and aerodynamics of the trailer and boat slowed us down much more than we anticipated.
Once arriving in Whitehorse (finally!), we took two nights at the Yukon Inn to recover...or so we thought we would. We quickly found ourselves running here and there--getting fishing licenses, last-minute gear, checking the river and launching sites, reorganizing our gear from the drive, making arrangements for storing our truck and trailer (thank you Sports North!), etc. When we finally hit the river on the afternoon of July 3rd, we were still exhausted from the months of planning, the 3,300 miles of driving, and the preparations once reaching Whitehorse.
As we got a handle on how the Sundowner maneuvered on the Yukon River, a river so different from any back home, we soon discovered that the wind was going to be our biggest challenge. Lake Laberge, the 30-mile lake we had to cross early in our route, surprised us by how calm she appeared to be as we entered her waters. At first, the glass-like surface and windless skies deceived us, as we later found ourselves battling the horrific winds and waves that Laberge is known to produce without notice. The structure of the Sundowner took quite a beating from Lake Laberge (and so did we).
After sneaking out of Laberge late in the evening and rowing through the night because her winds seemed to be the calmest then (thankgoodness for the almost 20-hours of sunlight), we found ourselves taking on the wind during the next stretch of Yukon River, known as the Thirty Mile River. It was apparent that we would most likely continue to battle the wind--not the river--the whole way. Jake & I found that we had not had any time to explore, play, recover, or even feed ourselves properly, and I wasn't journaling--simply recording the miles of the day and basic events. We were just too worn down. We felt we were putting in overtime covering miles, ignoring what the real purpose of our trip was.
So, we decided to take a couple of days off to rest up, reorganize the cabin, and play. Panning for gold and fishing were the highlights of this break; they were the first "just for fun" moments of the trip. This made us revisit our goals and begin thinking about changing our final destination. You see, Dawson City was not our goal; working together to live on our boat as we explored the awesome Yukon River and followed in the paddle strokes of so many before us. We weren't exploring; we were simply covering miles and wearing ourselves out as we battled the wind with our boat, watching the canoes and kayaks zip by us.
We did the math daily; we could still make it to Dawson City, but with the frequent and unpredictable winds the Yukon blows, we knew we needed to readjust the final destination in order to meet our goals. We worked hard, played a bit, and learned much during our fifteen days as we covered 202 miles of the Yukon River from Whitehorse to Carmacks.
(As we travel home we will be posting journal portions, pictures,
and memories of our trip. So, check back soon!)
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Whitehorse, YT in Canada
We will drive 3,000+ miles just to get to Whitehorse, YT in Canada. This is where we will put in for our 460-mile adventure on the Yukon River.
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