A Yukon canoe odyssey with:
- Douglas Anderson,
- Leslie Hoyle
- Cameron Elgie
- Bill Elgie
Recounted by Douglas Anderson
We woke up early at Black Sheep aviation to tufts of fog on the lake. We quickly took down camp to took out some bagels, Peanut Butter & Jam.Just as we were setting in it started to rain. After huddling next to a barn out bush pilot Martin camp up the hull from the water and told us that we could take shelter on the porch of the unused cabin.
After eating out bagels, and drinking out tea the rain settled down and we helped Martin load the Cessna Caravan with our equipment and canoes. After a largely sleepless night (for Leslie) the weight was not really much of a problem. The clouds were still quite thick so we opted to stay safe at Mayo. With time to spare Bill went into town, Leslie read,and Cam & Douglas played Frisbee with Eric (A guy from the other wind river trip). Just before Bull returns from town we got the news that Martin the we were going to give it a shot. We loaded into the Caravan and took off.
After a minute of flying Martin turned to me & asked if I had flown a plane before, and then HANDED ME THE CONTROLS! I flew for maybe 15-20 minutes trying to stay below and weave between clouds. Just before we hit a patch of rain Martin took the controls, making my flying look like a baby deer walking on a sheet of ice.
We flew past a small patch of forest that looked like a forest fire had been through in the past year. We also passed within 100 meters of a mountain side. Soon Martin pointed the Wind and then McClusky Lake. He flew almost overhead then pitched the plane hard to the left and executed a very fast turn. Me made a short approach and put the plane down gently. We unloaded the boats and packs and waved goodbye to Martin. We assembled the boats more quickly than expected and had some hot chocolate. We carried the boats to Elgie Creek (formally known as unnamed stream) and had some bagels & cream cheese.
After expecting to have to line the boats for 3 hours the top half of the stream was a roller coaster & crash coarse (pun intended) rolled into one. In several spots we would hop out and line but for the most part we would leap frog past one another.
The near continuous rapids were made much harder by the distracting vistas that were indescribable.The water was so clear & blew that the peddles of many colours seemed to dance at the bottom of the stream.
As we approached one of many sweepers Bill and Leslie eddied out, something that Cam and I were unable to do. I ducked under the overhanding tree but the current pushed Cam further under. The current took the bottom of the boat soaking Cam & half-soaking the quick to bail Douglas. We recovered the canoe and our packs and were unscathed (dignity aside).
We went a little more down stream and passed a second of flooded forest. Every corner was blind and exciting and terrifying. A little while later we reached the headwater of the wind and explored a hunting camp.
We pushed on & went 10 km before we noticed. Afterwards we found out that we went an average of 11 km/h and maxed out at 17 km/h. We setup camp at the base of an exciting looking mountain. We made amazing Tuna Mac & Cheese and pudding. Cam & Leslie won Euchre before turning in.
Recounted by Leslie Hoyle
Sleep in till 9 am (or later?) Bill had a headache but it remained through the day.
Big Hike Day! We walked along a day, wide creek bed to access a long spur. Set out to climb the "mountain" at 519 764. We camped at 522 767, upstream 50 meters from the main river. Tents on a nice spongy spot just above the flood plane. The cooking tarp on the rocks.
The hike was a variety of stoney dry creek bead hopping though spongy [?] boreal forest, across wind-swept alpine meadows and climbing up steep black scree rock. By the time we got to the nearly the top the testosterone was running high and Mum (me) was nearly bead. Douglas t d [?], after some anxious steep climbing decided to stay & enjoy the incredible views while Bill and Cam went to the top.
The most amazing thing about the day was seeing the caribou. We saw, quite close up, a mama caribou and with a massive rack of antler. AND her two youngsters. We spent a lot of time watching them at a flat (ish) spot (which we instantly referred to as Caribou Meadows. From below as well as from above when we hiked above. The tree live [?]. They were curious and while mama was cautious, they did not seem afraid. Seeing them was the high point of the day (for all of us).
Great pizza dinner and superb, gourmet cheesecake with freshly picked blueberry coulis created by Douglas.
It has been great to have the bug tent the last 2 nights, to play euchre undisterbed by noun [?] and mosquitoes.
Cool and windy day, a few spinkels of rain here and there. Not bad at all.
Recounted by Bill Elgie
Another late start. Got up around 8:30, made tea and enjoyed a beautiful sunny morning. Packed up camp and were out by 11:30. Had a brief moment of panic when we couldn't find one of our paddles. After 5 minutes of searching Doug found the paddle at the place where we started going upstream to our camp. Good Find Doug!
The paddling was great! Lots of fast turnings early on. Tricky the main current. Clear blue water, lots of fast turns. Cam thought it reminded hum of the credit river, in terms of trying to find deep channels and the general speed of the water.
Had a nice lunch of hamburger helper lasagna by the edge of a stream tributary south of Bond Creek.
We met a group of 8 people, just before lunch. They were fishing and preparing lunch on a spit island. Seemed like German Tourists with a tour operator.
The current slowed right-down for much of the afternoon combined with a strong headwind we moved much more slowly in the afternoon. Around 5-6 pm, the current stated picking up and we made good progress. Decided to pass on lots of nice campsites intending to camp closer to Bear River. But one we stated looking for sites suddenly we couldn't find any. We ended up paddling later into the day than we had intended.
We were rewarded for our efforts by seeing a Grizzly Bear, about ~3 km upstream from Bear River. It was foraging in a large meadow, on an island mid-stream.
We pulled over and marvelled at it for a long time. We also decided that we needed to put some distance between us and the bear before camping.
Found a lovely campsite just upstream of Bear River. Flat, Open and great view of the incredible mountain range on the west side of the river. It is so tall and shear that we have started calling it "The Wall".
Great dinner of chicken and bean quesadillas, and S'mores.
Recounted by Cameron Elgie
It seems slow started are turning into our habit on this trip as we got up at 8:30ish again & and enjoyed another 2 hot beverage morning with breakfast burritos. It should be noted that while it appears we are getting up late, the cold mornings & staring light here has really just shifted our schedule, eating late breakfast, 2:00 pm lunch 8:00 pm dinner (generally) * going to bed after 11 pm.
Today we finished our breakfast & went on a short hike following a ride upstream of our camp. The first part of this hike afforded a great view of the valley from which we came. Then we looped back towards our campsite by weaving towards sphagnum moss filled boreal forest. Finishing the hike by passing through the delta of the Bear River as it moved to merge with the wind.
We enjoyed cheese crackers, & pepperoni sticks for lunch, as welled a sheltered [?] napped and read books through an afternoon rain shower. At around 2:30 we headed across the wind to explore the base of "The Wall". Cascading mountain streams ran down crevices in the cliff, & we hiked up one shallow gully to have a cold shower in a small creek waterfall. Doug & I (Cam) made our may along the bottom of The Wall from about 2 km (maybe 2.5) while Mom & Dad disappeared to explore another mountain creek! Doug & I got back to camp 1st & were joined later by my parents for tea & dinner prep.
Tonight was mulligatawny stew & fresh baked cookies for desert (also chocolate appetizer due to a hungry Mama.
Weather today was cloudy hazy but the warmest yet, likely in the high teens.
(stew worked out great by the way)
Recounted by Leslie Hoyle
Left "The Wall", broke camp in wet, so double beverage morning
Really cold paddling day. Felt like late October.
Had Douglas' super wild rice salad for lunch.
Perfect Campsite just opposite Royal Mountain. Stopped nice and early and had time to walk up the hill/mountain behind our site. Stunning views in the low sunlight.
Bannock and baked beans for dinner, and of course euchre before bed.
Bill thought he saw some Dall sheep up the hill so the boys went up but it was just a white rock.
The beautiful blue water rushing by our site, right outside our tent, the fabulous mountains and breeze keep the bugs away made this a perfect site.
Recounted by Bill Elgie
Early wake up (7:15 am), and only 1 hot beverage this morning. Trying to break camp early to get to our day hike mountain.
Picked a mid-sized peak about 2 ranging from the start of more open landscape. Cam and Douglas went up ahead, and Leslie and I ascended at a slightly slower pace. The hill was good from climbing until near the top when the spur line got very bouldery and steep.
Had lunch at a small clearing clearing near the top. Bill and Cam Climbed to the summit after lunch just for fun. Found an easier way down but it still took some time. Back down around 3 pm. Sore knees feet and legs, but what a hike!!
Stopped to bail and check out a potential campsite a few kilometres downstream. As we were standing there Cam heard some rocks falling on the far side of the river, on a steep slope. He looked across and saw a WOLVERINE!!! I mean seriously, a freaking WOLVERINE. Maby the coolest wildlife sighting ever!!!
We paddled about 8 km more through a very braided open area before camping at a lovely corner next to a large bluff, at the foot of a mid sized mountain.
Thai peanut chicken dinner. Bill and Doug won a euchre game by a very narrow 10-9 victory. Bill/Douglas 5 games to Leslie/Cam 3 games.
Recounted by Douglas Anderson
Today we woke up sorta early and made quick granola and restrained ourselves to a single hot beverage. After searching for Leslie's sun glasses we got on the water just after 9. We paddled very quickly averaging around 13 km/h. We sped down the river and some some redtailed hawks and a beaver. We stopped at the confluence of the wind & the little wind for lunch. We ate two Santa Fe freeze dried meals.
We got back on the water and traverse some of the biggest rapids yet. It was often mentioned that any of the rapids would have been the highlight of a southern Ontario trip. On river right we saw a huge landslide as the terrain changed to rolling foothills.
Soon we spotted mount deception and quickly we were upon it. We stopped and found a nice site on a point just upstream of where the river passed mount deception. We set up tests and it was even hot enough for Cam & I (Douglas) to have a swim. We made bannock, cheese fondue & key lime bars and ate them down on the point. The bars were amazingly bad. Afterwards Bill and Leslie used the solar shower while Cam & Douglas read.
Recounted by Bill Elgie
Great hike day up Mount Deception (which has a deceptively larger number of peaks that can be seen from the river).
Started the day with running a really fund splashy rapid. We pulled over and the boys stood on the shore and took photos of use running through. I thought the boys would swamp but they just hung on (bailing, bailing...).
Went up the spur and across the ridge and came down a different line with some bush crashing at the end. Really enjoyed our last big views up and down the valley.
The campsite just after Mount Deceptions is the most used one we have seen so far on the river. Least 4 established fire pits. Also saw some really cool Art Attacks - mosaics mode with the colour rocks.
Recounted by Douglas Anderson
We woke up to a cold couldy day, ate some apple crisp drake some taa and packed up camp (after the stove was engulfed in flame, thrown, broken on rocks, and "repaired").
Even after putting on many layers the cold head wind took a lot out of us. We paddled for a long time without taking in much of the scenery. But at least it wasn't raining. When we could not go much further we stopped for quesadillas. We opted to eat the toppings as a stew and just make plain cheese quesadillas. As we were finally starting to heat up around our lunch fire the rain started.
We got back in the boats and immediately lost the heat that we had just obtained. The rain drove at our faces and quickly lost the heat that we had just obtained. The rain drove at our faces and quickly saturated us.
Cam and I were attacked by a gull. I am not what we did to upset it but if we could speak gull (or it could speak English) I suspect we would learn some new and creative swear words.
We paddled for a long time and all of us here hypothermic by the time we had reach the cliffs just before the confluence with the Peel. We looked for sites on river left & right but only found fresh moose prints on the right. We pushed forward and found a place that vaguely resembled a camp site on river left. We setup our tents as the other two people held the tarp above them. We then setup a stuff tarp quickly and got into our sleeping bags to get warm. Bill & Doug slept for two and a half hours. Leslie said she didn't warm up for more than an hour.
We got out of bed into the told (it was not longer raining) and prepared the lazy perogies and had a hot beverage. We then settled into a tent to play some euchre before bed.
Late Start...
[And that was all we wrote]