What a wonderful sleep I had! Finally! I can’t even explain why, but I felt safer here, more comfortable and relaxed. Maybe it was because we could hear trucks from time to time on the Klondike highway? It wasn’t too far across the river from here. Too far to see, but close enough to hear a truck once in awhile.

I was awake around 5 but stayed lounging in the tent until 6. Jeff didn’t have such a good sleep and said his hips were hurting from either the air mattress or the ground. Finding the perfect amount of air in these lightweight hiking air mattresses is a fine line between your hips hitting the ground, or the mattress being so hard your back arches funny.

It was a beautiful morning. A bit smokey. A bit foggy. Some thin clouds.

We had our oatmeal and packed up camp.

We were getting pretty good at our routine already! Everything was starting to have a “home” so we knew where to pack what, in which dry bag, or in my handy shopping bag of my “stuff” I accessed all day. I had a little dry bag for this need, but it was too difficult to get in and out of it, and I was always digging through it trying to find things. A cheap old reusable shopping bag was more handy! Although distinctly less waterproof!

My luxury item for this trip was a white fluffy Hudson’s Bay blanket that my Grandma Stock regifted to me a year or two ago. It’s really silly to bring a white fluffy blanket into the wilderness, yet here I was. It was so warm to pull over me in the river breeze, or to sit on when my foam cushion was soaked. Each of our chairs had an action packer under them, which made it really pretty uncomfortable on your butt. Thank goodness Jeff thought of these foam seats! And this blanket made a great pillow at night. So much better than my little inflatable camp pillow!

We loaded up the boat. We were tucked behind this full tree piece of driftwood at the start of the creek for the night. Once we had everything loaded, my job was to put one leg in the front and push off with my other until we were floating again. This boat makes it really nice to push off. Ropes all over to grab on to, and being inflatable, it launches off the shore nicely, because it is so eager to float.

The tall winter muck boots were perfect though. I don’t know if the muddy cold water would be enjoyable on the feet early in the morning otherwise?

As an aside, this Stryker boat has 5 separate sections of air. So if we punctured the boat, we had backup air to keep floating so we could find a shore and patch the hole. Just to reassure anyone worried about us in what looks like a giant dinghy! The bottom is re-enforced too, to protect the hull from the rocks when you pull it on shore.

Although cool, we were prepping for a hot day. When we had cell signal in Carmacks the day before, the forecast promised a couple of hot days ahead! But when we checked the forecast in Whitehorse, that rain on the morning of day 3 was not in it! So who knows what was in store of us.

One thing we did know, was today we were going to Fort Selkirk.

I’ve wanted to visit this place for years, but since it is across the Yukon River, you need a boat!

Today I was finally going to stroke it off my bucket list!

I got comfortable in the front of the boat and we floated along. I was looking at all the bites all over my legs. My knees were sunburned now. I think I have a boot tan!! My bottom lip was feeling puffy and tender too. Sunburn or windburn? Probably both!

Jeff spotted a big black bear up on the left, up on top of a high bank. Our first bear sighting of this expedition! It bolted out of site.

It started getting really windy. We started out ready for warm weather, but slowly starting piling the layers back on!

The river started getting really wide here, with many many islands.

Then we were in the Minto area!

The highway isn’t too far from here, off to our right, so the camps and homestead farms that were along this stretch are highway accessible.

Also here in the Minto mine. It is a copper mine that was abandoned again recently, leaving it in the hands of the government to remediate.

I always saw the sign at the turn off from the highway for the Minto mine, but never once did I realize that the actual mine was across the river! There is a barge here, actually a few, used to take equipment and workers across the river. Right now, because the mine isn’t operating, it was pretty quiet.

The Minto Landing was further along the shore from where the barge was parked. There was a large power line crossing the river for the mine. They are a major, or were a major, consumer of Yukon’s energy.

There were a couple of pickup trucks parked across the river.

The mine isn’t right at the landing. There is a road and a stretch of power line for quite aways along the shore before heading back into the trees.

I know there is a “resort” of sorts somewhere along the right, where the bus trip tourists would stop for lunch. There is supposed to be a picnic pavilion, and I think I recall even seeing a sign with a symbol for showers here, but it is closed right now and I’ve never turned off the road to check it out.

I don’t know if that is what I was seeing, or if the camp for the miners is on the highway side, or if they are one in the same. There was a portable shower building, cabins, and a large circus-like tent.

Then we started spotting Dall Sheep up on the cliffs to the right of the river! Look for the white spots in the next photo.

I made a note on my phone around this place in the river, that I was thinking about how the planet is just so vast. The Yukon is huge. We could have a million people living along this shore. So many natural resources. Although we don’t have enough mammals to support that. Although I supposed they could be farmed.

It is so easy to think negatively about humans and the state of our planet while living in civilization. But out here on the river, the overwhelming love of our planet, and of the Yukon, and Canada, was strongly bubbling away inside of me.

However, the outside of me was being blasted by wind!

Was it because of the widening of the river? Or the cliffs on the side funnel the wind through?

Downstream from Minto Landing, a river jet boat screamed past us, with an ATV loaded on it. This is how people travel the river now!

Soon we spotted Fort Selkirk on the left. I had purposely avoided blogs and videos about it. I really wanted to experience it fresh!

So what is Fort Selkirk?

It was a community along the Yukon River. It was once a trading post. The Hudson’s Bay set up a trading post across the river from here in 1848, but after it was attacked and looted by the Chilkat warriors, it was relocated across the river in 1852. Since then, it has been a supply point, community for both First Nations people and people of European descent, and a base for the Yukon Field Force. It was abandoned by almost everyone by the 1950’s when the Klondike Highway was usable. But fortunately, many of the buildings have been preserved, and you can visit and walk into the buildings!!

The river was crazy swift here. Fort Selkirk is fairly long along the river so while we were looking where to come ashore, I was using my binoculars to read the signs. Two ladies were standing along the rail waving us in.

We saw a couple of wooden stair cases and pulled the nose of the boat up and tied up to the stair case. We were feeling really uneasy about the boat. The current was just so fast! Down the shore, another metal hulled river boat was tied up.

There were some logs here. Were they used to pull boats out of the current? Probably.

The Saturday before was the annual Parks day in the territory. The Parks department provide boat rides to anyone who want to visit Fort Selkirk on that one day a year, and takes people from Minto Landing to the old community. So the grass had all been cut and the place was spruced up.

There is a campground here for river travellers, with outhouses, picnic tables, free firefood, and a kitchen shelter, which is the cabin in the middle of the next two pictures.

We immediately walked up to use the outhouses. What luxury to not have to squat in the woods (or over that little container I used in the boat, ha!)

Out behind the campground was the old Catholic church.

I brought our interpretive booklet we’ve had for Fort Selkirk, waiting until the day we could see it in person, and started off to explore the buildings.

The booklet had a map of the community, and the story of the people that lived in each of the buildings.

The first one was set up with interpretive information, snacks available for purchase, and artifacts for viewing. Here’s a map that shows the river, telegraph line, and overland trails.

It was SO hot! I had my fleece on still, but with reason! I had stuff shoved in all the pockets, like my glasses, knowing I may need to switch off the sunglasses when I was inside. But I was desperately thirsty. I headed back to the boat to get my water bottle.

We were feeling so insecure about the boat. Jeff was nervous too about leaving his rifle in it, unattended, with people around. He had put a trigger lock on it, but was still uneasy. We kept going back to check on it, and Jeff tied a second line to the stair railing too, just because the current was so swift.

What an absolute treasure this place was!

I loved reading the snippets about the ladies who lived here. They often were white missionaries and ended up marrying trappers and embraced their new lifestyle.

One woman said she was never bored here, and there was always something to do. They picked and canned many berries every summer and lived on moose meat, fish, and whatever their men caught on their trapline – including gophers and rabbits.

Since many of the men ran travelled by dog sled in the winter, at times there were 200 dogs running around town! One lady recorded that they would howl in the winter when the northern lights were dancing!

I wonder if any of these residents wrote a book, or published their journal. I’d love to read more about the lives they had here!

It wasn’t even that long ago that people lived here. You’d think we were looking at relics from centuries ago, but no. Many of these places were lived in until the 1950’s, and one man lived in this community until he passed away in 2000!

There is an Anglican church here too. Two churches!

It was neat to think about people shuffling through these very doors to worship.

But then I was immediately startled to see a noose inside the door!

But then I quickly realized it was the pull cord for the church bell, that was still in place!

I can’t describe the smell accurately or point to exactly what it was, but it smelled like every other old wooden church in here. I’ve definitely smelled this smell before.

The pews are all still in place, and the collection box was at the back.

Most incredibly annoying was how so many visitors have to write and carve their name ALL OVER THE PLACE! You stupid numbskulls. Get the hell out of here. I hate this so much. Why? WHY?

In many of the cabins, cardboard was put up on the back walls inside with signs begging people to sign the cardboard, if they were absolutely compelled to leave their name behind, and stop ruining everything for the next guy. Jeff said if he was in charge, he’d track down every one of these idiots, since they often left their last name, and punish them accordingly.

Anyway, back to this lovely church.

There was a lantern here hanging from the ceiling, and a big wood stove, wrapped with a metal surround to help dispel the heat.

The rectory was next door to the church.

And there were some interpretive panels here with more information about the community and its people.

The rectory had a nice enclosed entrance, surely to block the weather. Here’s the front door:

Inside I was transported to another era, yet visiting reverends stayed in this building until the 1950’s!

You can just imagine all the recycling here. This cupboard door was once a wood coffee crate!

School was held in this front room sometimes, when it was too cold to heat the school house. There is still a crock inside this other cupboard!

Whoa, look at the floor!

Each of the first houses we explored had a trapdoor in the floor that led to the houses’s root cellar where they stored their food.

And a few of them had wells too, that once had handpumps, right in the kitchen!

Just the pipe remains now.

At the back of the rectory was a a more primitive structure. Maybe storage?

Upstairs was pretty rough, but then I noticed the walls were lined with old newspapers!!

Oh wow!!!!

Looking, looking… I’m looking for a date…

The want ads! Looks like dressmakers and respectable people were most wanted. I wonder how this young lady made out:

Wanted – Young lady desires position in music store; can play piano some and willing to act as saleslady in nice place; has had no experience; would start on small salary. Address D 9143 Star Branch office.

There’s a date, behind the door!! October 27, 1904!

Please indulge me, I need to read some more of these old papers, from Montreal I think?

I wonder how well these newspapers kept out the draft. Or if the people sleeping up here just liked reading? Or were they used as wall paper?

I think I could have stayed in here for hours reading these old papers, looking at the ads for steamer travel! But Jeff had moved on to the next building and I was eager to see more!

Here’s the outside of the rectory:

Next up, the school house!

Oh wow, the desks! The ones of the left had two sections with the top that lifted.

Oh!! The chalkboard!! And it is actually just fabric! Fascinating!

Next, the Taylor & Drury General store is still here!!!! Taylor & Drury had 18 stores in the Yukon, supplying goods for the residents!

This is incredible!

Imagine stepping foot in this store to buy your goods! I imagine it supplied goods for people in the entire region! It had big huge floorboards. Some restoration/preservation work was evident here, and appreciated, to keep this place here!

This building was really big. There was a kitchen, living space, storage rooms, upstairs storage, and even a stable out back that was used for more storage. Just think of the storage you’d need though, if the riverboats could only bring in supplies during the summer! There is a picture I saw on one of the display boards that showed 4 steamers tied up on the shore here all at once! This place was hopping at times! Imagine the excitement when you heard a steam whistle approaching!

In later years, the air strip behind town was used more often. Mail was brought in once a month during the winter by plane.

Anyway, back to the store!

Look at this door! Imagine the store keeper coming and going from the store to the back rooms.

And there was a big cellar below, although neither of us was prepared to walk down into that dark hole.

Fort Selkirk does not disappoint!

Here’s the stable out back. It’s been mostly rebuilt and is locked up – perhaps still used as storage?

The next few houses were all arranged pointing towards the river. Pretty much the entire place was along a dirt road that stretched along the shore.

Next up was the RCMP office and Telegraph office!

The next place was my favourite! The Coward’s house! Although the Mrs refused to take the name Coward so she made her last name Cowaret!

Their house was so pretty, with a front porch, and side back porch.

The front room was huge, the full width of the house!

Mr. Coward was a jack of all trades, and had a garage and machine shop beside the house.

Next was the foundation of the Hudson’s Bay Co. Store! And it was concrete!! How unusual! It was a modern store, built in the 40’s by the Hudson’s Bay Co., but in the early 50’s, one of the last riverboats took the store building south to near Fort Nelson in British Columbia. Imagine moving a store building so far!

By this point, Jeff just got too anxious about the boat. He went back to check on it and said I could keep exploring.

The next buildings were where some First Nation residents lived, including Danny Roberts, who lived here until 2000. He moved here in the 40’s, and worked on the ships and cut wood for them. Afterwards, the town was pretty much abandoned but he stayed on and him and his wife piloted river barges, and took care of the empty community and its buildings. The government eventually hired him as the official caretaker and interpreter for Fort Selkirk, which he did for the last 20 years of his life.

The caretaker now is Freda Alfred, who we met! Danny Roberts was her uncle. Freda was one of the ladies standing on the shore waving us in, along with a younger woman, Crystal I think?, who she is training as her replacement. Freda was an absolute delight. She said her mother was there too right now, and her mother remembered taking one of the steamboats to Dawson from Fort Selkirk! It cost $3! But to earn the $3 to pay for the ride, you needed to cut a cord of wood for the boat! And you needed to cut another if you wanted to pay for a trip back!

Freda spends the summers at Fort Selkirk now. She told us stories of the first time she saw a TV and wondering how the people got in there. And when her mother bought her running shoes. She was raised just wearing moccasins and once she put the shoes on, she fell over! She was like a cat with wet paws, or a dog wearing booties for the first time!

This year the Tommy McGinty cabin is getting a bit of restoration work, including stabilizing its foundation.

There is a new large wooden building built past here, used for gatherings and interpretive programs.

Beyond here is the Yukon Field Force complex and further yet, the Field Force cemetery. I didn’t go any further. So much more to see! But I didn’t want to leave Jeff alone too long.

I headed back along the shore, thinking of what it would have been like to see flags up on these poles!

I passed a couple young men who were going building to building. Freda told us later they were on wasp patrol! They urge people to close all the buildings up so the bugs don’t get in, yet wasps always find a way, and they were aggressive on parks day!

At Freda’s insistence, I returned to the Kitchen Shelter to sign the guest book. There’s Freda on the right, a short little live wire. I hope someone is documenting all of her stories!!

Freda told us where we could fill up our water jug with fresh clean well water, so while Jeff did that, I signed the registry and then went up to see the St. Francis Xavier Catholic church.

I liked peeking to see who was here before us, and where they were from! There were many of them there on Parks Day, but the dozen before us were all in canoes.

What a primitive little church! Although likely easier to heat that that Anglican church with the super tall roof!

Look at those pews! No one is nodding off on one of these!

Look at the marks in the longs from when they were hand hewn!

There was a trail here to the First Nation Cemetery. Freda said they were marking with pins where the unlabeled graves were so they make markers for everyone.

We skipped this cemetery too, and the landing strip, and the farm. When we planned out this trip, we thought we’d spend a night here. And I really wanted to. To spend a night in Fort Selkirk, further exploring, and talking to Freda and the other caretakers and visitors. And don’t forget, this place had the luxury of outhouses and firewood!

But the campground was in the blazing hot sun and we were really not feeling comfortable with our inflatable boat sitting in that current. Reluctantly, we departed, after visiting for a couple of hours. I had the overwhelming urge to do something strange too. I ate one wild raspberry off a vine with the sudden urge to consume part of this place, and make it part of me. I’m so weird. Where did that desire come from? Is it similar to the urge to carve your name?

Here is the caretaker’s residence(s):

It was 2:30pm and we were overdue for lunch. We decided to just snack more and Jeff pulled out a bag from the cooler of the moose jerky he made last week!

Mmmm delicious!

From time to time, we spotted other little cabins here and there. We were close to Pelly Crossing, home of the Selkirk First Nation, which is on the highway. They have access to the river from near there.

We had asked Freda about the next camp sites and she had a few ideas. She told us where a big grumpy ol’ grizzly bear lived, so we immediately noped out of staying near there, although she said he could be dead by now. She said there was a fire down stream, where the three channels start.

We found it, burning away at it’s edges.

We started hunting around for a spot. We wanted to avoid a cranky bear. And didn’t think we should stay right beside the fire either.

I spotted a bear, and then later a moose.

There were smouldering hot spots for quite a distance, with a few flames, and small threads of smoke drifting up here and there.

I started to realize that hunting for a spot to camp was very similar to back when you’d pull into a town and look for a motel for the night (before online booking). You’d think, no, that one looks shady (too close to the forest fire), or there isn’t any parking (there is no way to pull up the boat).

But until like a motel with neon signs, there were no signs for these campsites. No markers on shore. Just a dot on a map, maybe with a short description (“good view”, “table”, “a bit dirty”). So spotting them was tricky! You had to look for the smallest little disturbance on the shoreline, where people would have climbed up off the shore, amongst all the other shoreline disturbances!

And with all the islands, how many did we pass when we were on the other sides?

Who knows how many we passed and didn’t see before we found one around 6pm. Today was another long day – 125 km!

This spot had far less current in the first couple of feet from the shore. Despite the comfort this brought us, we still put a second line on the boat. Imagine if we lost our boat out here!?!

There were two tables here! Freda said they had brought a table from Fort Selkirk down to a camp site. I wonder if it was this one? Someone made a chair too!

There were a couple fire pits here, and several tent sites.

It was on an island, but I think most of the bears and moose we’ve seen so far have been on the islands. We were both on guard, but couldn’t put our finger on why. Just felt uneasy there.

We set up our tent closer to the river air and out of the woods again.

We made a couple dehydrated meals for dinner and sat around. There was some firewood here, but we didn’t feel the desire to have a campfire. Maybe because it was hot. Maybe because we were right near a burning wildfire already.

Jeff crawled into the tent first. He said, there are some flies in here! I said yeah yeah, that happens, just squish them quick and finish them off.

No, he said, you don’t understand. There are some flies….

Whoa…. he wasn’t kidding.

There was a swarm of little flies between the tent and the rain fly. Like hundreds. And their numbers were increasing.

But Jeff noticed three wasps were chasing them and making them…. disappear? die? Did they bit them? Eat them? I don’t know.

We layed there and watched the show, like some sort of wilderness tv.

It turns out this fly tv puts Jeff right to sleep. I was awake, thankful the flies were blocking my ability to listen for footsteps in the woods, but then also feeling scared that I was going to not hear footsteps in the woods, leaving me lying wide awake for the next couple of hours.