We got up at 6am. Jeff had been awake for awhile and said he heard a moose out in the swampy river behind our high perched site.

I was so glad I got a bit of sleep! That was a wild night!

We got up and surveyed for damage. Was this tree down last night? Or did it come down right beside our heads? AHHH!!

It started to sprinkle a bit, so we started taking down the tent right away, to get it in a dry bag with our sleeping bags.

We ate our oatmeal while packing everything up and getting it all carried down to the shore to load the boat.

The sprinkles increased and soon it was undeniable that it was actually raining.

I put my rain pants on over my shorts, and put my rain coat on over my wind jacket.

There were more relics to see today. Yesterday we spotted the last couple beams sticking out of the water from where the first Klondike steamship was lost, and today we saw what was left of Cyr’s dredge. It was a little floating dredge used in the 1940’s for gold mining. While the frame of the makeshift dredge used to be visible on the shore, now just this metal cylinder remains.

We saw a moose and calf on an island to our left. I wonder if she gave birth out on the island for safety? Surely that little calf didn’t swim across the river and land on the island safely?

While I wouldn’t say it was ever pouring, the steady rain was becoming an issue. If we went slowly, we stayed a bit warmer. Jeff was mostly under the bimini. But I was out front in the rain and I was getting cold.

I felt cold and clammy everywhere. I knew I had an emergency pack of those disposable hand warmers you put in mittens. I dug them out and squeezed one in each fist. Awww a bit of warmth!

I just didn’t want to get too cold or hypothermic. Jeff kept insisting I dig out our tarp but I wanted to keep something in the arsenal. I eventually caved and wrapped myself in the blue tarp to keep the rain off of me, and to block the wind a bit. I was incessantly yawning, and with each yawn my body core did a big spasmy shiver.

Hello from under the tarp!

It was hard to see. My glasses covered in rain but with them off, I could see even less. I couldn’t tell if any of me was dry anymore. Everything felt so clammy.

I was starting to realize I was not going to be able to do this all day. I told mother nature that I could do another hour of this. Just another hour. That was our deal.

So we did about 3.

The river scenery wasn’t as nice as the stretch during day two, so it was okay that it was raining. We saw all the little memorial houses at Little Salmon as we went by. I didn’t know that the indigenous people practised cremation, and stored the ashes in these little colourful spirit houses. When the missionaries came to conquer these peoples, they convinced them to abandon cremation in favour of burial, making this place extra special and historical.

Most paddlers we passed were still in camp. Tents up. Canoes flipped over. Smart. Only one camp had a fire going – a really smoky one. I bet dry firewood was no where to be found.

Except these hardy paddlers we passed as we neared Carmacks.

We were planning on stopping in Carmacks to refill supplies – mostly just gas. We really overpacked food rations! We started going a bit faster to get out of the rain, and fortunately, it started clearing up!

There were more little cabins and camps as we neared the only town we were going to pass through on the entire expedition.

We started to get hints of cell signal as we neared Carmacks, for the first time in two days, so we were buried in our phones, catching up on what we missed.

There’s the Carmacks bridge ahead! It is the Klondike Highway, and the bridge height unfortunately cements the fact that no great river boat will ever travel this route again. Their wheelhouses would never fit under it.

Soon enough were we pulled ashore just behind the hotel and store in Carmacks around 2pm. There was a little muddy old boat ramp that was just out of the main stream of water.

Jeff grabbed the two empty jerry cans, after topping up the main boat tank, his wallet, and headed for the store. His friend Blake lives here so he gave him a call.

I stayed with the boat. We pulled the nose on the shore and I just sat on the gravel bank, holding the rope just in case, watching over our stuff.

All the ice had melted already in our cooler. Really Yeti? That was two days! I guess it was left right out in the hot sun in our boat the night before though.

Jeff got a lift back to the boat with Blake. The store was out of ice, but he also went to the bar in the hotel for a free bag of ice cubes. He also bought a pack of toilet paper. We only packed one roll, but starting wishing we could also use it to blow our wet noses, and were worried that our short supply wouldn’t last all week. So now we had 8 more rolls!

We couldn’t think of any food or snacks or drinks that we needed, so we got nothing. I guess that means we prepped well?

As we pushed off and headed back down the river, it was clearing even more and getting warmer. We started stripping all our wet layers and I started my clothes line again, using carabiners to hook our wet clothes to the boat and bimini straps to dry in the wind and sun.

I was getting increasingly nervous about the most well known obstacle that was ahead.

The Five Finger Rapids.

Many people have perished here. I remember last year seeing a guy up on the highway in his life jacket, after losing his canoe in the rapids.

I was nervous.

All advice says to run the right finger. Each are separated by large rock structures. We needed to be sure we were in the middle of the right channel and then we should be fine. It is only considered a Class II rapid for paddlers, so we should be fine. Right?

As we drifted on, back at just a slow pace, with just enough throttle for steering, we saw more bald eagles. Here’s one on a pile of dead trees.

These piles are all along the Yukon River. The ice breakup in the spring violently pushes into all the banks and shoves trees into the water, which end up washing up along islands and banks in huge piles. Many standing trees along the shore have fresh injuries where the bark was rubbed off by ice, at least 10 feet higher than the current water height.

My legs were getting so bruised, and covered with bug bites of every variety. To think I actually packed a razor in case I wanted to clean up. Nope! I was turning feral!

There were old camps here and there along the river after leaving Carmacks.

And then we were there. Above the Five Finger Rapids!

Of course, Jeff filmed our entire way through the rapids, while he was also driving the boat! Look at me all jittery and nervous!

Turns out it was all good! One or two waves came over the front a bit, but mostly it felt like we went through a water ride at Canada’s Wonderland. Whew!

Next up, the second obstacle, is the lesser known, but equally as dangerous, Rink Rapids.

For this one, all advice we found during prep was to hug the very right of the channel.

There it was. A line of rapids across the entire wide channel.

Hugging the right shore allowed us to miss almost all of the waves. Whew!

Now we were home free! Those are the only two “rapids” on our route.

It was soon around 6pm and we were starting to scout for a place to camp for the night.

We found Yukon Crossing and pulled ashore.

This is where McKay’s Roadhouse was. There are still a couple cabins remaining, but not in great shape. This is where the winter road crossed the river. After Dawson City was formed, after the Klondike gold rush, the river was used by steamers all summer, but in the winter, it was a long trip out along the frozen river. They put an overland trail in, to cut off a long stretch of the river, and this is where that winter road crossed the frozen river.

Everything was covered by long, thick, tall grass here. We weren’t keen on exploring much, just because it was hard to see predators, or even much of a path.

Where would we put up our tent?

There was one packed down place in the grass, right on top of the path up. Should we stay right here? That would have us compressed into this tiny little area. It just didn’t feel good. But pushing back off down the river meant the unknown. Where would we camp?

Worst case scenario, there is a gravel bank and spit at the front and back of almost every island. You could put your tent up on the rocks and sleep there.

We decided to chance it, and got back in the boat.

And I’m so glad we did! We ended up finding what I realized later ended up being my favourite camp spot on our entire expedition. Merrice Creek.

From the river, we could only see a little trail up from the shore, beside the outlet of a little creek. We’d never have noticed it if there wasn’t a dot on Jeff’s map.

But once we walked up the trail, there was a big open area looking over the river. Perfect!

We hauled up the gear we wanted for the night, and Jeff tied a couple of lines to the boat, even though it was certainly more sheltered than the previous night.

Then we set off exploring the cabins we noticed behind us!

The cabin on the right was still standing, or at least half of it was, and maybe repaired a bit? Scraps from various things were used in the construction. Like a door made out of an old sign from the Williams Creek Copper mine.

Out back was a dilapidated old outhouse. A tree had grown out of it!

The other cabin beside it was bigger, and no longer had a roof. It was substantial enough that I imagine it could have been a roadhouse, but I don’t know for sure. The Overland Trail to Dawson had roadhouses and stables every 20-30 miles. Horses pulled wagons of passengers and freight. It was a long cold ride. Multiple days. The roadhouses and stables were necessary to warm up and feed the horses.

On top of your paid ticket, you’d need to pay for a bed overnight at a roadhouse, and for a meal.

There was enough scraps of wood around for Jeff to start a small fire. We burned some of our burnable garbage and made a dinner. I just had a bagel and salami for supper. Jeff accidentally dumped his dehydrated meal out on the ground, so he opted for a bagel too.

Every morning, we packed a little cache of snacks for each of us in the boat. Something about boating makes you HUNGRY. Which makes no sense. How could you be burning any calories? But each morning we’d dig into our stash of a muffin each, some rice krispie squares, mandarin oranges, and some coconut chocolate squares. But with our rainy start today, we didn’t have an actual lunch, so this worked out fine.

We positioned our tent out near the edge of the cliff overlooking the water. I just was super leery about being back in the trees again!

It looked clear, but should be put on the rain fly? I think it helps me sleep, so I know I won’t lock eyes with a bear through the mesh? Or maybe just because it helped darken the tent. We’re past the summer solstice, so it isn’t quite as sunny all night as it would have been a month ago, but it still doesn’t get dark.

We decided to put it on.

There were a couple of homemade tables here, which were handy! They were likely hauled out of the cabin behind us.

We stayed up until 10! Jeff played a game on his phone and I was reading on my kindle.

Ha! I had a double take because I look bald, but then remembered I had a neck gaiter over my head and hair, which I used to squeeze down over my eyes to help make it dark when I slept.

The breeze died down and the night was so calm and still. There was a bit of smoke in the air, but other than the sound of the water flowing by, and the odd red squirrel squeal, it was so quiet.

Well, except for that steady drone of insects buzzing. All day and night. By the way, is the first name of the horsefly, f*ck you? Because that’s how we addressed every one.

I put leggings on to sleep because it was actually feeling cool. I used some baby wipes to wipe myself down a bit first, but started to embrace my feralness. I put on fresh deodorant and couldn’t remember if I had even thought to reapply it the day before? Should I even bother brushing my hair? Since I was becoming one with the earth now, I walked into the woods with our trowel and a roll of toilet paper and made myself comfortable sitting on a log while I took care of business.

The rainy morning seemed like days ago by now. What a beautiful day it turned out to be! We travelled ~140 km today!