Canoeing the Yukon River, Part 6: Ballarat Creek to Dawson City, and home
This post covers our last two full days on the river – Tuesday, August 19th and Wednesday, August 20th – with a bit about the drive home on the 21st. To start this day, the lovely little valley of Sparkling Creek, at about 11:00. We met two guys in...
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Canoeing the Yukon River, Part 5: Fort Selkirk to Ballarat Creek
We landed at Fort Selkirk at 3:30 Sunday, August 17th, Day 7 of the trip. Our plan was simply to see a bit of the community, then continue on our journey down the river. The first photo shows the view downriver, to the northwest. The campground is beautiful –...
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Canoeing the Yukon River, Part 4: Carmacks to Fort Selkirk
This post begins as we departed from Carmacks on Saturday morning, August 16th (Day 6 of the trip) and ends as we arrived at Fort Selkirk in the afternoon of Sunday, August 17th. I thought I was going to be able to tell this story with four posts, but...
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Canoeing the Yukon River, Part 3: on to Carmacks
This post covers our journey starting below Shipyard Island at about 1:00 pm on Thursday, August 14th (Day 4 of the trip), and ending as we were leaving Carmacks on the morning of Saturday, August 16th (Day 6). The first photo was taken about 10 minutes after leaving Shipyard...
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Canoeing the Yukon River, Part 2: the Thirty Mile River and Hootalinqua
This post begins on the afternoon of Day 3 – Wednesday, August 13th – as we started paddling down the Thirty Mile section of the Yukon River, from the foot of Lake Laberge north. The Thirty Mile was designated a Canadian Heritage River in 1991 for its outstanding natural,...
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Canoeing the Yukon River, Part 1: Whitehorse to Lower Laberge
On Monday, August 11th, my son and I launched my canoe on the Yukon River at Rotary Park in downtown Whitehorse, and on August 21st we reached Dawson. Just before 10:00 am we met Cathy, who had driven down from Whitehorse the previous day. This post covers the first...
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A spectacular afternoon on the Yukon River
Each summer, Cathy and I try to have one special day tucked away to remember when it’s 40 below zero – Sunday, August 27th will be that day this year. The fireweed on our property are the first of the Fall colours to get photo-worthy, but others won’t be...
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A walk at the Lewes River Dam, and receding floodwaters
I took Bella and Tucker for a walk at the Lewes River Dam on July 31st, and was very pleased to see that the water level had dropped well over a foot. Though flooding is still extensive, the government greatly reduced the areas under evacuation alerts yesterday, and after...
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Flood watch: a high-water tour of the Southern Lakes
Yesterday I took a drive around the Tagish-Carcross loop to have a look at the rapidly rising waters in what we call the Southern Lakes – the headwaters of the Yukon River. A perfect storm has set the stage for the worst flooding ever seen in the region. As...
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A bike trail to the Yukon River and plane crash wreckage
I’m getting the e-bike out fairly often, and am extremely pleased with the bike (a Giant Fathom) and the trails available to ride. Yesterday I went on a route that was particularly interesting, ending at a beach on the Yukon River, where I found some wreckage from an old...
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