Contents
Following are my journal notes from a rafting trip on the Firth river. They are loosely edited, follow my log book closely, because I wasn't planning to write a book or anything of that sort. Hopefully they'll give you some idea of how the trip went and the things that I wanted to remember.
The trip took over two weeks, three driving from Anchorage to Inuvik, over a dozen on the river, and then two days driving back. Notes are organized by day, in chronological order. You can also look at just the picture thumbnails.
Pre-trip notes
Trip outline: Lisa and I driving to Chicago to see Lisa's family, re-celebrate our wedding, and then leave the dogs and fly to Alaska. We'll sea-kayak for a few days with Kim and Brian, and then we'll drive up with Todd, Lauren, and five other friends, a thousand+ miles to Inuvik, in North-West Territories. There we'll charter a plane to fly 150 miles to Margaret Lake, run 100+ miles of the Firth river into the Arctic Ocean... There we'll have a three mile ocean crossing to Herschell Island, where we'll wait for a plane to pick us up and fly us back to Inuvik, from where we'll drive a thousand+ miles to Anchorage, fly to Chicago, and drive 1,200 miles back home...
We are both very excited for the trip -- it will be an Adventure with a capital "A". We don't know the river flows, weather varies from 30-80F, daylight 24 hours/day, mosquitos the size of birds, grizzlies, no guns or fires because it's a national park, class IV rapids, weather-dependent everything.
Maps
We'll fly to Anchorage (A on the map) and drive to Inuvik (B):
Firth is marked in yellow -- we'll put in near Margaret Lake, getting there by float plane, then float the river, cross the straits across to the Herschell Island, and wait for a plane there...
22.VII: drive day 1, Anchorage to Dawson City
got to Scott Coster's house around 7am. Mark and Kathy were already there. We left Lauren's subaru there, all piled up into Mark's VW Eurovan and Scott's Toyota Tacoma, and drove to Eagle River to meet JT and Adrienne. Coffee and munchies at Carr's. Lisa and I switched to ride in JT's truck.
Good drive to Tok -- no rain, decent traffic, though with lots of road work stops. It seems everyone but us has food for the road -- we assumed we'd be stopping along the way to eat. We did stop in Tok at the Roadhouse Cafe. Decided to keep driving, and reached Dawson City around 10pm. The highway was beautiful -- mostly dirt. It's known as the Top of the World highway, and it's a good name. In US the road follows valleys and rivers, then it climbs to the border crossing at Poker Creek, past the town of Boundry (not Bound_a_ry). At that point it's on the top of a ridge, and continues at that level for a long time. Views are splendid, the roads briefly turns to asphalt, and all along it's lined with pink fireweek on both sides.
Chicken, AK -- tiny population, three businesses, a huge abandoned gold dredge near a driving range in the "town center". Town was named by gold prospectors who started with "Ptarmigan," but couldn't spell. Since that bird is also known as the "Arctic Chicken", they stuck with just "Chicken".
Initially Todd looked into flying from here -- but FAA and US customs wanted us to fly into Fairbanks (sic!), costing us $28K for the group. The drive to Inuvik was almost a foregone conclusion.
We crossed the mighty Yukon on a ferry, and arrived in Dawson City around 10:30pm. Late... Searched for food, found Klondike Kate's -- incredible! Very good food, almost on the fancy side, were it not frequented with dusty people like us. Fish and chips, penne with pesto, lots of other good choices. Good wine menu.
The city was full of yound people, here for some songwriter festival. Tons of parties of pierced, lively, sometimes inebraited, kids.
Slept on a gravel bar 5 miles outside of town. Loud, though rare, traffic of heavy trucks continued through the night on a washboard gravel road 15 feet (5 meters) from our tent.
23.VII: drive day 2, Dawson City to Invgliit
Up around 7am. It never got dark. Shoulder, injured a long time ago, still feels tweaked. We backtracked to town for gas, had good breakfast on the northern side of town. 2 eggs, hashbrowns, "brown bread" toast. While we were eating, Adrienne was walking down the road -- she never backtracked with us. We picked her up an hour later. Both she and JT are used to being extremely active, and I suspect that it's a huge ordeal for them to sit still for longer than an hour.
Coffee -- Kathy doesn't function without it :) - so the trip has one requirement. Since I very much enjoy coffee, I'm very happy to comply.
Lots of forest fires along the way. Smoke, somtimes enough of it to cover the road and to drastically lower visibility. At times the forest is green on our left, and burned down on the right, making for a big contrast. Once we even saw flames! Fires are small, but there are many of them. Todd tells of fires that keep the peet perpetually burning, seemingly stopping for winter, and spontaneously recommencing in the spring when the tundra dries out. Others get started by lightning.
I drove to Eagle Plains, some 220 miles. After just sitting in the back seat so far, I was happy to pickup the slack today. Our vehicle flotilla is:
- Nissan crewcab truck with topper. JT & Adrienne bought it just a month ago with 20K miles. This is the big test.
- Coster's Toyota Tacoma, no topper. Carries just two people, but has two rafts with frames, all gas bombs, lots of dryboxes, coolers, and gear in general on the back.
- Mark & Kathy's Eurovan, carries three people, has most drybags, and a hitch extender for drybox.
JT stocked up on books on tape! We started on Sidney Sheldon's "Are you afraid of the dark?" book -- it seems long enough. The book sucks me in, even though it's rambling and not too exciting, and I enjoy driving while listening to the happenings at K International Group.
Eagle Plains -- arrived there around 5pm. Got gas. We're in the middle of nowhere -- 200+ miles from anything on either side. Very good food, huge stuffed animals in the lobby and bar. All food here is trucked up here from Whitehorse, and the salads are even better than what we had in Anchorage.
Tombstone Mountain -- went for a hike along a pretty ridge. I felt like a slowpoke -- nearly everyone else is an avid and very active hiker. I can feel my tweaked knee climbing up, but remain happy with my strolling pace. In the time that it takes me to get 2/3 of the way up, JT and Adrienne have already gotten to the top, continued somewhere else, and descended along the creek below us.
A small black bear jumped from the middle of the road, stands on the side, staring curiously as we pass by.
Another ferry crossing at the confluence of Klondike and Peel rivers. It's 22:30, cutting it close, as the last ferry run is two hours later.
We slept at a Invgliit Campground (sp?) -- $15 per spot. It rained through the night, and our 3/4 length pads are working OK. It was a bit tough to sleep on our sides, but it was OK.
There were also tons of mosquitos. Those of us who could donned their bug shirts. Mark and Adrienne went the DEET route.
24.VII: drive day 3, Invgliit to Inuvik
We weren't far from Inuvik, but it was still a few hours' drive. We failed to find any breakfast in Fort McPherson or Tsiigehtchic. Both places seemed to have a strong community -- a few hundred people but with a community centre, a curling rink, etc.
Barring a 10min walk, we drove straight to Inuvik (pronounced ee-NOO-vik). First order of business was to find some coffee and food.
After warming up with coffee, soup, and sandwiches, we stumbled around town looking for the Parks Canada building. We had to register for our trip, pay some fees, get everything ready. When we found it, the cleaning crew were the only occupants -- "No one else is here, come back tomorrow" they said. We went to the town store, Todd called up a warden whose name we didn't get -- so we called him Not-Jerry, since he wasn't the Warden Jerry that Todd had talked to before. Not-Jerry took time on a Sunday to come into the office and to talk to us -- gave us some good beta, issued fishing licenses, and told us to come back the next day after we resolved our flight issues.
The flight situation was a mess -- we had a Twin Otter reserved with Aklak Air, and a 206 with Northflight. Until we confirmed the departures, as the weather has been bad and the airlines are behind schedule, the flights were all backed up. Todd had set everything up before we left Anchorage, but now it seemed like the story was a bit different -- what he was told was a "spitting distance" from the Nunaluk Spit's gravel landing to the landing for float planes was really a few miles -- very far if it involved rafts and people camping out for pickups at different times.
We unloaded all the vehicles at the airport, packed the coolers with food, and Aklak weighted the pallets. They weighed 2,900 lbs -- yikes! Our allowance was 1,900 lbs, so we were a ton over.
We started unpacking all the non-essentials (the little alcohol we had, blaster, kite, bacchi balls, ...), but it just added up to maybe 300 lbs. Not enough.
Finally Todd was able to convince the airline to get us another flight, at $650 per person, and he cancelled the flight with Northflight. This way we'd be able to take all our gear, and be dropped off and picked up together, at the same spot.
We grabbed the gear for the night and returned to town. Dinner at the Finto Lodge, very good food. We were still amazed with the salads.
Lisa and I ended up sleeping at the Nova Inn hotel -- a bit steep at Cdn$160, but it was worth it. By now it's been 2+ weeks of sleeping on the floor and a good night's sleep, plus a hot shower in the morning, was definitely good.
25.VII: Margaret Lake
We were up at 0600, packed, and had some continental breakfast. We met the rest of the group an hour later, they too had a chance to shower. Scott and Todd drove to the airport while thre rest of us went back to Finto for breakfast. In the end, only JT ate while the rest of us drank coffee.
Scott and I were on the first flight, along with all the gear. Our job was to unload the plane, pump the boats, and have things somewhat ready for setup by the time that the rest of the group got there. The flight was great -- the MacKenzie delta was full of channels, ponds, lakes, and scattered homesteads. Then we flew over the tundra, some mountains, it looked great.
We landed around 1030 -- it was different. In near-zero wind the plane landed directly on the tundra, bouncing all over the place. The tires were at very low pressure (maybe 20 psi?), and the taxi was long. The stall alarm sounded just before the touched down, and then the big soft tires were rolling across the bumps.
Flyfishing -- Scott's #5 9-foot Loomis GL3 rod -- he caught a few graylings, gave me my first lesson. I got a bite, and got very excited. I've been wanting to learn to flyfish for a long time, but something always came up. Practiced casting for a while, caught nothing.
We pumped up the rafts, were almost done with them when the rest of the group arrived. Set up rafts. Lunch.
Then Todd had the kite out, Mark, Kathy, Laren, and Scott were flyfishing, JT and Adrienne went hiking. What a great day -- we were wearing shorts, went for a swim in the freezing river. So far the weather was extremely non-Arctic -- 70's, no wind, blue skies.
I caught my first grayling with Scott's rod -- whoo-hoo! It was a sizeable beast. Released it -- Scott cut off the hook barbs, so the fish aren't hurt by being caught.
First river dinner -- Dutch Oven'd mexican meal by Mark and Kathy, even a flan dessert -- what style!
Laren gave the groover presentation -- Lisa and I were somewhat cynical about the system Todd chose, having had to wipe other people's turd off the seat funnel on the Salt river. Rob Tubbs calls this the sharpshooter system -- if the anus isn't right over the funnel hole, things get very messy quick. Laren stressed the need for everyone to clean up after themselves, demonstrated the wet wipe and other processes, it was probably the best presentation I've seen! We'll see how clean the system stays.
Rafts:
- Todd: 14 foot Avon, gray.
- Scott: 14 foot Sotar, yelllow.
- Mark and Kathy: 16 (?) foot Maravia, blue.
- JT and Adrienne: 11.5 foot PVC boat (forgot the manufacturer)
- Lauren: Culebra, a 2-person R-2-style soft cataraft made by Jack of Jack's Plastic Welding.
26.VII: First day on the water
Lauren and Todd woke up around 6am, had coffee and breakfast burritos ready for the rest of us. Lisa woke up early too, went for a walk, made coffee. I slept in late. No bears in night. It seems that some ground squirrels nibbled on my wet bag -- tearing a bit of the outside. Will have to keep rocks at hand to discourage that kind of behaviour.
It was anoter sunny day -- yay! Paradise. At lunch I watched Todd flyfish, then I fished with his rod. Lost my first fly, but then I caught two graylings!
Some people saw an Arctic Char -- I missed it. Saw a fox, though.
We paddled on and camped just past Crooked Creek, which has a great fishing hole.
On the way I rowed while Scott fished from the raft. He caught a few nice graylings. I fished too, but had a hard time casting -- between the wind and being afraid of catching someone with my back-cast.
Lisa started the day on Mark's raft, then traded out with Lauren to paddle the Culebra.
The fishing hole near camp, and I pulled out two graylings before dinner. It was JT's gumbo on rice dinner. Chocolate and peanut butter dessert. How decadent.
Flyfished again -- I had a hit, lost the fish, then kept casting at the same spot, hit it on the third try, and re-caught the grayling! That felt great -- every day I'm understanding more of the allure of this sport.
Played bacchi after dinner, Lisa and I managed to beat Scott and Lauren in a very close game (19 to 18 points before we won).
Lots of cumulonimbus clouds on the horizon. The wind was blowing down-river, which is good -- it keeps the Arctic fog and weather out of here -- so we'll need to beware of the up-river winds!
27.VII: Floatin' pretty
Last night started hot, then turned cold in the middle. I woke up to zip up my sleeping bag, took a picture of the sun almost at the horizon level. We all woke up late. Bagels, nuutella, cream cheese breakfast. I rode with Lisa on the Culebra for a bit, but wasn't too impressed with it. I was having hard time with the team aspect of it. It was hard to discuss every stroke, we paddled a lot of flatwater, and our weight difference made the boat handle a bit erratically. I traded out with Lauren at lunch, and rode with Todd until the Caribou Stick Fence camp. Salmon salad lunch -- canned salmon, ranch dressing, chopped bell peppers, on pita bread. Remember this one for the Grand Canyon trip!
While others went hiking, Mark and I flyfished, and Lisa read. I caught one grayling, walked downriver, trashed Scott's fly on the rocks (poor back-casting), then returned. Asked Mark for a few tips, worked on my cast, the 10 to 2. I got a new dry fly from him, and caught a grayling on my second cast!
After the group returned from the unsuccessful hike (saw no fence), I paddled the Culebra with Lauren. It was a few miles to camp, and it was very windy! Perhaps it's the second time paddling the Culebra, perhaps Lauren and I were better matched, perhaps it was the whitewater -- but I enjoyed it more than in the morning.
Mark and I cooked dinner, with some help from Scott. We made bruschetta, spaghetti, sauce with meatballs (pre-made by JT in Anchorage), super tasty.
28.VII: Bear!
The night was very windy -- our tent was on the beach, and the rainfly flapped with the 10-20 knot winds. I woke up a few times, Lisa offered me earplugs, and they made it all much better.
Slow morning -- cold wind (mid 40's), gray cloudy sky, rather unpleasant. According to Mark, this was an average day on their Kongakut trip the previous month...
Yoghurt and cereals breakfast, and the sun came out as we were ready to push off. Lauren and Lisa paddled the Culebra. Today is the big rapid day! The Rock Garden, class III. At low water it was easy. I rode with Scott, and he kept splashes down to a minimum.
Bear scare -- 2-3 miles upstream of Sluice Rapid Lauren saw a grizzly on river right. Downstream and up-wind from us, so it had no idea we were coming. We blew the airhort, but it didn't hear us. We waited upstream to see what it would do. The bear walked downstream for a while, then swam across the river, but still didn't notice us. Another blast of the horn and another round of whistling, and it finally noticed us! Uh-oh -- instead of running away, it turned around and came closer to us, standing on its hind legs, still across the river, checking us out. Bad sign -- curious bears aren't good bears. By now Todd and Mark's raft were past the bear and the bear was looking at us -- JT and Adrienne, Lisa and Lauren, Scott and me. None of us had any bear spray or the air hort -- those were all on the front boats. A few tense moments passed as the bear seemed to consider swimming to us -- but finally it turned around and awlked uphill, ocassionally checking us out.
We got to the Upper Sluice camp site wondering if the bear would come around, stalking us. Adrienne made some great suggestions about keeping food locked up, and we decided to stay in this camp instead of moving on downriver.
Various hiking groups set out across the nice meadows all around us. It was hard walking on that very unever terrain, and we were looking around for the bear. The wind subsided, and the mosquitos were out in full force.
From the higher ridge, other groups saw the sea -- I'm disappointed that I didn't persevere and go that high. According to those that went that high, we're almost at the end of the mountains -- then rolling hills and an etched canyon await us.
Todd estimated we're 48km into the 130km trip.
Dinner was announced by Kathy -- while Lisa and I were reading, and most others were still hiking, she prepared a baked brie appetizer. Mmmmm -- tasty! Mango chipotle chicken with vegetables on rice was the main course -- Lisa and I cooked it, adding lots of garlic and hot sauce to zing it up a bit.
29.VII: Layover day I
I slept like a log -- wearing socks, and in an unzipped bag, with ear pluts. It was very restful. It rained most of the night, but not in the morning. Mark, Kathy and Todd were getting ready to set up the rainfly over the kitchen -- I helped, then had coffee. Berry pancakes for breakfast. Now the rain increased, became constant.
We decided to make it a layover day -- we had a few days to spend hanging out, and this was to be one of them. I was hoping to hike the ridge, see the ocean, but visibility is poor -- so it was back to reading "Guns, Germs, and Steel." Maybe the sky would clear leater...
Read, read, read. Took a short walk. Spaghetti dinner. Read some more. I borrowed Todd's flyfishing rod, and the tally was two lost flies, hooked two graylings. Caught one of them, but the other ran away -- I had too much line out.
Hot tang and rum, then JT's beef burgundy on egg noodles.
Played some bacchi, then talked with Mark about flyfishing, vigilantes, New Zealand. NOTE: buy special flies on location (esp. when abroad) rather than spending a lot of money for them in the USA. I finished Jared Diamond's "Guns, Germs, and Steel" -- great book, very interesting, added a lot of perspectives to looking at the world and various societal developments.
30.VII: Rapid day
A very cold and rainy day. Todd read 39F (4C) in the morning. What seemed like a possibility of blue sky the previous evening looked gray and dense this morning. Light drizzle of rain. There was snow on the peaks, which were also covered with light clouds. Lisa and I suited up in dry bibs before leaving the tent. She wore 3 layers of fleece with a windproof jacket, hat under helmet, two pairs of fleece socks, and liners underneath neoprene mitts! Oatmeal for breakfast. I started the day paddling with Lauren, culebrating down the Sluice rapid. Rain and cold had me wishing for a one-piece dry suite -- the bibs + top kept me dry, but my feet were soaked, and the wind froze them. Mitts toasted my hands, but I shared with with Lisa -- so once we switched and she got into the Culebra, I went to Scott's boat wearing neoprene gloves.
The rapids were technical, but low-water. Quite clearly, at higher water some of them would develop big holes and strong laterals. At this level, however, they were mostly tight, with well-defined channels amidst the shallows.
Sluice Box: 3+ on the map, had a 3-foot V wave at the top, required a quick right ferry in the entry.
Sheep Slot: 4 on the map, it was a series of three diagonal ledge holes on river left. At this level, only the 3rd hole was of any consequence, above a boulder on river right, so rafts did best entering with a leftward momentum.
Sheep Horn: 3+ on the map, two ohles around a gravel bar. Left was a 2-3 foot drop into a hole, strong left eddy against a wall. Right was a shallower channel with a small hole at the bottom. All ran left, Todd's Maj. Powell ferry looking the most stylish. Scott recirculated 3-4 times in the eddy, banging his oar on the rock, finally managed to get out into the current. I was upstream from him with a throwbag, ready to toss it to him, but he had no need.
Ram: 4- on the map, like Sheep Horn, but most raft went in the right channel. The culebra took the ballsy line on the left.
The Culebra team, i.e. Lauren and Lisa, adopted the name "Team Xoxota" from a joke I translated into Portuguese a few nights prior. They're both well-matched for weight and strength, and took very nice lines. Whenever I could, I'd ru out with a throwbag and set safety from the shore, just in case. Todd would run the rapids first, and set safety from below, too. They never needed us, though.
Lunch at the ranger station. We sat on the patio, to hide from the rain pelting us all. The warden wasn't there. The station seemed a bit strange -- I was surprised to find an airstrip, a Caterpillar, 4-5 buildings, sheds, etc. I was expecting something modest.
We got back into our boats, it was still raining.
Numerous (20+) un-named rapids until we got to the Anticline camp. We set up tents during a lull in the rain while JT, Todd, and Kathy started boiling water.
JT's Thai shrimp for dinner -- Lisa and I changed clothes, put on Xtratuffs, everyone else was still in their drysuits and wore PFD's. I felt a bit of a slacker, but it was good to finally start warming up. The rain, wind, and poor gloves made this day a bit miserable for me.
After dinner I borrowed Todd's latest Harry Potter novel and went to the tent. I read about a hundred pages, then succumbed to sleepiness. Lisa, on the other hand, fell right asleep -- this day's paddling was as fun as the day was long :)
31.VII: Layover day II -- Harry Potter
We woke up to a windy but clear blue sky day. Sun! A chance to dry out our clothes and tents. After eggs on tortilla breakfast, Lisa and I erected a clothes drying line and hung out all of our clothes.
I bathed in the river -- cold freezing water -- bugs stayed off once I soaped up with Dr. Browner's peppermint. Tingly sensations on small hairs everywhere.
Lisa and I went for a stroll with Todd and Lauren. Underscore the word "stroll" -- the faster people went for a hike, and we didn't want to keep their pace. It was hard terrain -- muskeg, foot-high clumps of tundra surrounded by bog, more mosquitos than I've ever seen. Todd was walking, I'd almost say hiking, with a very brisk pace. He left us in the dust, turned around to look for us once he was near the bottom of a ridge. By that time we decided to throw the hat in, go back to the windier camp and stay out of the bug territory. Lisa called this THE HIKE FROM HELL!. Thank God for bug nets and shirts.
I flyfished with Kathy's rod and a dry fly. Caught one grayling. It was hard to cast -- strong winds. Still haven't seen an Arctic Char.
After dinner I finished Harry Potter. I liked it, but felt that it ended with a cliffhanger -- not a very satisfying read.
1.VIII: Lisa's birthday
Another sunny day! Someone was watching out for us. It was brisk, but we had clear skies for another longish day of whitewater.
We ran the same lineup as a few days ago, Todd leading, then the Culebra, and Scott and I bringing up the rear. The rapids were fun -- fairly simple, mostly II+ with a few notable III's. There were lots of places where things would get a lot tricker at higher water -- repeated diagonal, 1/2 river wide, ledge holes, boulders, etc.
Big Bend rapid had a few holes, Rollercoaster was a nice wave train. We went from one rapid to the other without scouting, but all had a good time. I rode with Scott until Canyon Creek. There we broke for lunch, hiked up to the plateau to see the Caribou Fence. I must admit that I wasn't overly impressed -- I found it hard to relate to the bunch of white rocks that once held rocks and channelled the caribou to slaughter.
A pretty two-slot rapid was visible from there, and so I stayed up to photograph our group. All had good runs. I then hiked/slid down and jumped onto Todd's raft.
We paddled to site above Caribou Fence rapid (lots of caribou fences here because of the caribou migration paths). It was pretty, small, surrounded by rocks, in the middle of the canyon, but we managed to fit the kitchen and all the tents in it.
Mark made Lisa birthday Dutch Over brownies, half of them with peppermint, and she even got a card! I should have thought of bringing one... this one was Mark's card for Kathy's birthday on the day we left town. He forgot to give it to her then, though, so it got used for Lisa.
Tons of mosquitos. We went up for a walk on the rim, very pretty.
Lisa took a bath in the evening, it was so cold that she came up from under the water and had a hard time catching her breath. Lisa: "thinking of the cottage right now, warm like bathwater!".
2.VIII: Flip day
Mmmm -- bread batterred in non-dairy pancake mix, call it Firth Toast! I woke up to the sound of thunder -- but it kept going and going, finally I realized it was the blaster jet and someone heating water for coffee.
The water level dropped again -- 3-4" by Todd's estimation. We had the last bit of whitewater left, then were going to float 20km to get read for the delta tomorrow.
Rapids were short -- a few moves here and there. In an un-named class II rapid the water piled up on a big boulder on river left. We all ran that channel -- everywhere else was too shallow. Todd and Team Xoxota styled it. Scott and I bumped into the rock with the right bow -- the current was stronger than it seemed. Then Mark and Kathy entered it at a shallower angle, hit the boulder sideways, and hung! Soon they were highsiding, jumping high up on the upper tube, but the raft was stuck. After 30-45 seconds it flipped, leaving them on the boulder. They ran downstream, jumped into Scott's boat, and crossed the river to where Todd caught the raft. And to think that Mark wasn;'t going to wear his wetsuit -- but Kathy told him it would be better if he did. What a great idea!
Fortunately the water was slow, and we could jump into the water and flip the raft by hand -- four of us lifting from the shore, Mark pushing the other tube towards us. No injuries, no major damage -- some water got into the drybox (user error), but otherwise all was OK. Mark was upset at himself, but the fact is that they did all the right things. All of us learned the importance of always rigging for a flip. And I could appreciate the water -- a little class II pillow -- and *that* could flip a big raft?!
It was a cold day -- sun threatened to shine all day, but never made it through the clouds. More caribou stick fences, but I give up on them.
After lunch Lisa and Kathy switched on the Culebra, and I got to row Scott's raft. I was pleased -- so far I've been just sitting in the front, getting very cold in the wind, and it was great to row.
I had a great time rowing with Scott -- discussing everything from politics, religion, future of the country, stock market techniques to fly fishing, raft rigging techniques, sharing travel stories. Lisa kept offering to switch out with me for the Culebra, but I thanked her and said no -- she was better matched with Lauren, and I enjoyed my time on the raft.
Kathy fell out of the Culebra once -- but we thought she decided to cool off! She was overzealous sticking the oar in and just toppled over. She got right back in -- second time in the water for her today!
I went flyfishing at a hole near another caribou stick fence. Scott caught four graylings before we even tied up the rafts -- what a fish-catching fiend he is! I cat with Todd's rod, lost a fly. Then I cast with Mark's rod, but had a hard time getting a good cast -- so I just sat back and watched the good guys do it.
I rowed, Scott fished, all the way to our camp at Engigstciak (the "Young Mountain"). Lisa and I hiked up to that mountain, a small hill really. Even more mosquitos!
The Culebra got rolled up, tomorrow we expect to start dragging boats through the delta shallows. The delta is 15km long, 6km wide, and we're planning to spend about two days in it.
3.VIII: The delta
We camped only 10.75 miles, as the crow flies, from the Nunaluk Spit, our final destination. The day started out cool, but with clear skies and little wind. The bugs increased by the minute.
I finally ripped out the infection on my big toe and squeezed out the pus -- just a few minutes before we pushed off! It's so nice to be able to walk again. I've been limping for the past 3-4 days -- I over-cut the nail on my right big toe, it got infected and swelled up, it has been very painful to touch.
We had cold breakfast, got the show on the road early. The river braided a lot, but we ddragged only a few times -- whoo-hoo!
Today we rowed constantly, but had a surprisingly easy time of it -- the channels were fairly easy to find, and we had a good current.
We had lunch at the Last Mountain Ridge hike. I finally saw Herschel Island, also some bear tracks, but the hike wasn't too exciting -- lots of bugs everywhere.
I rowed after lunch, having a hard time on Mark's raft. It had short oar towers, which meant that the oars kept hitting my knees, and I was pushing them at belly level. It was hard to ajust after Scott's raft, and I had a difficult time powering the strokes. His Maravia raft has a one piece floor which didn't help tracking, and which allowed for a big momentum drift. Like anything, it just took me a while to get used to.
I enjoyed conversing with Mark, talking about Nepal, his climbing trips, research experiences, career choices.
Then Lisa rowed for a bit, doing a great job. At least until a strong right lateral jammed us into the bank and popped the oar which then fell out of the boat! I reached for it, as it wasn't tethered, grabbed it with the tips of my fingers, then felt myself toppling over and out of the boat! The oar was saved, I was on the bank, running along it to catch up with the single-oared boat.
Kathy fished off of Scott's raft and caught 3-4 fish! She was on fire. Mark fished too, but with less luck.
Camp -- a piece of gravel bar some 4.5 miles away from the spit. It had a great view of Herschel Island, still some fresh water, no bugs, good wind, clear sky.
A musk ox wandered near camp on the other side of the river -- what a beast! We were, at first, afraid it might be a grizzly, but binoculars helped sort the confusion. It snorted as it moved upriver, only occasionally paying attention to us.
We also saw a lot of caribou -- grazing, then running around like crazy -- were those the bugs hatching on their backs?
Lisa went for a short walk and was attacked by seagulls (or Arctic Terns), dive-bombing out of the sky -- she defended herself by brandishing a big stick and waving it over her head.
Dinner -- JT's chilli on rice, no-bake oreo pie for dessert. Still living the lavish life.
After dinner we stood around the kitchen, sipping coffee with rum, listening to Mark's stories of climbing Manaslu and Mt. Everest, his meetings with Hall, Ball, Alex Lowe, and other famous climbers.
4.VIII: Crossing the Lagoon
We woke up early -- it rained lightly at night, and was very windy. Morning was foggy, no view of any mountains or the aufeis. Twenty minutes later it was was a different world -- the sun burned through the clouds, and we had blue sky again!
We saw a musk ox and a fox again.
Todd used Mark's satellite phone to call the pilot. Inuvik has been socked in, and tomorrow's pickup will be delayed until the night. Let's hope it happens -- otherwise Lisa and I may miss our flights back to Chicago.
The going got tougher the further we went. Initially Todd was finding good channels, but as we progressed in the delta and got closer to aufeis, the water got shallower. We started running into smaller gravel dividers, dragging the boats across them. Lisa and I rode with Mark. He rowed, and at the first sign of dragging Lisa and I would jump out and pull. It worked for a while, but eventually we'd all be out, pulling for longer distances. Some of the larger channels were very shallow -- 2-3 inches at the most. We'd put 4-5 people to push one raft through, then go back to push the other, and so on.
We saw caribou and seals. Finally, 4-5 hours later, we got to the spit! The spit is long and rocky. Driftwood stacks were built by other people to block from the wind, many for tents, one for the kitchen. Some of the driftwood comes from huge trees, making us wonder how long they floated in the sea. The kitchen block had some animal skulls and whale vertebrae.
Our team was very motivated -- we hardly got there when the guys started breaking the rafts down, taking frames apart, deflating the rafts. I felt tired and wanted to nap for 1/2 hour first, we had lots of time (until next day evening, at least) to work on the rafts.
Lisa and I walked to Vilhjalmur Stefansson's cabin, about 1.5 miles away. Lots of rock, some sand, virtually no seashells. The cabin sat on the highest part of the spit -- the one piece of tundra. It had an old sled for crossing the ice.
Lots of caribou running around. We saw bear tracks, too.
It was funny to look back at the mountains, now near the horizon, and to imagine that we were just in them a few days ago. Even Engigstciak, where we hiked two days earlier, was tiny and far away. Herschel Island seemed very close, and yet it could be far -- estimating distances was hard without more familiar markers.
[Lisa] Kathy was looking forward to having a fire all eleven days on the river, but it was not allowed per National Park regulations. Now we were out of the park, wood not being an issue, and so we had a small fire.
[Lisa] It's good that we brought water from the river, now we're surrounded by salty water on the ocean side and brackish water on the lagoon side.
[Lisa] We went to sleep listening to the Beaufort sea lapping at the stone shore.
5.VIII: Waiting for the pickup
Laaazy morning -- sunny, no wind, lots of seagulls and no wind.
Big pancake breakfast. Lots of coffee, as we're slimming down the amount of stuff we'll be flying back.
New books! I got "Best travel stories of 2002" from Adrienne, and Lisa got "The power of one" from Lauren. We laid out of tent, in the sun, reading -- with the Arctic ocean 50 feet away -- it's no easy life.
The groover has been put away -- I walked 1/2 mile down the beach and placed my deposit a foot away from the tide line. Then I took off all my clothes and jumped into the sea a few hundred meters away -- the water wasn't much colder than the river, and it felt good to soap up and wash down.
We repacked our water gear bag, getting ready for the pickup. Todd called Aklak Air at 4pm, turns out they wouldn't be coming until the next day. Their plane was stuck on Banks Island, and they'd try to come get us first thing Saturday.
I talked to Mark about cameras, and I think that it's time to start using my Leica M2 again -- do my own B&W film devloping, and then use a film scanner (Nikon 5000?). Try to combine the feel of the analog with some convenience of digital.
Lisa and I cooked dinner after an hour's walk: minestrone/chipotle soup combination, with lots of garlic, and with some roasted garlic. We served it with little quesadilla wedges. Lisa came up with a great salmon pate/paste on crackers.
First Nunaluk Spit Olympics! Organized by JT and Adrienne, they combined a variety of events -- from stone hitting with a stick, stone throwing at a stick bobbing in the ocean, log walk (forward, backward, one-legged hop), stone push, stump squat (one-legged stand on a stump, reaching down to touch the ground), stone stacking. A very challenging set of disciplines, great time was had by all.
6.VIII: Extra day on the spit
Cold night. Woke up to a foggy day, 200m visibility. Todd called Aklak, they had a plane ready to pick us up, fueled up, crew on standby. The weather here was too poor, though, and their weather station at Shingle Point (mid-way to Inuvik) was showing a ceiling fluctuating between 100 and 200m.
Things were no better at 9:30 -- Todd called again, by that time Aklak staff had time to check their schedules. They want to get us out, but needed to get on with other flights too. "Call again at 5pm" they said. We had no idea when the weather here would be good enough... so there is possibility of waiting another day.
As Todd was making his deposit by the sea, a shadow emerged from the fog. A canoe! Here in the middle of nowhere... It was a solo paddler with a dog. He didn't want to land his canoe in the surf, so he paddled around the spit, as Todd invited him for some hot coffee. It was low tide, so after 40 minutes of paddling and looking for a landing spot without a ton of muck he gave up, turned around, and went on with his trip. Todd said the guy got dropped off by plane at Herschel, paddled on his own to Demarcation Bay (near Alaska border), and was paddling back all the way to Inuvik, saving money on the return flight.
At 4pm it looked like Aklak would try to pick us up around 7:30pm.
At 5pm, last call for the day, their office was closing, and I'm sure they were tired of getting our calls. The plane should arrive around 2030.
And yes, the plane was there punctually! We managed to fit all of our gear and people into a single Twin Otter, got into Inuvik around 11pm, had pizza and beers at the Finto Lodge. Lisa and I, later followed by Todd and Lauren, stayed at the Nova Inn again -- getting rested for two days of stiff driving to Anchorage. 48 hours to our departure to Chicago.
The drive back
The drive back was pretty quick, though not overly pushed. I left Inuvik around 7:30am on Sunday, had lunch in Eagle Plains, dinner in Dawson City (Klondike Kate's again -- great salmon!), and slept 10 miles from the US border on the side of the road. By the time the border opened the next day at 9:30am, we were ready to go through, and drove to Chicken to fix JT's flat tire. Then another gas stop in Tok, and we were in Anchorage around 6-6:30pm. Our flight to Chicago was at 11:30pm, so plenty of time to catch it. Unloaded the trucks, showered, packed, Todd ordered some great Greek pizza. After he dropped us off at the airport we found out that the flight was delayed until 3am -- so now we had 5 hours of lounging at Anchorage International to boot :)
Links
JT Lindholm's trip notes and pictures
Todd Kelsey's trip notes and pictures
Ivvavik National Park -- this is where the trip is going to start, in Yukon.
Current locations of the Porcupine Caribou herd>
Vilhjalmur Stefansson: Arctic Explorer
Pictures of the descendants of Vilhjalmur Stefansson
Canadian Arctic gallery, some great aerial pictures