RubiKon: Yukon Quest '09: Yukon - Whitehorse to 30 mile river

Day 4
Today we paddled down a famous section of the Yukon called the 30 mile river. The water moves fast here with lots of riffles. Dawson Dan and Yukon Johann found a premier fishing spot by Dolman creek and pulled in a couple of Arctic Grayling, which we ate for dinner. We camped at Shipyard Island, near the remains of the paddlewheeler Evelyn, aka Norcom.

through the riffles on the 30 mile section of the Yukon

Day 1 We took our first paddle strokes at 12:30 pm on Friday, July 3. The weather was a bit threatening. We could hear thunder in the distance, and could see several storms, but we didn’t get a drop of rain. We saw lots of eagles perched high in trees along the river. At about 6:00 we entered Lake Laberge. Our first attempt at a campsite was thwarted by a greeting party: a swarm of mosquitos. “Run away! Run away!” we jumped back in our boats and paddled farther until we found a beautiful point with a lot less bugs.

Day 2 The weather was sunny and beautiful, and the water was glassy. Today was a short day of paddling, due to our late arrival at camp the night before. At camp, Dawson Dan and Klondike Kate took a swim. Along with Yukon Johann and GrizzLee, we climbed to a viewpoint and watched the sun set.

Day 3 Another beautiful day, glassy smooth water. But by afternoon, a wind had kicked up a good chop, going against us. We stayed close to the edge, as the lake can be quite dangerous in high winds. Still, we all made it to the end of the lake. DD and KK saw a porcupine feeding on wildflowers.