Day 50 - Yukon River
Day 50
For the first time in several days I woke up to sun shining through the clouds. I quickly grabbed my solar panel and attached the Inreach, setting it outside my tent to soak up some sun while I got up.
Jack and I made one cup of coffee, forgoing the typical second cup as we were running low on grounds. The small village of Grayling sat fifteen miles down river and we hoped to stop and find a bag of coffee.
It’s crazy to think the trip is slowly coming to an end. We have paddled over 1,500 miles and have just 325 or so until the ocean. In order to hit our goal of finishing around August 15th we need to average 25 miles a day for the next 13 days.
On the water clouds moved quickly through the sky, obscuring the sun save for a few fleeting moments. A light rain played tricks with us, causing us to layer up in rain coats and pants only to have the water end or miss us before the majority of the rain hit. I’ll take it.
Around 6pm we reached Grayling. Pulling the canoe up onto a rocky beach lined with skiffs, we walked up to a small dirt hill into town. After walking past a few homes, meat caches and dog teams we stopped to ask a fella if there was a place to find or buy some coffee. “There is a store, but what time is it?” Looking down at his watch “6 O’clock. Might be closed. Tell you what I’ll do. I’ll send you to the chiefs house.
“Is that Ivan?” I responded.
“Yea! Ivan! Go down this road until you reach the last house. Turn left, and the big ass nice new house, that’s Ivans.”
It's funny how things work out. We had heard about Ivan from Daniel, our friend from Galena who crashed into the sandbar. He had told us to find Ivan in Grayling and say that he says hi.
We walked toward the house, but stopped before we could reach it to help a group of guys push a boat off the beach and into the water. Come to find out, the boat we were pushing into the river was Ivans boat that they were borrowing for the evening. They pointed us toward Ivans house, a small but nice log cabin home and we walked up to the door. After a knock a small girl holding a little black dog answered the door.
“Hi! Is Ivan home?”
The little girl told us to hold on, then shut the door. Shortly after she reopened the door to inform us that “My dad is sleeping.”
With that we walked back to the water, pushed the boat in and hit the water. Too bad. I would have really liked to meet Ivan and pass along Daniels message. Oh well.
The next 10 miles went slow, seemingly making no progress, chugging along, trying to watch the shore to gauge speed and getting nothing.
Eventually we found a nice island with ample driftwood and decided to call it a night. Chicken noodle soup in the dutch oven over the fire followed by brownies for dessert. Good shit.
Darkness is starting to set in here in Alaska. Fall is coming.