Yukon: Conclusion

In this post I want to keep aside the big negative aspect that galled the trip for me and forced me to get off prematurely: my paddling partner. I also do not want to take into consideration that I had constant ear pain - and still suffer from it now. I just want to focus on the trip itself - and that had been GREAT! Yes, I would definitely recommend paddling the Yukon river to a friend and will probably do it again myself to make it all the way to the end. Still, paddling the Yukon is not a piece of cake either - it will not be an easy trip, especially not for paddling beginners. So what are the main issues to look out for?

Heavily undercut bank

First of all the strong current took me by surprise. Things were aggravated by the fact that this has been a year with unusual high water levels leading to an even stronger current. Handling and steering the canoe with a current up to 15 km/h was kind of scary - especially in the beginning and especially being a rookie. But I think now that I have gotten used to it and would not be that scared any more doing it again. Still, you should definitely practice the U-turn or so-called ferry before you embark on the Yukon...

Half submerged island

Second, camping turned out to be more difficult than expected. Again, things were more difficult than usual because the island were still very much submerged. Normally you would camp at the sandy front end of the river islands, but those were still under water! On the other side it was very difficult on camp on the main land either because of the very steep and high cut banks that made landing and getting out of the boat very often impossible. Very often the banks were extremely undercut and constantly huge chunks of soil or trees were crashing down - an eerie sound at night. When new soil gets exposed the permafrost starts melting creating a constant dribble. And if you were able to find a spot were to land it would probably be totally overgrown with thick brush and thorn bushes..... But on the positive side: Things got much better towards the end when water levels were residing.

Now to the positive surprises:

Bear print

Yes, the mosquitoes were bad and the can really taint your experience. But I have to admit that you sort of get used to them. Also their bites are not as painful as with other mosquitoes. They do itch, but the swelling and the itch subside after less than half an hour. Other than that the wildlife was just great! We saw lots of moose (with baby moose), bears with cubs and a surprising amount of interesting birds: Huge ravens, loads of ducks, eagles and very aggressive mew gulls that skydived on us.

Barge with mining equipment

I was also very much worried about paddling in high waves, especially in an open canoe. Although I admit that it is not the most pleasant paddling time, we were able to cope with the waves much better than thought. Except in the Five Finger Rapids we never got water into the boat. But not only the wind creates waves: Some stretches of the Yukon have quite a bit of barge and skiff traffic. Most drivers were very considerate and gave us a wide berth, but some came pretty close and their wake shook us quite a bit. On the lower half of the Yukon boat and air traffic is the only mode of transport as there are no roads. Therefore you can see barges loaded with mining equipment slowly coming up the river - and almost speeding coming back.

The weather can be an issue and paddling in rain and strong wind is miserable. We did have some bad weather, but luckily it never lasted longer than a day. I was expecting to be stuck for days on end, but that never happened. Actually I was surprised how many really hot days we had. Overall I was more too hot than too cold on the Yukon - but of course, I missed the last bit on the Delta.

Undercut bank

We had read that the low water temperature would be a big issue as well. If you capsize in very cold water you have little time to make it ashore before you die of hypothermia. The Yukon is very cold, but only in the beginning. The water warms up soon after Dawson and at the end of our trip we were actually swimming in the Yukon just for fun. You would not want to stay in there for hours, but you would definitely survive more than 10  minutes. The Yukon itself is very silty and could not be used as a source of drinking water, but there were plenty of clean side streams or little creeks coming down the mountains with good water. We usually loaded up with water in the villages.

Smoking salmon

There was also a surprising amount of interesting things to see: Lots of relics from the goldrush era, abandonded cabins, bearproof cemeteries, native villages, fish camps.... Dawson City and Fort Selkirk were definite highlights of this trip! I very much enjoyed stories about the interesting Alaskan characters and after having spent a bit of time in this hard climate myself I cannot help but admire the courage and endurance of the early settlers and miner to survive in such an environment.

Overall, paddling has been a very pleasant experience. It is by far less physically demanding than hiking or cycling. You go at a much more leisurely pace and have more break time (mostly due to bad weather). And because weight is not so much of an issue you can do a lot of very good cooking!

Bottom line: I will soon be paddling again and will definitely buy a folding kayak.