Day 6, Sunday, June 30, 2019
We were almost to Carmacks when we saw a settlement of some sort. I fixed my binoculars on a sign and thought I could read Kanoe People. This is our canoe rental company. So we were watching carefully to figure out if we should be doing something when we saw two people waving at us. We realized it was our British Friends. We were on the opposite side crossing against the current.
When you paddle against the current it creates and optical illusion and stationary background physical features like mountains and islands appear to move. It makes me queasy. So I put my head down and paddled as hard as I could. We landed at a dock. This was a camp for paddlers. We were relieved to get a cabin. We walked to town for supples. We crossed a bridge over the Yukon one of only three in it’s 2000 mile length.
The town had one grocery store, a gas station, a hotel and a liquor store. Good enough. We bought a big bottle of Fireball Whiskey to replace the bottle we gave to the Taiwanese paddlers.
When we returned the Taiwan group had just arrived. They wanted a picture with me. Then Julian and Benedicta arrived. Every paddler we met was here. It was a lively night on our cabin deck with the couples and Fireball.
Our cabin at Coal Mine Campground in Carmacks
Chilkoot hike and Yukon paddle 