August 15, 2026

Monday 15 August - day 48

After our experience last night and seeing that the water is also rising on this island we camped quite high here and even the canoe we dragged 10-15 meters up the gravel and Chris made marks in the gravel to keep an eye on how much the water was rising. He also got up at 3 a.m. to check the level.

We were okay!

We have decided to stop at Tanana. Several reasons: We have now been on the water for 48 days and it just feels like enough. We also feel our gear is lacking for the continuation of the trip as our tent zip is not doing well and we only have the Biolite stove, this needs wood fuel and we might just not be able to get that at every camp and then this thing with the water rising.

As we are going to stop at Tanana we stayed at this campsite but earlier in the day we had to move the canoe as the water reached the point where it was. We have now at dinnertime moved the canoe all the way up to the tent and Chris has put a few wooden stakes in the ground to keep an eye on the water level

Nice weather around lunchtime and we made two breads. During the afternoon huge thunderclouds came past but they didn’t give a lot of rain.

We will be checking the water levels regularly till we leave in the morning. And if we have to camp again before Tanana we will try a downriver campsite and hope it doesn’t get flooded in the same way.

N 65-29.651 W 150-32.426 camp 38

We had a lot to talk about after getting flooded the previous night. Jane mentions a few things that would influence our decision to get off the river in Tanana and the sheer length of time we had been on the water was one of the key factors. Had we had an achievable goal, i.e. getting to the end of the river without turning the experience into an extreme sport, I think we might have given it a chance. But without that goal our priorities changed. We enjoy being out in the wilds, and we had been out there for 48 days, the longest we had ever been on a trip. The month I spent on my solo kayak trip in Greenland had been my first extended trip and we had definitely beaten that record.

Beating records, however, is just not us. It’s not how we enjoy being outside. I might like the challenge of paddling in strong winds, but I'm not looking for a chance to be tested and neither is Jane. Seeing wildlife, experiencing changes in the weather and the terrain is what it’s all about, as is a good campfire, good food, and a good book. Some of my most memorable reads have been on the banks of a river or on a lake when, as gripping as the story might be, an osprey or a moose on the opposite bank pulls one out of the book for a moment.

Just being in a canoe is also a key enjoyment factor for us, and ‘306’, our old rental had done an admirable job of freighting us and our gear deep into the Alaskan wilds. When I had a LinkedIn account (before the purge) I would describe myself as a ‘Canoeist│Writer│Teacher’, changing the order depending on my mood or my current job. But those three professions are how I identify myself and all three identities have played a major role in shaping me over the years.

I have a tendency to scribble quotes on all our gear, quotes that mean something to me or us, usually from favourite books or films. It started from my early outdoor career days as a very young instructor. I wrote on my very thin sleeping mat, with quotes from Aldo Leopold and others, and would sleep with the ideas swimming in my head of wolves and mountains and my place in the world.

The words romantic and hopeless spring to mind, and I won’t deny it. When it comes to the outdoors I am a hopeless romantic, and while we were ready to bring our adventures on the river to an end, the next adventure was just around the corner.

You can probably tell from the writing that there were and still are emotions attached to getting off the river, and, not least, not achieving the goal of reaching Emmonak. But just getting off the river would be an adventure, and we needed something new. That might sound a little strange, as there is always something new around the next bend in the river. But the river also carried with it some recent memories of group travel that we just wanted a break from. We had gotten this far. We were done, and we were ready for the next step.

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Blog note: This Yukon adventure of ours took us into September. I intend to fill the rest of the month with posts from Alaska and our adventures there, with a quick visit to Seattle, too, as it has a significant role to play in my writing. Which reminds me, don’t forget to grab The Starlighter for free if you haven’t already done so. I will return to daily photos from Greenland in September. Regarding the Yukon River Xtra posts, I will add more of those for paid subscribers as soon as I get through the intro week(s) at school. Sorry, but it’s a bit intense at the moment. Not unlike some of the Yukon River adventures. ;-)