Jigsaw puzzles hang all around the washeteria.
The morning was hot and still as we moved off. The sweat trickled down my legs, which felt as if insects were crawling all over them. It was a relief when the clouds came
over and created a bit of wind to cool us down. We received more relief when at lunch time on a sand bar of the Big Eight Mile Island there were two showers of rain and despite the heavy black clouds hanging around it didn’t rain again.
The wind had stirred up the river giving more life to it. Ed was suffering with back problems and an aching right arm and I could see he was dying to
get to camp. We paddled on a little further before camping on a sand bar on Quail Island. The clouds had moved away leaving it a clear, but cold night. We now only had 690kms to go. Each night we counted down the kilometres, first what we had done that day and then what we had left to do. It was an exciting part of the day and as the kilometres got fewer our spirits lifted. I had an early night due to my right eye being bloodshot and sore; perhaps it was from straining whilst trying to see
through the smoke haze.
Saturday 17th July.
I woke early, dying to get up for a pee but I didn’t want to get out of bed just in case Ed thought I was getting up to start a new day, so I held on. I noticed that my eye felt a lot better; the early night
plus a good night’s sleep and a few eye washes must have done the trick. There were dozens of mosquitoes waiting outside and several inside lining the tent walls and as there were too many to kill, I just covered up and went back to sleep. I awoke again a short time later, damn, I just had to get up to have a pee.
Taking to the water we forged along the first straight where Ed thought
he saw a bear move in the far distance. With anticipation we paddled on in its direction only to find a large tree stump. We needed water so we stopped at Eagle Creek. It was a low area so we were forced to paddle along the creek to find a small drop that was higher than the river height. However, before we could reach the cascade of water a million mosquitoes began their attack. We quickly retreated in desperation; no amount of water at that time was worth being eaten alive. Back out on the
river we drifted and killed what mosquitoes we could find on us.
The day was cloudy, but there was no rain. We paddled to the right and narrower side of Eagle Island for better scenery and a greater chance of finding water flowing from the mountain gullies. It wasn’t long before we had found a freshwater creek just before a marking on our map that said ‘Mine’.
Large bear tracks could be seen imprinted in the mud next to our landing spot and they were at least 18cms in diameter. We followed them to the freshwater creek which didn’t look inviting with its steep mud banks and fallen trees. Nevertheless I climbed down the banks, wary of slipping and hanging onto tree branches to stop myself falling. I reached the cascading water, which was falling over a 2
metre high thick layer of decaying wood and mud sandwiched together. Obviously this was years of material that had built up. Further upstream the green vegetation was dense and a haven for mosquitoes and hiding bears. I kept a close eye out for any movement and slapped the mosquitoes as I filled the water containers. I was pretty penned in with no quick way of escaping. When my containers were full I climbed carefully back up the slope to where Ed was waiting and returned to the canoe for lunch.
It was another delicious lunch, stale bread with cheese spread, followed by noodles, what more could you want? Just before loading I returned to the creepy creek to top up the rest of our water bottles. I was pretty pleased to have returned safely to the canoe without slipping down the embankment, getting stuck in the mud or being chased by bears. As we were about to leave a fox trotted to the water’s edge to drink. It stayed for a few minutes, had a look towards us and fled into the woods with
its bushy tail following.
Within minutes of leaving, a cabin came into view. A man was walking down to the water’s edge so we paddled closer to shore to have a few words with him. The man, Ralph, immediately offered us a coffee. We graciously accepted. His cabin was surrounded by high grasses that needed cutting. Beside it was a smaller abandoned cabin which had been pushed, turned
around and made unstable by moving ice when the winter river was high. He had built his new house about seven years ago.
In front of his cabin there was a pipe that had a continuous flow of water fed from the nearby stream. He assured us that it was the most beautiful tasting water in the whole valley. We moved inside his cabin and away from the mossies. He had all the mod cons,
satellite dish, TV, a stack of videos, vacuum cleaner, tape player, reclining chair, sofa, etc. To think that we were miles from nowhere and he could watch TV and keep up with all the soaps and current affairs programmes. He also had a big wood fire to keep him warm in winter.
Ralph gave us a photo album to look at whilst the coffee was on the boil. They were interesting photos of
bygone days and the surrounding area. He flies his own plane and lands it on an uneven sand bar on the other side of the river or on the ice when the river is frozen. It looked a risky venture. On this visit to his cabin he had come by boat. Ralph, had been living at the cabin on and off for 29 years. His son lives in Fairbanks and Ralph joins him there when he’s not here at the cabin.
A rifle and a pistol were hanging from a wall. As I looked at them, he said he needed guns out here in the wilds for protection from the wildlife. He said he wasn’t impressed with anti-gun movement and commenced telling us a story of a close call he had had with a bear. “A man has a right to own a gun”, he said. And even if we didn’t agree with him we were not about to argue the point!
Ralph also mentioned that his cabin was used as a checkpoint for the famous Iditorod Dog Sled Race, which is the longest sled race in the world. It starts in Anchorage and finishes in Nome. Ralph visited Sydney, Australia, after the war in 1949. He continued with other stories as we drank some of the strongest coffee that I had ever tasted in my life. Being a weak coffee drinker it was hard to force it down, but at that time I was happy to drink whatever I was
given.
It was time to go and leave the creature comforts of the cabin.
