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Canadian
Canoe and Kayak Wilderness Adventures Pelly / Yukon River: ITINERARY: A complete itinerary along with maps, clothing and equipment list, will be issued upon registration. Included: Transportation from the point of origin and return, camping fees, cooking gear, camp stoves, tents, meal preparations, canoes, canoe carts, paddles, life jackets, canoe dry bags, two night's hotel in Dawson City, meals/snacks/beverages on the expedition, tarps, major first aid supplies, emergency radio or satellite phone, professional guides and all meals while on the river. Excluded: Transportation to point of origin, transfers, accommodation and food other than included in the itinerary, gratuities, and personal equipment. Day 0: Arrival in Whitehorse. We will meet at 7:00 pm at the Yukon Inn to discuss the adventure ahead, distribute life jackets and dry bags, and answer last minute questions. We will leave a message at your selected accommodation with specifics about our meeting. If you need to contact us phone 668-2827 and leave a message. Day 1 - 8: We will leave around 7 am for our 4 hour drive to the town of Faro and our put-in. From Faro to Pelly Crossing, the river follows the Tintina Trench, a major geological fault and travel corridor for migratory birds. It offers great variety and abundance of plant and animal life typical of boreal forest. With the Anvil Range to the north and the Glenlyon Range to the south, mountain vistas are spectacular, offering glassing opportunity for Stone sheep. Bears can often be viewed on the open grass slopes. Granite Canyon and Fish Hook Rapids can be challenging for novice paddlers depending upon water levels, but should provide no navigable problems in August. Day 8/9: We will arrive in Pelly Crossing [where Klondike Hwy crosses Pelly River] late on Day 8 or early on Day 9. Day 9 will be our layover day. If there are new paddlers joining us for the trip to Dawson City, they will arrive on Day 9, those paddlers leaving us will take van back to Whitehorse on Day 9. Day 10: We will begin our journey to Ft. Selkirk on the Yukon River. This will be a short paddling day to acclimatize our newest paddlers. Day 11: We will arrive early at Ft. Selkirk to allow sufficient time to enjoy this interesting historical site. Fort Selkirk has long been a gathering place for First Nation peoples. Stone tools discovered near this site have been dated to 10,000 years old. In 1848, John Campbell descended the Pelly River to establish a Hudson Bay Company trading post at the junction of the Yukon and Pelly River. In 1852 the coastal Chilkats, who had previously maintained a monopoly on trade with the local First Nation peoples, reacted to this challenge by looting and then burning the trading post. Campbell fled for his life and it was thirty years before white men returned to the region. In 1889, Arthur Harper re-established a trading post here, calling it Harper's Landing. In 1894 Bishop Bompass erected a mission house and school. In 1899 the North West Mounted Police built a station here and a post office was opened. With the opening of the Klondike Highway, and the subsequent demise of riverboat traffic, Fort Selkirk was abandoned in the 1950. Today the Canadian Heritage Branch has restored the settlement with the Taylor & Drury store, Mounted Police building, Protestant and Catholic Churches, and schoolhouse among the more than 30 buildings that are open to the public. Day 12 - 17: In 1896 the discovery of gold near Dawson City altered the history of the Yukon River forever. It became the main route for 30,000 goldrushers as they floated in an armada of over 6,000 boats to their dreams of adventure and wealth in the Klondike gold fields. Over the next fifty years towns and villages sprang up along its shore and paddlewheelers carried people and supplies up and down its waters. When modern highways were introduced into the region the river became redundant. Homes and entire villages moved to locations closer to the roads and the Yukon River was allowed to return to its natural state. The river is a Grade 1 river and therefore suitable for novices. We will paddle approximately 50 km/31 mi per day. Our plan is establish camp on the many islands and sandbars which characterize this stretch of river. This will lessen the remote possibility of bear encounters as well as reduce our contact with those pesky mosquitoes. The following, highlight some of the more interesting features of this stretch of river: There should be plenty of wildlife, opportunities for fishing, and time to relax and explore the remnants and relics of the river's historic past. Once past Fort Selkirk, the surrounding country is at least as impressive as ever. Certainly there is no shortage of historic sites along the banks. The White River (120 km from Dawson) sees a dramatic difference in the colour (and the sound) of the Yukon River. The colour is the result of a combination of glacial silt, and ash from a volcanic eruption about 1,250 years ago. The ash layer now makes a convenient dating tool for archeologists at sites throughout most of the south and central Yukon. At Stewart City (100 km from Dawson) the river is slowly reclaiming the site. The Stewart River, which joins the Yukon near Stewart City, was one of the earliest of the Yukon's placer mining areas. Prospectors were probably working on the river by 1880, and in 1885, several fairly rich bars were discovered. Arthur Harper soon set up a post at the mouth of the river to serve these miners. However, when much richer deposits of gold were discovered near Fortymile in 1886, everybody moved there. The Stewart didn't attract much attention again until the Klondike rush; a fair-sized town was built, with a sternwheeler dock, a NWMP post, a large warehouse, two hotels, a large number of cabins, and an even larger number of tents. The population may have reached 1,000 over the winter of 1898-1899. Although the boom ended, the island maintained a population of between 25 and 50 into the late 1930s. Several buildings have been moved back from the river's edge in recent years. As we get closer to Dawson, a number of old woodcamps and homesteads have been taken over by new owners and new cabins have been built to replace the old ones. The relatively fertile islands were particularly popular spots for combined wood-cutting/farming operations. Little or nothing remains at most of these sites. Some have been lost to river erosion, or were moved to new locations when the original site was no longer viable. Day 17/18: We will arrive in Dawson City on Day 17 or early 18 dependant on our pace and stay at Klondike Kate's cabins in town. Day 18/19: We will take people on a tour of the city and the goldfields. There will be plenty of time to allow individuals to visit areas of interest on their own. Day 20: We will return
to Whitehorse by late afternoon where we must sadly say goodbye. |