Week 4

We started our week in the Yukon Flats in the friendly village of Circle. We took showers and passed a happy afternoon sitting in the Washeteria while our laundry spun.


When the river reaches the Flats, the current slows and the river divides into endless channels and sloughs. Navigating them is a new challenge for the paddler. Fortunately, the current stayed swifter than we'd expected, and apart from a few slow sections, we were able to make decent mileage. We crossed the Arctic Circle near Fort Yukon on the summer solstice itself.

One evening halfway through the week, we pulled off quickly onto a sandbar, needing a break after paddling into a light headwind all day. We expected to wait out the wind for a couple of hours, then continue.

Two days later, we were finally able to set off. The storm had the unexpectedly pleasant result of providing us our first real full day off - we slept and read in the tent for a day and a half, occasionally venturing out to confirm that the wind was still too strong to paddle in.



When we set off, we knew we had to make the most of the window of clear, calm weather. We paddled 70 miles the first day, 60 the next, and made it all the way to the Dalton highway bridge - to the next phase of the journey.