paddling.Jimstrutz.com © 2008
Day 1 - Drove from Anchorage to put-in at mile 112 of the Taylor Hwy.
This is about a 10 hour drive if you don't stop. The road slows down and deteriorates the farther you go.
We camped about 1/4 mile past the bridge in a field on the right.
We later found a better, unofficial camping area 50 yards down stream from the put in.
One couple in our group went to the border customs to check in. Customs didn't have a clue what to do.
We should have checked in by phone to Canadian Customs in Whitehorse.
Day 2 - Shuttle cars to takeout - float to first river campsite.
Figure on two hours each way for shuttle.
Some in the group can assemble boats & rig gear while the others do the shuttle.
My car was the shuttle return rig. We left the rest of the cars in Eagle for a quick departure.
Got a flat going to Eagle and got it fixed there, but I completely destroyed a tire on the way back to the put in.
Turns out I had no jack handle. -- Oops -- All this caused an additional four hour delay.
There are parking areas for your vehicle both at Eagle and across the road from the put in.
You could shorten the trip by doing the shuttle on day one, but it would be a very long day from Anchorage.
At higher water, some of the ripples we encountered would be gone, but other larger rapids would appear.
Several active mining operations were visible. Some more active than others.
After we crossed the border we saw no more active mining.
We camped on a high sand bar at the end of an island.
The old Campways boat had hard gear directly on the floor & they had to stop and patch holes three times.
At our first camp we rigged a pole frame for that raft & moved some of their gear to my boat.
They were using paddles and couldn't keep up in the slow sections, so we pulled them through some pools.
Day 3 - Floated to next campsite.
Ran Dead Man's Rime w/o trouble but my wife got wet.
From then on she kept handy a garbage bag to quickly wrap around her legs.
We suspected this rapid was coming because the topography seemed to start dropping.
Topography & geology were very interesting. We often saw oddly recognizable shapes in hills & mountains.
Some high clouds started moving in, but it was mostly sunny & warm.
We hadn't had much trouble with mosquitoes, but did once when I chose to step into the woods for a minute.
We camped on a wide gravel bank that would have been flooded at normal flows.
However, there was a good campsite high up in the woods here as well.
We had the usual assortment of tables, coolers & miscellaneous stuff. Camping was comfortable.
The canoers didn't bring a stove & cooked everything on a campfire, in a iron skillet. They had the best food.
Day 4 - Float to campsite at Clinton Creek
Ran Canyon Rapids, class III at high water. Easy to see it coming. Scout it on the left.
Continued rock dodging for about 1/2 mile. At high water this could be rough.
After this the river started to slow as the valley started to widen.
The wind started to blow in our faces, and we had to row/paddle through several slow sections
Sunshine was on & off but was still warm. The weather was great for most of the trip.
We saw several bears. A sow with two cubs, and another with one. Several other animals as well.
Before Clinton Creek you can see a road cut into the hill on river left.
Coming into Clinton Creek the canoers pulled off to play on the river crossing tram.
On back to their canoe, they heard a thrashing in the woods & out came a cow & calf followed by a bear.
The bear chased the moose across the river to a spot about a quarter mile from our next camp.
We camped at the mouth of Clinton Creek which sometimes flash floods during rain storms
Clinton Creek is a mining area abandoned in 1979.
There is a bridge and a road leading up to the Top of the World Highway.
From the road there is a road to the Yukon River and a trail leading to the old town site of Fortymile.
There were several cars parked at Clinton Creek, and some Parks Canada and US Park Service trucks.
Day 5 - Explored old town of Fortymile and beyond.
Short 2-3 mile slow float from Clinton Creek to the end of Fortymile River, at the old town site.
Named in 1886 for being about forty miles down the Yukon River from Hudson Bay's post of Fort Reliance.
By 1890's there were about 1000 people living there.
The 1898 Klondike gold rush in Dawson, about 35 miles upriver, emptied most of the town of Fortymile.
Many old buildings and relics still survive, and the area is now being restored by Parks Canada.
There was a guy conducting archaeology digs with the help of high school students from Whitehorse.
They had found a spear point from the pre-bow and arrow era – circa 800 a.d.
The area has been occasionally inhabited for well over 1000 years. Mostly it was a fishing & hunting area.
We also encountered a Boston gent doing a solo canoe trip to the Haul Road bridge.
He mentioned that the day before a large group of Boy Scouts had invaded the area on their way down river.
We floated onto the Yukon & down stream about 20 miles to our last river camp on an island.
Day 6 - Floated to Eagle
The weather was deteriorating, but still partly sunny with no/low wind.
The river is wide & fast with numerous islands creating channels. Some of which are slow & shallow
The Yukon was running at about average flows, maybe a little low, but not much.
We encountered the Yukon Queen II, a fast catamaran traveling upriver with 100 people on board.
This excursion/tour boat travels from Dawson to Eagle & back every day.
They slow to a no-wake speed while passing boats and cabins.
We rafted up for about an hour at a time, to keep together, swap stories & play games.
Late afternoon weather turned foul with wind & rain. We stopped & gear up.
We arrived in Eagle in the middle of a heavy downpour.
We packed up and headed to the café for dinner.
The Sun came out, and we drove back to our original put in to camp for the night.
Day 7 - Traveled back to Anchorage.
We stopped in Chicken to buy a tire.
Checked out the Jake Wade Dredge, and drove back to Anchorage.
In 2004 we did the section from Mile 76 to Clinton Creek with much the same experience, but the weather was hotter & drier and the river was dropping quick. The water near Clinton Creek was hardly flowing. There were plenty of forest fires & lots of smoke that kept all the bugs away. Kept the animals away too. Both trips took a full seven days.
We camped about 1/4 mile past the bridge in a field on the right.
We later found a better, unofficial camping area 50 yards down stream from the put in.
One couple in our group went to the border customs to check in. Customs didn't have a clue what to do.
We should have checked in by phone to Canadian Customs in Whitehorse.
Day 2 -
Some in the group can assemble boats & rig gear while the others do the shuttle.
My car was the shuttle return rig. We left the rest of the cars in Eagle for a quick departure.
Got a flat going to Eagle and got it fixed there, but I completely destroyed a tire on the way back to the put in.
Turns out I had no jack handle. -
You could shorten the trip by doing the shuttle on day one, but it would be a very long day from Anchorage.
At higher water, some of the ripples we encountered would be gone, but other larger rapids would appear.
Several active mining operations were visible. Some more active than others.
After we crossed the border we saw no more active mining.
We camped on a high sand bar at the end of an island.
The old Campways boat had hard gear directly on the floor & they had to stop and patch holes three times.
At our first camp we rigged a pole frame for that raft & moved some of their gear to my boat.
They were using paddles and couldn't keep up in the slow sections, so we pulled them through some pools.
Day 3 -
From then on she kept handy a garbage bag to quickly wrap around her legs.
We suspected this rapid was coming because the topography seemed to start dropping.
Topography & geology were very interesting. We often saw oddly recognizable shapes in hills & mountains.
Some high clouds started moving in, but it was mostly sunny & warm.
We hadn't had much trouble with mosquitoes, but did once when I chose to step into the woods for a minute.
We camped on a wide gravel bank that would have been flooded at normal flows.
However, there was a good campsite high up in the woods here as well.
We had the usual assortment of tables, coolers & miscellaneous stuff. Camping was comfortable.
The canoers didn't bring a stove & cooked everything on a campfire, in a iron skillet. They had the best food.
Day 4 -
Continued rock dodging for about 1/2 mile. At high water this could be rough.
After this the river started to slow as the valley started to widen.
The wind started to blow in our faces, and we had to row/paddle through several slow sections
Sunshine was on & off but was still warm. The weather was great for most of the trip.
We saw several bears. A sow with two cubs, and another with one. Several other animals as well.
Before Clinton Creek you can see a road cut into the hill on river left.
Coming into Clinton Creek the canoers pulled off to play on the river crossing tram.
On back to their canoe, they heard a thrashing in the woods & out came a cow & calf followed by a bear.
The bear chased the moose across the river to a spot about a quarter mile from our next camp.
We camped at the mouth of Clinton Creek which sometimes flash floods during rain storms
Clinton Creek is a mining area abandoned in 1979.
There is a bridge and a road leading up to the Top of the World Highway.
From the road there is a road to the Yukon River and a trail leading to the old town site of Fortymile.
There were several cars parked at Clinton Creek, and some Parks Canada and US Park Service trucks.
Day 5 -
By 1890's there were about 1000 people living there.
The 1898 Klondike gold rush in Dawson, about 35 miles upriver, emptied most of the town of Fortymile.
Many old buildings and relics still survive, and the area is now being restored by Parks Canada.
There was a guy conducting archaeology digs with the help of high school students from Whitehorse.
They had found a spear point from the pre-
We also encountered a Boston gent doing a solo canoe trip to the Haul Road bridge.
He mentioned that the day before a large group of Boy Scouts had invaded the area on their way down river.
We floated onto the Yukon & down stream about 20 miles to our last river camp on an island.
Day 6 -
The river is wide & fast with numerous islands creating channels. Some of which are slow & shallow
The Yukon was running at about average flows, maybe a little low, but not much.
We encountered the Yukon Queen II, a fast catamaran traveling upriver with 100 people on board.
This excursion/tour boat travels from Dawson to Eagle & back every day.
They slow to a no-
Late afternoon weather turned foul with wind & rain. We stopped & gear up.
We arrived in Eagle in the middle of a heavy downpour.
We packed up and headed to the café for dinner.
The Sun came out, and we drove back to our original put in to camp for the night.
Day 7 -
Checked out the Jake Wade Dredge, and drove back to Anchorage.
In 2004 we did the section from Mile 76 to Clinton Creek with much the same experience, but the weather was hotter & drier and the river was dropping quick. The water near Clinton Creek was hardly flowing. There were plenty of forest fires & lots of smoke that kept all the bugs away. Kept the animals away too. Both trips took a full seven days.
