 Expedition Journal--August 1Alex Perry Today was the beginning of our canoeing trip. Jess was my partner, and she paddled very well, aside from being worried nearly the whole time about hitting things. Stopping to scout and line frequently wears on my patience, however. I quickly got back into the swing of things: The North Fork Koyukuk with all of its braids really resembles the lower section of the Tatshenshini which I did a few years ago with my family. Even though I was confident, Jess had fairly low confidence in me. We did a great job as a team all in all and I am impressed with Jess and her paddling strength. I can't believe I forgot to mention that Cleve and Bria tipped over in a riffle. The hit an eddy caused by a strainer while making a cut from left to right as the river went around the bend. Bria didn't know yet which way to lean, and the eddy flipped them right over. We made 11 miles and camped above the first little rapid. Although the rapid seems tiny to me from the perspective of a rafter, the instructors agreed that we will line it tomorrow (probably a smart decision considering the team's experience, but one which I was unhappy about nonetheless).
At any rate, I'm getting sleepy so I think I'll go to bed.
Rachel Flood That poor group. They had pretty much the same itinerary as us, just a few days ahead. Those few days made all of the difference in the world. They arrived at the landing strip while it was raining so hard. The rain caused a delay in their resupply. After their resupply came, the river was still in a flood stage, making travel difficult. By this time, there was such a delay that there was no time for them to make it back to Bettles. They are going to have to fly out. I am so glad that didn't happen to us. It would have been such a bummer if we had come this far and couldn't finish the trip. I was really worried there for awhile. It has started to rain again and in order for us to be able to get out of the dangerous floodwater before the river rises anymore, we had to go out on the river today. Originally, we had planned to only go a short distance our first day so we could get the hang of river canoeing. Instead, we went about 10 miles. I loved it. I'll admit, there were a few rapids that gave me butterflies, but once I was in them, I thought they were great. Paddling is much different from backpacking. In backpacking you can sort of lose yourself in your own little world, but in paddling, you really need to stay alert and be ready to react quickly. They are so different I can't really decide which I prefer. Right now, I would probably say paddling but I haven't capsized yet. Cleve and Bria had the first capsizing incident of the trip. We were coming around a bend and they were too close to the inside bank where the water is more shallow and got caught up on something. They hit an eddy and both leaned in different directions. Then the boat just went. I paddled with Peter. For being the least experienced boat, we didn't have too many problems. We did hit a couple of shoals and had to jump out of the canoe but nothing too bad ever happened. We ended the day right before a technical stretch of the river. Deb and Cleve don't seem to think that it would be safe for us to paddle down it. We'll probably have to line our boats and portage our gear but it's better safe than sorry. It worked out stopping where we did. Our campsite is beautiful and the ground is covered with ripe blueberries. We went around tonight and picked a few so that we can have blueberry bread for breakfast.
Vanessa Bacher
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