On The Yukon

The Expedition made good progress today, passing through Circle early in the day, and moving on down the Yukon River towards Fort Yukon. They are camped tonight on an Island in the middle of the frozen Yukon and sent the following dispatch tonight from camp 4:

For a brief soundclip from tonights call click here.

19 March 2007

66º 01'N    144º 15'W

Camp 4: Yukon River between Circle City and Ft. Yukon-camped on an island in the
river.

Overnight Low: -32ºF (-35ºC) clear weather.  Today's travel took us from
Beaver Creek to Circle City and then down the mighty Yukon River (frozen)
toward Ft. Yukon.

Wolf Tracks/Animal Tracks:  During the morning, there were wolf tracks on
the trail.  The wolves traveled over 40 km (25 miles) down the trail,
probably hunting.  There were 3 sets of tracks.  Often, one wolf went off
the trail to check things out, then looped back, while the other two
continued down the trail. We did not see the wolves, but their tracks were
clear and sharp. A picture of the tracks is attached.  The animals that the
wolves hunted left their tracks in the snow too, but these tracks always
went straight across the main track.  To run along the track would be too
risky.  A wolf might come galloping along and snatch you up for dinner.
Think of what the wolves have to do!  Having to run 25 miles or more in a
day to find your breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Circle City School:  We visited the school at Circle City.  The school has
25 kids, of all grades.  The school is modern and nice. All the kids
assembled in one room, where we told them about our trip.  Then we all went
outside and we showed them our sleds and snowmobiles.  They really liked our
"Office Sled" (our covered sled).  They also liked sliding on the tongues of
our sleds, which are slick and easy to slide on.   The kids in Circle City
knew kids in Fairbanks and Ft. Yukon, the two adjacent towns, but only one
kid knew anyone in Old Crow, and no one knew any kids further away. They
wanted to say hi to kids in the other communities.    Can you find these
communities on our map?

The Frozen Yukon:  When the mighty Yukon River freezes, the ice can be
smooth, but other times, the ice freezes, but then starts moving again.
These moving ice floes, sometimes several feet (1 m) thick break up and pile
up wherever the current pushes the ice.  Huge blocks of ice will be pushed
up in jumbles.  It can be hard to drive through. In the picture we are
carefully picking our way through one of these jumbles, now covered with
deep snow.