The Expedition made very good progress today working their way up the Porcupine River towards Old Crow. They expect to arrive in Old Crow over the weekend, but for now they are enjoying a very remote, scenic, and historic part of Alaska. We made an attempt to record a soundclip tonight--Matthew had some great comments about the wonderful cabins they have been able to stay in for the past two nights--but our satellite phone connection was fading in and out and the recording was not possible. Here is the dispatch the crew sent to me this evening:
On Up the Porcupine
22 March 2007- John Herbert Village, Porcupine River
Camp 7 Location: 66º59' N 143º08' W
Partly cloudy, light snow overnight, morning temperature -10ºF (-23ºC)
A big Hello to Mrs. Sturm's second grade class at Weller Elementary School
in Fairbanks, Alaska! We hope you are enjoying following our trip!
Today, we drove for nearly 100 miles (154 km to be precise), and saw no
people, and only three sets of cabins on the riverbank. The Porcupine River
is broad and beautiful, with many channels in the lower reaches, willows on
the banks, and hills and big bluffs back from the river. We also saw our
first animals other than ravens today. We saw a ptarmigan, two wolves, and a
fox that had just caught a hare. The fox was jealously guarding his catch,
sitting still by the trailside until Matthew drove within a few yards before
bolting into the willows.
We also saw a moose that had been killed by wolves. It was easy to tell we
were coming up to something interesting because there were lots and lots of
ravens that took flight when we approached. Along much of the riverbank
there were many animal tracks, telling us the land is far from empty of
animals, but there are not many people in this country. In the cabins, there
were many notes from people traveling up and down the river, going to their
fish camps or visiting friends and relatives in Old Crow or in Fort Yukon.
We had a snowmachine track to follow, which made it much easier navigating
among the many channels and islands of the river.
Finally, hello to Katherine, Glen's wife. Attached is a picture of her
handsome husband taken somewhere along the Porcupine River between Ft. Yukon
and John Herbert Village.
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