August 27, 2016

Norman Wells, Northwest Territories

I couldn't linger around in Norman Wellls for obvious reasons...

After the beauty and the madness of the Canol Trail, it was time to do the Mackenzie. Mike and Greg were found and brought back to town. They joined me as I blew up the raft and clumsily strapped everything on top. Its me and Rubber Duckie from here to the next road, in some 600 kilometers of river. The guys gave me their left over dried food, I had already stocked up on my noodle-instant mash potato diet so it will be amazing to eat real food for a little while.

At first it was like this...

Then it turned to this.

The river was unpaddalable (is that a word?) and making progress on shore wasnt easy. I was just going along the island in hopes of a better spot to put up my tent. A short channel took forever to paddle with cross current and headwind. The bright sun, the sand drifts the crushing waves and the deafening sound of the wind, it felt unreal.

3am. Nope. 3:30. Nope. 4:30. Nope. I decided to go anyway at 6am. Big waves but passable without getting too wet, the current was definitely helping too and later with the rain, the wind eased a little. Progress was slow and bumpy, every now and then a set of two waves would flop the front and eat up any momentum. The channel seemed endless but staying closer to the shore meant it felt like I was moving. Later the wind and the waves were a lot more reasonable, upon seeing me a black bear sprinted along the coast and into the bush.

At 6 I spotted one of the gems of this stretch of river, the Michael Jackson cabin, according to the map. Clean, stocked with food and firewood, as far as trail or river accomodations go - 5 stars.

while the gopro dried out and is working again, the new Canon point and shoot requires manual opening on the lens cap everytime I turn it on.

A metal teepee to the left indicated the Sans Sault rapids, which turned out to be nothing but slightly larger waves where you cross them. I shortcutted to the left after, ending up in more rapids and although fun they made the water really choppy for miles after.

Rain and wind, as usual was the flavor of the day and at times it was borderline un-raftable. I often wondered how well a canoe would do, 2, 3 or 4 people definitely paddle much faster and the long narrow boat cuts the waves better but waves are waves. The clouds were magical and the raindrops with the wind bring you to your senses. When you think about it, its not really that bad at all, most interesting is that uneasy feeling when you are constantly crossing the 3-5km channels and thinking that you are on a rubber boat. Then just as you think you got it, the waves get bigger and you dash closer to the nearest shore.

Day 5. Rampart rapids. The second rapids on the Mackenzie and far less mentioned than the Sans Sault ones. I didnt know I've hit them until the sound of rushing water, I kept to the left of the markers and by the time I saw the large rock and the big wave it was too late. The biggest thing on the whole river and I was heading right into it. Few minutes of paddling with full force got me nowhere and I got sucked in, straightened the raft and oh boy, am I ready to swim? I had my life vest as a backrest... Down and up, few big waves. I am on, so is the bike and the two dry bags behind me, I check the pressure of Rubber Duckie. Its good. I have never been this scared. My heart beating and that feeling of weakness and tiredness but the only thing going through my mind was "I gotta do more rapids someday."

"The library is over there where the big building is."
"Do you know if they are open?"
"Let me check... they open on Thursday and Saturday."
"What day is it now?"
"Monday."
Ah, the life in Fort Good Hope. The grocery store was absolutely frightening. I did a round of all isles with nothing but tortillas in my basket. Most exciting of all was the produce section, candy bars were at whooping 2.87 each. The sale/expired section was actually very fair and landed me some good deals but sadly it was all chips and candy. In my quest to find a weather forecast, a man invited me into his office and then to lunch. Wind for next 10 days didn't look too bad, but it was mostly headwind. Bad time to be going north.

Rubber Duckie hanging out with the big boys

Second lunch, those chips also double up as a pretty decent firestarter!

4 paddling hours took me to the next bend where I spotted another cabin. Sunset with hot chocolate and a fire was amazing and so were the 4 hours on foot in town.

people using this cabin must have had some really big dogs... dogs... oh wait...

Although not easy, the Mackenzie was amazing. My only source of frustration were my expectations of how far I can get each day and that is not what matters. Constantly crossing the 2-6km channel across and sometimes with big waves was scary. But every day had at least a little bit of good weather and that made all the difference.

In the large open channels it seemed impossible, always aiming towards a distant and unreachable goal, getting tossed and turned by the waves and frozen by the wind.

And when the sun came out, the current was good and the wind was blowing at my back, things have never been so good.

Enjoy some REAL JUBES! Naturally flavored and colored RUBBER! ($1 for over 1400 calories though!)

When camping, firewood was abundant and if the wind was low the fires were great, otherwise taking shelter in one of the many open cabins made all the difference and really puts this trip into a luxury category as long as you can handle the waves and the wind of the Mackenzie.

hugh jackman from the X-man himself came over to pay me a visit

supposedly the wolverine can be pretty vicious and with big claws, i was pretty nervous leaving my boat on shore at night.

With the finish line in sight and 5 days left, taking a rest on the Dempster sounded like a great option. I landed across from Tsiigehtchic and packed up the bike, few travelers kept me company.

A man from Morocco working here on the satelite farms hung around for a while. Apparently Inuvik is a good place to download satelite data from orbiting satelites due to its northern lattitude.

The ride to Fort McPherson was easy and warm, I landed in town just in time before the store closed. I got in touch with my friend Paul and was able to spend a warm night at the church. With a shower and laundry I felt human again, even if for few hours.

Low clouds and rain accompanied the ride up the Richardson mountains, lots of thumbs up and offers for rides but the tailwind took me up in no time.

At the Yukon border the wind turned sideways and made the descent incredibly difficult and I arrived at the Rock River campground at 10. I met Michi from Japan, who rode to Inuvik from Dawson City and was now getting a ride back.

you see, the yukon sign has a big sun on top but looks like it must have gotten blown off here...

The plan was to make it to Eagle plains lodge for lunch and have a burger or two. I walked the first 5km over the muddy climb and where I broke my derailleur in 2014. At the top, my wish came true and it started snowing, the cold and snow made the mud rideable and I was making slow progress. Thats when the wind came down.

last shot of the bike before leaning it on something was even remotely possible

Robin from blackburn design was kind enough to set me up with a full bag & cage kit for this trip. Here, I am assessing their cargo cage snow and mud load bearing capacity under arctic conditions!

It blew from the side like never before, at best I was riding in a snake pattern blown by the gusts, stopping to regain my balance and barely pushing over the more exposed parts. While I was mostly well covered my fingers were not well protected, when they stop hurting and I couldnt feel them I would stop, lay the bike down and sit with my hands on my legs to warm them up. What a sight, I hoped nobody drives up to see me.
I marvelled at the beauty and power of nature. Thought of setting up the camera but I could not afford to lose a second one this trip.

I began planning my arrival at the Arctic Circle, hide in one of the outhouses and munch spoonfuls of nutella. Warm up and make the push to Eagle plains. An RV comes out of nowhere, stops and a man comes out. He yells through the wind.
"Do you need a ride?"
"I am ok, I am going to Eagle Plains, how far is it?"
"Lets put your bike up here..."
He opens the back of the pickup and starts making room. I wasn't being offered a ride, I was being given one. I wondered how silly it would be arguing about getting a ride during this storm.
This would be a good memory to keep as I ride into the blazing heat of Panama in several days.

The band at Engineer Creek campground, Michiko the cyclist on right then Jody and Pete. There were also 3 Iowans up here to fish and a couple from Alberta, the woman's dream was to go to the arctic and she was on her way there.

4th time I pass by Tombstone park, maybe one of these years ill get to hike there.

On the long haul, hitchhiking down south to catch the plane flight to Panama

Now that this is over, its time to think about the Darien Gap. I am at the point where there isn't really a plan B. Tomorrow, I am sending the Deadhorse with a sailboat to Cartagena and blowing up Rubber Duckie to paddle south to Colombia.