Little Salmon and wild fire

Friday 26th June 2015

It was a late start after our night time paddle and we were happy to just set off and raft up and drift whilst some people caught up with their sleep. Even since the TEslin had joined the Yukon the water was thick with silt. There was so much that the noise of the silt hitting the canoe and scraping past rocks on the river bed made a distinctive noise like sizzling bacon that was to stay with us for the rest of the trip'

We were due to stop for lunch on an island but couldn't see the landing so we had to cross the current to the next island. Julie turned the canoe to point to the spot and shouted to paddle harder. Olaf and Ulrich had the muscle to power across and didn't loose too much distance downstream from our intended lunch stop location. 

The knowledgeable smart paddlers ferry glided across to cross the current. This involves pointing about 45 degrees up stream across the current and gently paddling forward at the same speed as the current pushes the canoe downstream enabling a canoe to cross the current with little effort and reaching the opposite bank virtually opposite the  starting point on the opposite bank. I tried to explain this but was just told to paddle harder so we ended up some way down river, exhausted and had to line or pull the canoe up river to the desired spot.

After lunch we stopped at Little Salmon village cemetery. ost First Nations afre now catholic but until recently they still disposed of the bodies in a traditional manner, often burning on the river and left personal possessions in spitirt houses for the souls to use in the after life.

We had just set off again when we saw smoke drifting above the trees just a short way down river. We out ashore and went to investigate. There was a warm recently used fire pit and a short distance away about one and a half hectares of forest was alight. This was a new forest fire and Benny used the sat phone to alert the authorities. Whilst he phoned we saw several trees literally burst into flames. The wind was light but due to pick up which would spread this fire over a wide area and potentially threaten the local village.

The fire was already spreading so it was time for us to leave. As we paddled away a fire helicopter flew over us to check the fire. It was an exceptionally dry  year and the authorities were already on alert and had drafted in teams from British Columbia to support the over stretched local fire fighting authorities.