Wednesday, August 29, 2001 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER B1 OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR OF THE OAKVILLE WATERFRONT FESTIVAL Focus Oakville Beaver Focus Editor: WILMA BLOKHUIS 8 4 5 -38 2 4 (Extension 250) Fax: 337 -55 6 7 Canoeing the Yukon Two spirited locals canoed the ` awesome. . . spectacular'Yukon River in less than 10 days congratulatory in our efforts to complete this trip in the time we did." During the first five days of their trip, they How would you describe the Yukon River? met only three other canoeists. "B eautiful... aw esom e... spectacular," says The 750-kilometre (500-mile) trip, for which Mickie Daniel, who canoed it from Whitehorse they packed and carried 350 pounds of gear to Dawson with paddling partner David Angas. including food pre-packaged in small bags, "The silence became eerie," recalls Angas. camping equipment and clothing for all kinds of "You could hear a pin drop. In fact, if a pin had weather, was "an amazing experience," reflects dropped, it would have gone off like a cannon. At Angas. "And, the bears were not a problem," he times there was no wind, no songbirds, just the sound o f the water lapping against the shore. It explains, noting an initial fear of bears along the was spellbinding." river. "We had no bears at our camp, though we "We want to go back," Daniel continues. "We saw evidence of bears and other wildlife, includ fell in love with Dawson, we loved the riv er.. .the ing moose, at half the places we camped. We saw quiet...the solitude. only two bears on the trip." "We were completely out of touch. We ended Another concern was weather, which for the up not taking a cell phone. most part, was great. "We "It was great.. .too short. had been warned about the "When you get a mountain extremes," explains Angas. We could have kept on thunderstorm at 2,100 feet going to the Bering Sea." "We woke tip some morn Daniel and Angas, both ings with frost at our camp above sea feed, it moves very avid canoeists and campers, sites, and we would peel off slowly. The ciouds literally put their rented 17-foot to our T-shirts briefly during embrace the mountains. " Kevlar canoe into the water the day. But, if the sun went at Rotary Peace Park in behind a cloud, w e'd be David Angas Whitehorse at noon - they putting on our duffel sweat had attended a Rotary meetshirts and other layered clothing." ing that morning - on July One night was quite warm, at 18°C. 31 to begin a carefully planned trip. They had arrived the day before*. The pair encountered one "horrendous thun Their first challenge was to head north across derstorm" which started at about 7:30 p.m., and Lake Laberge before entering the Yukon River. continued until noon the next day. "Everything Because there are no navigational charts for got soaked," notes Daniel. the Yukon River, the pair enlarged a road map "W hen you get a mountain thunderstorm at and obtained booklets produced by canoeist 2,100 feet above sea level, it moves very slowly," Michael Rourke, who has charted 30,000 kilo explains Angas. "The clouds literally embrace metres of Canadian rivers. However, his hand the mountains." drawn maps, although very detailed, were not to Because the Yukon has twilight until midnight scale. during the summer, Angas and Daniel were able Despite a major setback caused by what to make up lost time, thanks to the long hours of Angas describes as a "horrendous mountain sunshine. It took them three days to get caught thunderstorm with a monsoon rain, which put us up. a day behind," they finished the trip in nine-and"Our longest day on the trip was paddling 61 a-half days, slightly ahead of their 10-day sched miles (about 100 kilometres)," explains Angas. ule. They arrived in Dawson on Aug. 10 at 6 p.m. They had planned to cover 50 miles, or 75 kilo · "The few people we met along the way told us metres, per day. we would be needing at least 14 to 16 days to Mosquitoes also posed a problem - but only complete this trip," said Daniel. "The locals were for Daniel. "I was immune to the mosquitoes, but BEAVER FOCUS EDITOR B y W ilm a Blokhuis Mickie Daniel and and David Angas, above, canoed from Whitehorse to Dawson. Among their gear was an Oakville flag, right, which they displayed at every campsite and used unsuccessfully as a sail on Lake Laberge. Ulti mately, they presented the flag - "a little soiled" - to Mayor Glenn Everitt of Dawson. At one point in the trip some rapids almost dumped the pair, which would have left the town flag at the bottom of the Stewart River. often times Mickie had to wear a full body bug suit." Fortunately, it was with them on the trip, as there was no place to stop for provisions any where along the route. Water was collected from fresh water streams emptying into the Yukon, once their four litres of water ran out. "We also carried seven litres of wine," laughs Daniel. Rapids were another concern. They knew about the Five Finger Rapids just north of Car macks, "which took us less than five minutes to get through, giving us quite an adrenaline rush," explains Angas. "But that paled in comparison to the set of rapids north of the Stewart River, which were not on our maps. "That was the closest we came to dumping and I mean losing everything and not getting anything back if we had dumped - Mickie took four waves to her neck and chest, and we ended up with six inches of water in the bottom of our canoe. We had to stop and bail." (S e e `E n jo y e d ' o n p a g e B2) The fAfoped m o p e d s o re The transportation phenomenon that rocked the 70s and 80s is sweeping the roads o f Oakville. Say good bye to astronomical gas prices. The trendier, more powerful mopeds are back. 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