Hart of the YUKON - 14 Days Solo Camping in the Yukon Wilderness - Special Episode 2.0

[Music] she's a [Music] boiling M  coffee smells good I'm doing is I've   been mixing one pack of regular with  two packs of the flavored insano plus sugar it's oatmeal or no meal out here it  is day seven and I decided to change my clothes that was my modeling strut I learned it  from the Budnik Brothers anyways um that's not my   seat that would have been really [ __ ] um I just  camped at this big mountain runoff Gulch really   beautiful even though I got to Camp late got to  bed around 10 10:30 which isn't bad out of the   tent at 7:00 so got a solid 8 hour sleep okay 7  and 1/2 hour sleep and I'm sort of just plotting   what my best route would be to climb Mount nro  I think I'm going to Veer off this and head up   another runoff Valley that's not too treed the  other way I could go is up this Gul right to the   peak but it's really really steep so I think I'm  going to do this get up onto the ridge line walk   along the ridge line a bit as you can see there's  a lot of forest fire smoke that blew in you know I   was thinking from up there could probably see over  to the Blackstone River which is the next River in   this Watershed to my West but it's looking like  that's probably not going to be possible it's   going to be a 6 to 8 Hour round trip to climb up  there which means I will be camping here again   so I'm going to leave my tent set up all my stuff  ready that way I'll have shelter even if anything   goes wrong and I get back late um I'm going to  do a little pre- blister prep when it comes to   blisters probably the best thing you can do is  prevention beforehand so I'm just slapping some   duct tape right on the old tootsies around the  back of the heel along the base to the foot like that doing some prepping I'm going to need my  first a kit my survival kit hat sunglasses lunch   and water I'll bring some water tabs too and  then of course I'm going to take my GPS with   maps in it my inreach messaging device  I'm going to pack that up quick and hit   the trail and there is no Trail this is just me  following Creek valleys and mountain passes and   ridges so it's going to going be awesome can't  wait compass and I also have a be Banger bear   spray here on my belt in the event that I should  have to spend the night out there uh between the   rain gear the sweater and the myar blanket in  my survival kit I probably have enough that I   could survive the night if I got lost or injured  out there and couldn't travel home tonight and   of course St have to make a fire and all that  too and I'm [Music] off [Music] setting off at   uh decent pace uh a lot of the Smoke's cleared  up however it's gotten a lot hotter so maybe I   should have left early but uh the Steep part  is uh what it's going to take a lot a lot of   energy the air gets thinner the higher you  you get as well so got my work cut out for me that is where I'm going we got some blueberries ladies and germs that's a nice sound it appears  that the creek is exposed here running   above the rocks oh on a hot day like this  I think I'm going to take the opportunity   even though I'm not far into the track I'm  going to climb down there drink one of my   water bottles and uh refill out of that Creek  I probably won't even tab it I brought water   tabs in case water's questionable but  I don't think this water's questionable   there's no beaver dams or anything like  that so it's just essentially snow run off oh man that's so good so cold looks like someone put a marker there I've  made my way up this stream and looks like maybe   that's the way to go that's steeper than I'd  anticipated but doable this rock doesn't even   look like a a marker it just looks like it's  naturally like that I think I'm going to go for   it up here up there to there up and then across  looks like I really have my work cut out for me   here but uh I think I can do it I think I'm going  to go for it once I get up there it'll be pretty   easy going and then down can be tough on the  knees and that but uh it's not as physically   arduous on the cardio side you can see though  I've come up quite a ways come out here and   gone around the bend well above the river  now definitely uh little hazy from the fire smoke different route than I had uh plotted  and cutting up a lot sooner as opposed   to walk walking up the valley more which  means I'll have more of a vertical climb   but shorter of a distance to walk along  the ridge when I get up there so it's   uh not easy going the scree rock  stuff is very challenging to walk in delicious no that's some high quality H2O  what movie is that from this is just made with lard can already feel that energy from the pkin   just hitting me man that Sun is  hot I will eat one more thing of [Music] pkin [Music] well I'm doing it definitely a false  Summit there though once I Crest that it's going   to keep going up looks like a little more smoke  is blowing in but uh view still should be epic   from up there starting to catch up to me right  about now I can feel that uh the air has gotten   thinner but it's also cooled down a bit which is  nice now I have the hard part right in front of me now here is a straight up piece of a lava rock  a long long time ago there was a volcano sitting   in the middle the bright deep blue sea and from  his lava cave the sound of laugh that he made   very close to here there was a shallow sea that  sea gave way over many billions of years to the   McKenzie mountains you can find fossils at the  tops of the McKenzie mountains fossils of uh sea   creatures which is wild and to think that at  one time obviously there's a volcano spewing   out around here I'm not uh going to be going up  this runoff Gulch anymore I'm going to Veer off   and get climb up a steeper part hopefully  get to a less steeper part that'll bring   me up to the main Ridge of Mount nro tough  going but uh I'm doing it you know I'm doing it all right this is going to be  a scramble on all fours you know   if you got to be careful cuz if I fall and  I pick up speed could be so pretty pretty quick this is way too deep I think it might  be dangerous so I should fall and pick up any   speed going keep going for it though there's  some trees up here I can get to the trees I   should be okay I might actually just cut  right across right there and get on some   uh Solid Ground this is crazy stepping in  this stuff just slides right out from under you yikes that's better I made it out that sketchy scree into  some Solid ground but it's still going to   be like a scramble on all fours type situation  here this is going to be by far the hardest part here slow and steady wins the race here  I barely even put down my backpack for   fear that it's going to roll all the  way back down to the har River looks   like a bunch of smokes blowing in kind  of killing the view but still really cool well I just stumbled across something that  here way up here on the ridge that looked kind   of like an old cash uh could just be the way  this rock scree fell on top of each other so   I pulled a couple rocks out it felt like what  seemed like a breeze coming from in the hole   so I dug down a bit and just found a bunch of  interesting rocks but maybe it's just a cool   air but it would be cool if there's a a cave  or something hidden under here I mean makes me   wonder I don't think this is a place people would  come search for gold typically they'd stick to   the creek beds and stuff like that definitely  not the first Tove climbed this mountain I'm   almost up this patch of green here then I'm back  onto the big chunks of rock scramble not looking   forward to it but I'm getting there this is uh  part of the track where starts to feel a little   daunting just got to tell myself hey first  of all it never gets dark here got all day   Pace myself just keep putting one foot in front  of the other and I'll get there and don't get   discouraged it's nice once in a while to look  back there's my tent and see where you've come   from when you start to get discouraged y I got  so much further to make it well look back and   hey already made a good distance drank my  one liter of water though I have one more left I found what looks like a doll sheep  Trail or a Mountain Goat Trail and what   I'm going to do is I'm going to actually  I'm think I'm just going to follow it to   what looks like a peak or I don't know  if it's technically the summit but I'm   going to follow along to that Peak where  I think I'm going to get an awesome view   pretty cool to be all the way up here and  see pretty distinct game Trail I like it some poop up here it's more like  rabbit poop though high up for a rabbit I think trusting the mountain sheep  Trail is the way to go because it just   brought me to this Ridge so much easier  than if I just gone straight up there and down I did it this wonderful Cool Breeze was just completely  blocked by the mountain on my way up and I   literally started thinking I was going to get  heat stroke didn't have enough water it was so   steep it was pretty dangerous to be honest  with you at times and now I'm just sitting   in a little saddle on this epic Ridge line next  Ridge line I can see the Blackstone River which   is another River the peel Watershed and here on  this mountain face I can see crazy they must be   mountain goat Trails just working their way  along against some really steep topography   pretty spectacular despite the forest fire smoke  oh and I can't tell you how nice This breeze is   man I needed that I'm going to continue walking  along this till I can find a way to get back [Music] down I've been following this sheep Trail and uh   no surprise couple doll sheep  right over that hump pretty amazing well I came down the saddle and I see  some Treetops just popping up there um which is   probably about as high as you're going to see any  trees get because this is all Alpine Tundra here   and and I think this indicates probably a good  route to go back my Camp is way over there so   if I go straight down and then kind of bushw  walk through there about a click and a half   or so I'll be back at Camp I don't really want  to go down something that's as steep as what I   came up man I'm going to miss this nice breeze  in this awesome ridgel line this is so cool up   here I might just take one moment to just sit and  take it in I'm glad that I decided to make this   track yeah easy going once you're up here tough  to get here but nice when you're up here pretty [Music] cool well I have begun my descent as soon as  I Crest over onto the Hart River side of the   ridge the wind stops but luckily it's not  as hot as it was but really the heart River   and the Blackstone River are pretty close here  it's just that they're really far because you   literally have to climb this mountain and then  down into a valley and then up another Mountain   to get from one to the other so it wouldn't be  a good place to try to Portage from one to the   other that's for sure hopefully this this turns  out to be good I've I've had issues coming down   off mountains before where you think you know  the way down and you you start going down and   then you hit a cliff you walk along the cliff and  then you run out of land you have to go way back   up walk along again think you have a passage down  again find out you don't literally get stuck on   the mountain for hours as it's getting dark can  be kind of stressful but I think just looking   at my map that this is going to work also just  the fact that there's trees here I'm not walking   walking that scree it would be great if I could  avoid that scree for sure but yeah not as tiring   but still more people get injured going down than  up in fact in M hardcore mountain climbing more   people die knock on wood going down than do  coming up if you fall forward well things are interesting well so far so good this was  actually the route that I was considering   coming up and back down or walk along the Ridge  and come down yeah it might actually have been   a good rout up cuz the way I took up suck but  no scree not yet anyways this could be a patch   of forest and then we'll see still way up I'll  make it slow and steady but looks like there's   a super steep stretch to come and if it gets too  steep I might have to bushwack along the side of   the Hill for a bit to get somewhere where it's a  little better I don't know I'll feel better once   I'm down further my my biggest concern right  now is the lack of water that I have there's   going to be no water on this route down at all  and uh I'm already super thirsty should be okay   but just might be like completely parched by  the end of it it's coming down part here and   I can see footprint in the grass where the grass  is folded over looks like good chance it could   be a bear so just going to make some noise  hey bear hey bear beat it one of the issues   with uh not having enough water is it causes  horrible cramps the underside of your thighs   and your calves any chance you're cramping out  there people think it's from OV exhaustion but   90% of the time it's from dehydration looks like  I haven't chosen the best route here after all   as well I probably should have taken another  uh Valley coming off the mountain this way   because it looks like here I'm going to have to  go down and then way back up again and then I'll   be about a kilometer and a half on flat land  from Camp even at that point so but I haven't   been dealing with like a ton of scree and maybe  there'll be a creek down there but I don't know   how the hell this happened looked like the best  way to go but I guess important thing is I get   down off the mountain and I'll get back to Camp  eventually before I die of the dehydration just   looking at that water is making me thirsty these  blueberries are definitely helping to hydrate me you can see now the river my campsites  right about there so so I'm getting there it's looking like the leisurely  flat part is uh is coming to an end [Music] and there is the har River well I think  it's safe to say I made it and definitely   not going to die of dehydration my campsite  is just over that way probably 100 200 meters   away uh so I'm more or less going to fall The  River back to the site but should be there in   two minutes so I think it's safe to say I did it  climbed Mount nro walked Along The Ridge at the   top found my way back down to Camp awesome  awesome day feels good to have accomplished   something hard like that there was times when  I thought man this is this is dangerous or is   it worth it and in the end absolutely it was  so great day um don't have to break Camp day   staying at my campsite so I'm going to go  back drink a lot of water and get dinner going back at camp a little  more beat than when I left but [Applause] satisfied well right as my water  was boiled and I was about to take   the pot off the fire the stick it  was on broke and it dumped off and Spilled s when at first we  don't succeed we try try again at least it didn't put the whole  fire out so you know could have been [Applause] worse i l this uh big ass can a tomato sauce out here  so the rest I have are just the packaged ones   Alfredo and stuff like that it's like a powder and  you can just leave some water in there and then   dump it in [Applause] well that's dunsky couple  hunks of uh Ash in there good for the digestive system all of it that is a lot of food time for a feast nailed it on the pasta it almost seems surreal looking at it  now that I just climbed that today pretty   awesome it's a ways up today was a pretty big  day I took the time to uh explore some of the   surrounding country of the Hart River this country  was traveled through largely by the waterways but   people also traveled Overland there's various  foot trails that connect One River to another   it wasn't only traveled on by water people  got off of the waterways they traveled into   the mountains to hunt to you know explore and  that's the indigenous people who were here far   before so pretty cool to imagine not just kind  of passing by on a trip but actually having this   be your permanent way of life looking forward  to getting back on the water tomorrow getting   back into some more fishing and uh seeing what  the river has in store um tomorrow might be the   day where I'm going to be hitting up an intense  Whitewater Canyon with raging Class 2 and three   Rapids after today I have 5 days left on the har  River and also the peel to make it to my float   plane pickup location at Canyon Creek I think  at this rate I'm going to be okay as long as   I keep making the distance I have to make it's  doable it's a bit of a different trip than my   Bonnet plume or hes river trip where you're really  consumed with Rapids but the river is still very   spirited as you saw with the sweepers and going  through the tight bends and the braided current   and every river is a little bit different  and um that's why you got to paddle them [Music] all [Applause] [Music] [Applause]   [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] well beautiful  campsite here perched up on um what the hell   am I on that'll know but uh perched up high  above the river here foggy and and uh hazy but   also forest fire smoke all mixed together  are giving us this really cool enchanting   look this morning and um another great  place to have a cup of coffee that's for sure to the naked eye this doesn't really look  like much but to me this looks like a large old   structure and I mean very old considering that  that tree right there it's probably 80 to 100   years old and it's growing in what is now the  middle of of this structure so that's a right   angle there and then there's another one on  that side and it goes for almost 30 ft in   this direction so a very large rectangle here  a fire came through here maybe burnt whatever   remnants of the cabin were left whenever that  tree burnt judging by the fact on how decayed   this is and that you can barely notice it you  know we're talking about something that could be   couple hundred years old um if not more even just  judging the size of these trees growing out of it   here and here those are growing in what would  have been the middle of the structure anyways   pretty interesting uh beautiful place to build  a cabin or to spend large portions of the time   I know that there's definitely doll sheep trails  in the mountains here which uh the gchen hunted um   and still do hunt and uh probably Caribou in the  area as well um it's a area where uh it's going   to be very hard if you're traveling up River to  get through that Canyon at certain water levels   so it might be an area where a staging area um  or just a good spot to call home I think even   just getting a tiny glimpse into what their lives  were like kind of puts your mind back in time to   when things were a little bit different to when  people lived differently and uh I don't know just   really enriches the whole experience out here well  it's looking like I won't get to them today but I   do have some intense Rapids class three Canyon  that uh ever has a place in the back of my mind   as approaching and I'm probably going to want the  spray deck for that so I don't need it today but   it's half decent spot to put it on and I might  as well just slap it on get it over [Applause] with okay I got one side lash down  now I do the same thing on the other side all right there we go spray  deck on and solar panel riged up   so I'm getting on the river probably  about 11:30 not ideal but I don't have   a super far to make it today so  I should be okay anyways here we go looks like the river got mer here overnight  there was some Thunder and a little bit of drizzle   last night so my guess is it must have uh rained  up River and those tributaries got full of silt   which washed in here but it's almost a brown  color right now well yesterday it was uh a blue oh there's a ledge here here there is a bald eagle perched on top of this   pillar look the bald eagle  is the gatekeeper of this rapid must have a nest up there  I'm going to call this bald eagle Rapids woo hi Eagle it's looking right at me it could  probably pick out the hairs on my chinny chin chin show me your dick paddling on for a bit and I   get a funny feeling I literally could  just had that feeling that something   was staring at me I look back and the  eagle is clearly still staring at me definely not the most tricky paddling moments of  the trip but uh some of the biggest standing waves yet wa what a pretty place to Addy out this is a  a sid SL I see a beaver dam up there though   but it's a a sid SLA that a tributary Creek  enters and uh beavers are have it damned up   pretty substantially there's jump out and take a  couple casts here see if we can get any fish the   tributary that comes in just above that Beaver  Dam I guess isn't bringing enough clear water   in so uh maybe it's just um you know too uh  too cloudy the water's not clear enough here   for there to be fish and it seems like after  the rain we got last night and just all the   tributaries bringing in loads of silt with  them that we don't have a clear water river   anymore uh so it's going to be trick here to  catch fish I'm going to have to focus more on   on the Clear Water tributaries and and you  know obviously try any back edies and stuff   but uh they could just not be biting cuz it still  looks like a decent spot I don't know but uh we'll see so there's that Beaver D but uh yeah just a   little trickle coming through it looks  like clear water but not clear enough enough gring yes just in this little side saw [Music] [Music] just toddling at the base of these epic Cliffs  with Jagged tops studded with pillars at the tops amazing well you look at  what what we have [Applause] here a mountain runoff Creek this river is just like surreal it's so awesome well there's been a few uh Rapids today which are  just basically wave trains but uh pretty smooth   sailing for this last little part scenery is not  quite as good as when I was in those Canyons but   still amazing yeah I think I I don't think I'm  going to push on and try to make it more than   25k today um so basically I'm going to try  to make it about another 7K and look for a   spot to camp hopefully somewhere as usual  with decent fishing but uh yeah it's been   a beautiful day on the water it' be nice if  i' seen a little bit of wildlife but uh can't complain follow the eagle oh we got a pretty good R in here [Music] here's a little tributary could be  some fish in this tributary here   not exactly rolling in with any momentum  though sometimes when they come in fast   they make a bit of an Edy but it's clear  dinner's about to be caught ladies and germs there is the tributary [Music] Very Yes okay so far  First cast was a nice [Music] gring oh yeah First cast Baby First cast [Music] yes oh there's that bald eagle I have its fishing hole maybe it's fish it [Music] out got one here there she [Music] is  yes I got to say this has got to be   the best fishing hole of the whole trip yet  maybe not as big as average size is some of   them up River but I just put away the fly  rod and uh I said okay I'll take a couple   cast with this spinning rod before I push  off and I've just been here catching and   releasing fish after fish literally on almost  every cast watch this just quick cast out boom fish and I'm I'm fishing with only two hooks  that are barbless on this as well look just   endless amount of fish that's a smaller one  I'm going to push on but it's almost seven   so between putting the spray deck on but  I'll I've done my 25k today look at that   another one every cast I'm telling you guys  this is magical this is a good one too look   at that chunker noticeably larger I've already  kept three so that's probably enough for me to eat goodbye Enchanted fishing hole I love you [Music] [Applause] trying to get out my GoPro I got swept  into those boils so sketchy one of the   most unpredictable things so  they spun me around and well   next you know I'm paddling the rapid  backwards scariest uh part of the trip yet okay this is going to be the spot  looks a little rocky little lumpy but   uh I might have to just bust out my  inflatable ground pad and deal with   it other than that looks good  looks like there's some wood here not so windy beautiful surroundings  I'll take it I'll take it gosh darn it maybe I can move some of the bigger  Boulders but I got to stop I can't   keep pushing on it's so late what a nice  evening Man compared to uh the weather I   was getting last year on the Bonnet plume  this is like I had frost in July I mean I   didn't mind I was prepared for it it's the  northern Yukon but it was cold rain never   really got too warm I was paddling  in a sweater complete opposite this time one of my poles this little metallic  color thing which is key for that to   slip on is gone so I don't know if it  came loose and it slid down inside one   of the uh poles I I looked in there I  can't see it I don't know how it would   have disappeared so I splinted it with  some saplings but it's far less than ideal dizzy I'm [Music] [Music] dizzy always plenty of uh pure foot on these  gravel bars I just had to go into the bushes   over there and find some that was kind of washed  up against the bushes and drift piles from higher   water times and uh just at the foot of this  beautiful mountain after coming through that   Canyon today really really awesome uh hitting  that epic fishing hole the bald eagle staring   at me and uh that little that little kind of  Cove I went into where I saw those bald eagle   prints and the Beaver Dam and just of course  the scenery all around made it pretty special day [Music] M fresh fish nothing like it telling you it is day nine of my trip I have 4 days left   counting today who knows what today has  in store hopefully I get into some epic fishing time to fire up the eyebrow remover well there is my attempted splint fix I put  two pieces of sapling on either side of the   uh broken joint The Joint was missing this little  metallic colored piece here I don't know how that   disappeared maybe got pushed down inside so  I had to splint it with two pieces of Twigs   basically I use green twigs and duct tape seemed  to work but it's definitely questionable I only   have 4 days left on this trip and including  today so hopefully it makes it three more nights will my coffee be too weak or too  strong somewhere in the middle or just right I miss um my kids a lot um I have like  a couple videos on my phone [Music] that I've   watched a bunch of times cuz I brought my phone  I've been using it as an alarm clock clearly not   very effectively cuz I usually sleep in about  a half an hour after my alarm rings but and so   I have videos of huie playing the ukulele and of  Wesley laughing while listening to music and like   a bunch of other things too you know we get so  caught up in our lives our day-to-day uh lives   the BS business of of having a family of our jobs  and managing a household that we sometimes forget   to just stop and realize how like amazing and  special our lives are you know and I guess just   being away from the family and missing them and  like just watching a couple of these videos of   the kids too just makes me want to go home and  slow down for a little bit and enjoy my property   spend time with the kids swimming and barbecuing  and tending to the gardens and stuff like that as   we build things and we build like our lives that  we always kind of want more and you need to you   need to how am I going to save for retirement  you know you need to keep working and all that   but I think it's important to sometimes just  slow down and just like reflect on what you do have so I'm at kilometer 160 so that means I  have 100 km to go in 4 days um and if I if I   have a long Portage around that Canyon that  might be pretty challenging but if I don't   I should be okay let me see okay here's the  Rapids so yeah the Rapids are are it's not   just that the Rapids are uh class three it's  that they're super long so I doubt it'll be a   raging classy the whole way but it's almost  a ker of Class 2 three Rapids three Rapids   over a kilometer and a half and then uh some  more on top of that so it's looking like it   won't be today but it'll be tomorrow  which will be an intense White Water day so I still don't see any fires by Mount buos I  got word that they're north of Mount buos which   is kind of the direction I'm traveling um hard  to really pinpoint where they are but it doesn't   look like I'm in any immediate danger that's for  sure there just like an abyss of smoke in general   across Canada the worst Wildfire year in Canadian  history just north of that mountain there are some fires see the visibility you can barely even see  the mountains um in the north the Tiga forest or   the northern Boreal here in the subarctic fires  are common they have been getting more frequent   in recent years but they are natural actually  the biodiversity of the northern boreal forest   is actually largely fire induced and uh some  biologists even call it pyrro diversity so it   it does play a role it is an important part um  in the cycle but either way there's forest fires   around here and I'm not sure how concerned I  should be about them or how far really they   are away from the Hart River um they'd be on  that bank so you know I I can't imagine it   would burn incredibly quickly during the time I  passed through here but I'm sort of on the fence   you know do I do a hike if I do a hike I can't  even see anything anyways but I'm hiking up to   see caves not necessarily the view or do I just  kind of get past this whole area where the fires   are and get to where for sure I'll be safe I  don't know I'll have to make up my mind soon though you know it's very challenging to see  the caves um you know cuz I want to see them   before I start climbing so I know where the  heck I'm going some of those caves high up in   the mountains um you know doll sheep has been  using them for thousands of years and you can   find preserved fossilized bones and skeletons  and stuff um just lying there even other cool   things like that see a cave there but that looks  like a death clamber to get up there even for a sheep that's the way up right there [ __ ] looks like I could have gotten up  that way after all oh man I couldn't see until   I was right there all right we'll stick with  the new plan checking it out from the other side quite an impressive Rock here expect to see  gargoyle staring down at me well from here   I don't really see any caves from this side but  I see some really cool like uh standing sort of   spires up there this looks epic so I think I'm  going to climb up see how high I can get up to   the ridge I might not not be able to get all  the way up cuz it's near vertical but I can   definitely get up a good ways so I think I'm  going to give it a go looks pretty exciting actually well I just uh tossed my nailene bottles  out of the boat to take on my hike and something   bad happened look at this oh no well looks  like I'll have one liter of water for this   track these things supposed to be unbreakable  camp wobin now come to think if it tor and I   found this on a Portage Trail about 6 or seven  years ago and maybe it had sat out all winter   and weakened oh well what happens when you  party you have to be extra careful with that one well I am on my way I'm trying to figure out  which is the best way to start going up I see   two little caves over there I think I might  head over to this stretch of green so I'm not   going to be clambering up scree those pillars  now they a little closer look like they're at   the top of a sheer Cliff um maybe Alex hannell  could bang that off but uh doesn't look like   it's in the cards for old gym today so we'll go  up this way pretty cool don't know if I'll find   any caves but I'll definitely get a good view  that way there with the grass looks a little   more gradual I think I'm just going to go right up  right up this way a little bit of bushw walking is required kind of cool in here actually hey bear doesn't hurt to make a little  noise when you're Bush walking hey bear just so   you don't come up on a Grizzly and surprise it  it's what they say to do why some people carry [Music] bells that looks steep I don't remember  looking the Steep from back at the river just making my way up here slowly  but surely I glance up quick and it looked   like something was staring at me ducked  away behind the rock something white so   I think it was a either a doll sheep or a  mountain goat probably doll sheep kind of cool or maybe it was a Yeti there's my canoe I've made it quite a ways [Music] up just taking a break because uh this is  exhausting probably about halfway I don't   know what I'll do when I'll get up there  I'll see if I can can kind of walk side   Hill a little and hit a ridge and maybe walk  along this Ridge a bit or I might just enjoy   the view and come back down I still have  20 clicks to make it today and uh probably   wouldn't hurt to get out of this forest fire  area too so I might do that we'll see what   it's like if it doesn't take too much effort  to get up on the Ridge then I'll probably do it [Music] check in with the canoe still there made it up uh this long sharp  scree scramble really second guessing   whether I want to go down that way  but look I'm almost where I'm headed for I decided to keep climbing what the hey I'm surprised to find what looks like bear  poop up here and maybe a mom and Cub it's old but they both have like Flex of bone in them which means yeah I think it's a mom and  cob bear it looks like I could get back up   the ridge line there and uh get a view over  the other side of this mountain to where I   first stopped my canoe and considered climbing  uh I haven't seen any caves here which is you   know whatever but it just it's still super cool  like I'm just way up here amongst these crazy   rock formations there's crevices in the Rock  there's just freestanding SP is basically a   little triangles like of a it's basically like  a saw tooth across the top there across that   Ridge it's super cool and the views are just  amazing it's it's hard to believe my canoe is   way down there I'm actually starting to dread  the hike back down and there is my canoe this   is so awesome when I considered turning back it  was at that point that it was like just starting   to get good and I'm able to just sort of walk  along on one side of the ridge here and just   experience all these cool rock formations so  awesome look at that that's that's a true Spire [Music] there I could probably make it up there but it's  already 6:00 going down the same way I came   up is kind of uh it's the devil I know you  know what I mean uh but from here go going   down the Little Valley just to my right  looks like not as steep but more scree but   yeah some of that loose scree man going  down is going to be and it was sharp too   going down is going to be pretty interesting  I'll be it sort of dangerous so I don't know   I'll make the final decision when I get a  little closer I think I might try the new route old way or New Way think I'm  going to go new way why the   hell not if I fell back I could probably cut my hands feel like I haven't come down very  far at all well this way is proving to be   more dangerous you can see from here this  near Cliff what do you think it'll take me   an hour an hour would be pretty good  took me an hour and a half to get up here [Music] [Music] she's a good girl loves her mama love Jesus  in America too she's a good girl crazy about   Elvis loves hores and a boyfriend too but  I'm a bad boy cuz I don't even miss her I'm   a bad boy for breaking her heart but I'm Free  Falling Now I'm Free Falling scree Falling oh   my loveing SC falling watching all this scree  fall made me think of the song Free Falling   by the lake great Tom Petty anyways I'll  tell you what partially falling down the   mountain is making things go a lot faster  I'm just basically like sliding down with   the scree just going to keep giving her  and I'll be back down at the boat pretty   soon right now the boat is about half  the size of my pinky fingernail from [Applause] here H there's a fossil of some sort okay this is much better made it back onto  some uh dirt and vegetation it's just far less sketchy well I did it I made it down through  some really steep sketchy scree picked up   some uh nice soft Earth with uh vegetation  grasses and stuff in it followed that down   and now I'm back in the bush so I just got to  follow this little animal Trail here and uh do   a bit of bushwacking and I'll be back at the  canoe in no time awesome awesome little hike   I'm glad I did it and there it is folks the  canoe and that's what I just climbed pretty   good okay so we are done epic little track in  the books and back on the river and uh it's   5:00 already so I don't think I'm going to uh  try to push really far today but I'm going to   try to bang off like 10 CRS got a wrap it here  looks fairly intense [Music] it's almost like a Ledge [Music] I 1:09:53.720,1193:02:47.295 [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] and the wee bir sang and the wild flowers bloom  and in sunshine the waters are sleeping but the   broken hearted cans thou shal Second  Spring again go the way F Well cease   Fair their gting oh you T the high road  and I'll T the low road and I'll be in   Scotland you for me and my true love will  never meet again on the Bonny Bonny Banks of now another one of these things is broken  [Music] you got to be fuing kidding [Music] me it is d day 10 and um considering my pickup is  first thing in the morning on day 12 that means   I need to make it all the way to my pickup  location at Canyon Creek on the Peele River   in two days so I have two big paddling days  in front of me very very smoky thick smell   of smoke in the air and chilly morning by far  the coldest it's been on this trip yet so yeah   today probably about less than 10 kilometers  from now I'll be faced with some uh violent   whitewater rapids uh followed by several more  hopefully somewhat easier ones and I'm going   to have to bang off 40K however you look at  it even if I have to paddle to midnight and   sleep for 4 hours and get up and do it again  so hopefully it's not that intense anyways   here we [Music] go [Music] You Walk This Road a  thousand times you know exactly where it where it slow it appears my ground pad got a little too  close like wow that's a lot of steam to today   I guess cuz it's colder or something and then  it's like oh it's smoke from my foam ground pad burn all the K up the gates  all the lines are drawn and   clear all who are warm wa home you're welcome here Maple brown sugar morning bet your  ass falling more than ground we are   the we are the L more than sound we  have no home you're not alone you're welcome perfect nailed the eyeball calling at [Music] coffee Thousand Times  we'll know exactly where it is where well the White Water doesn't start for  about 12K so I'm going to tuck this away but   I'm definitely going to be using this white  water paddle today I'm using some uh power   of positive thought here to think that this uh  Canyon rapid is going to be runnable the river   is pretty wide there right so there might  be like a sneak route where I can bypass   some of the huge waves and stuff like that but  I think that's it ready to hit the water [Music] okay on the water day 10 I got  my work cut out for me [Music] baby [Music] well as I was looking up there I looked up and  I saw a flash of white disappearing behind two   Rock so I saw pretty sure I just saw about this  much of a doll sheep they're not easy to [Music] see this isn't marked on my map but looks  like it's a pretty good rapid here so I'm   going to run it I don't have time to  bust up my white water water paddle really just Bedrock underneath me smooth  Bedrock well if this is unmarked that makes   me think the one I'm coming up to is going  to be fairly substantial this is like a class one oo to make a little  move there the curling cool basically the waterfall trickling down there wow I just did a shot of me paddling around this  Big Bend in the river that just completely flanked   with a mountain and cliffs and light brown to  khaki to gray to Black Rock and a waterfall   stream trickling in through a tight Valley cut  through the middle of the mountain I don't know   what it is the lighting the smell of the air  the crispness of the air the color of the water   I don't know what it is but it just it's just  so humbling the size of the mountain the little   bit of fear I felt coming up hearing that the  rapid Wonder wondering if there's a rapid and   it just like is somehow incredibly connecting  and spiritual moment here for me right now like   people ask me why I do these things and for  moments of like this and from the bottom of   my heart the best way I can explain it is that  you feel the presence of a greater force than   yourself I don't know what it is about this spot  there's a 100 spots on this river that are super   special but for some reason this spot is just  really speaking to me right now it's literally   like humbling and like literally emotional I  guess is how I could describe the the feeling   that you get sometimes when you're in places  like this and one good thing about doing them   solo is that you kind of are forced to sort of  connect with that in a way that you might not   be when you're involved in the conversations and  and connectedness of a group although personally   I do like probably traveling with a group better  but uh yeah definitely you get these moments of   introspection when you just are paddling on miles  of beautiful River and you sort of automatically   get into like a meditative State almost and allows  you to connect with thoughts that don't seem to   come from your own mind this looks like an epic  fishing Hall I bet you there's more in there than   just grailing maybe lake trout maybe bll trout  I don't know I don't have time though to fish it River Valley's opened up here it's really  beautiful too well we are nearing where the   main white water is but on the way there it  looks like we got another rapid here yeah   Le Ed or something there just going  to avoid it rather than trying to scout oh yeah that wouldn't be fun to go into  might dump if you bombed into that probably not   River's picking up some steam here though  looks like we got another one up here too   man this white water paddle it's heavier than  my other one but you can just tell that right   away it just Maneuvers the boat so much more  effectively see these are the things where I   can I can more or less avoid the crazy part  but I could run it I just would have to scout first [Music] wee yeah Rapids that was fun oh those are marked woo woo wo that's done actually  had a wave come up and over the bow there [Music] a nice wing [Applause] [Music] woo I think I see a [Music] moose bye moose bye she just kind  of hung out and watch me drift by that was   cool well we got this marked rapid coming  up so I better start uh paying attention   to into the river well this doesn't  look like much so either the rapid   is more substantial when the map was made  in higher water or I'm not where I think I am okay okay here's something coming up up here weird rapid it's like trying to suck you that way   which wouldn't be fun oh it  might be fun you might dump though I smell hot got a strong smell of sulfur there I  wonder where that's coming from so I went   around an island to the right cuz it looked  like more Rapids to the left and there's a   big rapid where the two currents collided at  the down river side of the island and right as   I was hitting that rapid I smelt a strong  smell of sulfur which is a Telltale sign   of Hot Springs I've done almost 20 clicks  today so I'm making decent time of course   the rapid turned out to be a lot easier than I  thought though there are some class 3es coming   up today too but you know that was supposed  to be a class two it's more like a class one   so I'm thinking at these levels they won't  be super time consuming of course you never know well I jumped out of the canoe I'm walking   back up River on what it looks  like an extremely well-worn game Trail look how much higher the water gets  through here sometimes just all along there   well we've pretty much come to the the end here  beautiful little side hike definitely no hot   springs not here anyway so who knows what I was  smelling but definitely was a strong smell of sulfur some very interesting markings in the  Rocks here like lava flowing around Boulders   these here are rose hips not quite ready yet  typically when be green if it was ripe let's   give her a taste not ripe but not bad are these  little guys again I've seen Cloud berries I was   calling them low brush Arctic raspberries  but could they be Cloud berries I've seen   Cloud berries before we Hade a bunch in Labrador  and the the little circles a lot bigger so maybe   people call those Cloud berries here I don't  know they're definitely edible blueberries   too M berries I'm a big Berry guy big berry  guy a little bit of a different species of   blueberry the bushes grow taller why' you  miss your FL P Jim I was just picking some berries well as I'm back in my canoe looking at  my map I see here on the Portage Trail I remember   where I crossed this Creek it was all bushed in  but this Creek coming down on off the mountain   there wasn't any water in it but sometimes when  the water's low it'll be running underneath the   ground or underneath rocks I remember Crossing  that Creek on the trail so potentially if there   was a hot spring it would be somewhere coming out  of this mountain there and by that point it'd be   underground so if I walked up I might have found  warm uh water coming out of there could also be   part of the reason why there's a trail there but  probably not it's probably just a pipe dream and   I got to get going so I just I wish I had thought  of that being like I I kept looking for this Creek   but I kind of imagin more something in the open  and and Boulder strew and than you know more of   a forest stream type of thing so and again  I didn't smell anything but if I was going   to go search again I'd walk up that Creek bed  up the mountain and see if I could see any hot   springs coming out of the mountain so maybe that's  for next time I off to paddle This River again W that wasn't even marked it's marked with  a contour line crossing the river there on   the top of graphic map that was like way more  intense than the mark rapid albe it much much shorter Beauty Spot for a lunch  stop just in this big back ady here couple the C Food you know good number of gring right here in this little  pool freaking awesome well not bad a little spot   here uh caught four fish so no tributary but  the water's just clear enough and there's a   nice big back Edie I didn't keep any because  I'm hoping I get to Camp with enough time to   cook up a stew and use those vegetables I've  been hanging on to since the beginning of the   trip before they go bad I only have two nights  left that's crazy so maybe on my last night if   I'm lucky I'll have a nice big fish fry  again but I'm hoping to cook up a ruboo tonight seagulls to me that's a sign that  we're getting closer to a larger body of   water in this case the peel River the mighty  peel well we have another couple sets of marked   Rapids on this map I know there's going to  be some class threes in here somewhere but   my fear level considering how the last ones were  which is pretty easy my fear level has subsided substantially getting pretty tired I watch the Stars growing in the night  making that Sky light out just for you and I there's no doubt it's all going work out well I'm approaching my 40 clicks for the day  I got to decide do I push on or do I pull over   and make a a good meal which I could use and  get a good night's sleep get an earlier start   on the day tomorrow well that was pretty fun I  definitely think this rapid needs a name and it   should be rapid o goong that means rapid of the  gulls or even just Gull rapid appropriate name I   think and it's in French just because it sounds  better well it's 6:30 and I've done my 40K um   I'm coming up to this one last rapid here and I  think I'm going to run it I'm going to go ahead   and say I think this one's going to be a solid  class 3 because when I look at the map I see   a marked rapid along with a contour line that  crosses the river here and whenever you see a   contour line Crossing the river at a marked rapid  usually it's something a little more interesting   so coming up to it right now I'm probably going  to pop out and Scout this one out and then find   a place to camp at its base um I'll probably get  to Camp with any luck around 7:00 so not too bad   for a 40 km plus long day okay well I scouted  out the rapid and I'm going to give [Music] her oh she looks pretty good do right [Music] feel [Music] [Music] this it some keep your  nose clean but I can't help but   smell the Sten of all those evil  rising up from hell my heart beats   like Virginia don't SP myself into  one side made for forgiveness all the well kind of nailed that now I can look for  a campsite there's two huge standing waves on   the right at the top but I missed them because  my line like after them was a sketchy looking   hole that I to avoid for obvious reasons  so but maybe if I'd been able to scout I   would have hit them for fun this looks  like a good place to call home for the [Music] night [Music] wa what a beautiful evening wow I just got to  change out of this um was the dry suit necessary   for today no but you never know like if it was  a cold day out it would have been a lot nicer   but with this warm weather your odds on getting  hypothermia are way less cuz as soon as you get   out of the water even if you've been in for a long  time you warm up ideally I wouldn't have left 40K   for my last day um 40K and what are definitely  going to be hands down the toughest Rapids of the   trip um on the peel River a whole bunch of Ledges  um and solid you know long class 3 so but I mean   I guess there's good current and it's nothing  that I haven't done before so I'm not too too   worried plus doesn't get dark to late if I have  to push late I can uh my float plane is coming   at like 9 in the morning tomorrow or something  like that so it's going to be here pretty [Music] early [Music] what I'm going to do is I'm just going  to make a tripod so that I can uh hang my [Music] pot [Applause] I just cut this from a a branch of a spruce  tree um and this is what I'm going to hang   my pot from first of all I'm just going to  cut a little Notch there and I'm just going   to very tightly tie off to that while we are  going to cook up a rubab boo stew that's why   I set up this tripod I'm going to put a fire  at its base and use this to hang my pot over   it rubab is actually a mix of two languages  um AO is a thickening agent in French um a   thickening agent that you'd add to a soup and  Abu is uh an algonkian word for soup or stew um   so this is why we're going to make a rubab boo  and the key ingredient to this is pkin I make   pkin myself at home it's basically a mixture  of animal fat and dry dried powderized meat   and sometimes dried powderized berries but I  also have a few other ingredients including   some fresh vegetables this is day 10 I'm going to  add some vegetables root vegetables so onions uh   potatoes and carrots that usually keep pretty  well and first I'm going to get a fire going   and I'm going to start cooking and should  really hit the spot cuz I'm feeling pretty [Music] hungry another thing you might come in  contact with when you're in the bush is   wild mushrooms I'm going to add uh some canned  mushrooms this is the main ingredient here this   is homemade pkin beef broth and this is a  concentrated stuff you can just use water   like River stock but this is great to have  there is another ingredient guess what it is   if you guess bacon you're right it's going to  take a bit more time just to let it boil and   simmer down though so uh hopefully I'll be  able to hold myself together cuz I'm really hungry that is ready that is a lot of food that is delicious nailed it voyers would be  proud it was uh really really hot this evening and   then it cooled right off but takes a little while  to cook this but it's worth it tomorrow is going   to be my last day on The River it's going to be  a full day though because I have to go 40 km and   deal with the most challenging Rapids of the trip  by far well I think I'm going to just sit here and   eat this for probably another half an hour at  least I think I'm going to try to pack all of   it in I need a good meal big day tomorrow so good  night and uh hopefully the weather stays amazing   for tomorrow and for my float plane pickup I  wouldn't want to get weathered in so fingers crossed oh good morning it is my last  full day of my trip I have to make it a   solid 40 km I think about 43 kilm today  to my float plane pickup location I'll   be meeting my float plane tomorrow morning  at like 8:30 or 9:00 a.m. I got to make it   through the most challenging Rapids  of the entire trip um on the Peele   River and I got to get there before too too  [Music] late oh yeah ah warm warm [Music] [Music] oh I only have one packet of instant oatmeal left this is a mixture between Maple brown  sugar three Maple brown sugar one apple and cinnamon nailed it [Music] watch how strong I am just destroying full rocks with just  a mere tap I have no idea why those rocks   look completely intact but are just dissected  with many many cracks maybe there was land here   and a flood came through in the spring and put  moisture in them and then they froze over winter   and the water never got back up that high but  if you look along the shore here there's just   large swaths of this River where obviously  there was a flood maybe two Springs ago and   the ice breakup just demolished everything along  Shore it looks like it was a a cut slash almost   um cuz the power of the ice being pushed by the  current and flood conditions just knocked every   tree down a ways from the river and all there  is is just bent in half and snapped off trees [Music] now the way I'm loading the boat is  trying to get as much weight forward as I   could so when the food Barrel is heavier I put  it closer to the bow now that this is heavier   than the food Barrel I put this closer to the  bow I and that's because when I'm sitting in   the back I'm quite heavy I'm sitting closer  to the stern when I'm sitting closer to the   stern it means that I'm not trimmed evenly the  bowel sticks up a bit ideally the best way to   be trimmed is perfectly evenly I still won't  be trimmed evenly but a lot closer to it got   a couple rapid to start the day off one two then  I head back into a long section of braided River   and then after that it's only about four clicks  till I'm on the peel all righty all ready to get   going so I'm going to push off not too hot out  yet looks like we have another beautiful day   talk about a crazy stretch of weather with any  luck you'll see me pulling up just before Canyon   Creek today probably late this evening where  I will await my float plane pick up tomorrow   tomorrow morning so wish me luck got some  obstacles in front of me today got a long   way to paddle but I should be able to do it  here we [Music] go well I'm not done it yet   I have probably about 30k to go on the heart what  a sick River just all those crazy ridges with the   rock spires I believe that's called castellated  ridges where you see those sharp triangles and   spires up on the mountains it's a sign that uh  glaciers might not have touched this area for   a very long time the fact that all those aren't  just carved down and smooth [Music] down [Music] looks pretty easy but the mark rapid is after   this little island not before it  so this isn't really my [Music] [Music] concern woo yeah I had one big curly wave that cuted my back  there I was trying to just go close to it probably   just should have bombed it hi seagulls how much  further to the peel would you say thanks for   nothing okay what did I do looks like a pretty big  drop oh yeah oh she's a big one he's a big [Music] one woo yeah yeah had to sit up Midway through that  little rapid because I I started getting   a a spasm in the bottom of my foot which  tells me that I'm not drinking enough water when you have to um treat your  water it's easy to just like try to   ration it oh I don't want to drink anym  now I'll wait and just don't do that put   my life jacket on we got a bit of  a ledge here oh I'm going to miss it woo some of the rock formations and just the  way the lines of Strat are twisted and pushed   up definitely sedimentary rock here we're  seeing and and that's because this whole   area was once at the bottom of a shallow sea and  these mountains around us have been growing for   two billion years pretty amazing definitely  different than at home where you see the big   hills are all solid granite ignas and metamorphic  courts and stuff like that which are even older   in in where I'm from in Ontario and wherever  the Canadian Shield sort of spreads to way up   and then over into Northern Saskatchewan and  into uh Minnesota and stuff like that um into   Quebec that massive Canadian Shield area some  of the oldest exposed bedrock in the world and   those Hills we don't have mountains in Ontario  but you get up to you know the NorthShore Lake   Superior even um around Karne and you have stuff  that resembles mountains but they're so ancient   they're so old those Hills and the Canadian  Shield once rivaled the Himalayan Mountains in height [Music] You Walk This Road a thousand times  you know exactly where it hands where it [Music] slows [Music] just making my way about a long stretch  of what should be relatively easy River   the current isn't exactly ripping but it's not  slack either so I think with any luck I should   be able to do it today as long as those Rapids  aren't too challenging I'm in these braids here   and I have no idea which way to go last thing I  want to do is end up on some tiny little braid   that meanders through the dense Bush way off the  river hopefully something will reveal itself to me shortly that was quite a whirl pool there wouldn't   have dumped me but it would  have probably spun me around flipping my maps over this is  the last map of the adventure   almost off of the heart and onto the  peel crazy it's heart to leave it behind oh hilarious and there it is I see the peel River  in about 100 m I can say I paddled the heart now   the most challenging Whitewater test of the  whole trip is about to hit me but still wow   noticeably bigger than the heart River got some uh  clouds moving in looks like some weather might be   moving in there's the heart bye-bye heart it's  just cool to think I can just float this River   all the way to Fort mcferson and the Dempster  Highway and then continue to the McKenzie and   the Arctic Ocean at Tu Tock so pretty amazing  long long journey maybe one for another time   but still got many let's see how far I Got 5 10  15 we're not out of here quite yet 15 okay I'm   on the peel River I just did the heart I just  paddled the heart River ladies and germs the   peel River it's huge there once was a ship that  put to Sea and the name of the ship was a billy   of te wind blew hard her bow duck down Billy  by my Billy boy soon May the Wellman come will   bring us sugar and tea and rum one day when  the tongen is done we'll take a leave and go   other people another Camp I wonder if they're  stop for the day already probably are coming   up to what looks like a little white water  here maybe not much but I'm just on my toes   a little because I do have a couple serious  Rapids coming up yeah this looks like a ledge   probably could just run it anywhere it looks  like over there there's a lot of boiling water   like a hole this is definitely not the mark  Rapid yet though yeah I wouldn't want to hit that well here's the first set of Rapids and  uh looks like there could be a big ledge there   maybe a better pull over and Scout I it doesn't  look too bad but just to be safe it does look   like there's a big ledge and there might be  a good place to hit it and a bad place to hit [Music] [Music] it well I'm going to go for  it I'm going to to take uh what is a   pretty easy line on my side but then at  the end things get a little interesting   and I can't get down there to scout it  without scaling this Cliff so at that   point I may run into some reactionary  movements but up here I'm going to just   run these two ledges on the tongue close  to me it should be pretty easy so here we go yeah all right here's where things get interesting oh Rocky that was where the real wild  ride was I missed all those huge   standing waves I could have rolled  that wave train and not hit any rocks though interesting rapid though so wide  and just one ledge after the other just   to bedrock Ledges as what it's pouring  over another rapid just down river and   then after that I think we'll be the doozy  so a little more white water Terror to come oh just saw another cow moves it saw me before  I saw it and when I looked up at it I just had   the sense something was staring at me and when  I looked up at it it was just staring like this   didn't look too healthy though unfortunately  look kind of skinny but uh yeah pretty neat well it is getting on in the evening and uh  starting to feel it starting to feel a little   tired it's been another hot day but I am on this  Gravel Bar tracking down to scout the last rapid   of this adventure after I get past this I am  3 km from my float plane pickup location um   and it's looking like it's going to be something  pretty interesting but so far it looks runnable   I'm going to come down I'm going to Eddy out  there and going to try to hit this on the far   right that's some weird current in there I'm  trying not to get too squirly then turn right   and try to avoid I try to avoid that at the end  but then look down river we have more so we got   some tricky currents in here it doesn't look like  an easy rapid at all some boiling current and then   down river there's more white water I'm going to  give it a go though here I thought I was going   to get away with a trip with no Terror and I'm  faced with a really tricky rapid with huge waves   pinning Boulder down at the end really intense  crazy currents uh and just absolutely terrifying   and literally my end sight is only 3 km away  on the other side of this thing so this trip   is going to give me a really good test before  it lets me out of here and it's getting late   too um I atat some food I'm going to strap my  dry suit on and I'm going to run this thing dry suit dumping on this would be extremely  unbeneficial for my health and general well-being   hopefully by the end you'll see me cheering with  the right side of the canoe facing up here we go [Music] [Music] baby [Music] [Music] yeah a woo W there's some crazy [ __ ] in  there managed to basically avoid   everything but there's some stuff  that if I hit not a chance here's   the next one coming up it looks intense  too holy Eddie out check this one out too that's what I just ran well it got  stormy here's the next drop I'm not going   to lie from here it looks harder than  the last one well I'm going to go Scout   this one out it goes to the left and then  it bends back to the right so there might   be more around the corner but I think  after this I'm home free it's just that   this one looks potentially crazier than the  last one I'm just hoping there's some sort   of like sneak route or something where I  can bypass the crazy stuff that'll dump me it looks like I could come along  here and avoid all that crazy stuff   to the right of it and once I'm pass that  it looks like I'm home free looks like   maybe I can avoid all the crazy stuff by  saying just right of it but there's some   stuff in there that if I hit guaranteed  dump I could line down the first ledge   and then run it but even that's tricky  probably line down there and then run it this was once at the base of an ancient sea just  want to check what's around the corner   in case I dump I should be aware  of how terrified I need to be to   get my boat to shore through here and  all the way up to there the big part [Music] [Applause] [Music] hard well I am thoroughly mortified I'm basically  running a line it's like walking on the edge   of a cliff if I don't hit that line and I go  too far left I fall off into the huge holes   and dump for sure the hard part's going  to be finding where to line it up at the beginning sh holy sh full of water that was one of the biggest wave  trains I've ever run holy got the class four almost got stuck on that standing W I'm going to line it down a  bit because uh it's a a cliff here woo what a way to finish off the trip  running the biggest wave train I've ever run   I think anyways class 4ing wave train  Baby Woo a lot of water not that much   though considering well three clicks  left I'm just going to pull over and   punch in my exact pickup location so I don't  overshoot it here maybe take a couple of C [Music] F what did I want to eat for dinner on my last  day in the Yukon Arctic grying please and thank you who this paragra Falcon is dive bombing  me I think the paragra Falcon Nest must   be on these Cliffs here and they're not  too happy about me paddling along beside   so they're dive bombing me and yelling at  me to beat it that means beat it in paragra Falcon don't worry buddy I'm not  going to eat your babies not today anyways well that is my pickup location  that Gravel Bar right there Canyon Creek   West they call it this is the last  campsite of the trip it doesn't seem   too glamorous but they can get a plane in  here it's deep enough and land it on Shore   not the best campsite but I'll make do H the  air smells amazing it's about 8:30 right now   I'm going to cook a fish and I don't care stay  up pretty late and enjoy my last night in the [Music] Yukon have to pull the spray de off get  it ready to go on the float plane [Music] tomorrow when I ran that massive rapid today  the first one was intense more technical I just   basically managed to avoid everything but the  second one was crazy and I hit my line a little   bit too far to the left but I don't know I could  have maybe hit it further right but I think really   also what happened there was just that the line  that I chose was just way bigger I knew that I'd   have at least one huge standing wave at the end  and that's I think what I hit so I don't really   think I if I I think if IID gone further left and  hit like that huge hole I guaranteed would have   dumped so I think I hit my line almost on could  have been a little further right but that it was   just way bigger than I had anticipated I mean I  put my dry suit on also I knew that there's no   pinning Boulders and the river got pretty relaxed  after that there was no flushing current and uh   if I dumped I would have been okay and likely not  have lost my boat Plus on top of that I was only   3 kmet from my pickup location and I could have  walked worst come to worse spent a night out here   with with you know my survival kit items I would  have been fine oh it just feels nice not having   to worry about it getting late and having to  get up early like I have to get up early but   I don't have to do anything except take down  the tent and board a float plane piece of cake   not much of a campsite here this is not a spot  I'd think to pull over and uh make [Applause] [Music] camp [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]  these are just like dead dry Roots   little sticks that were floating in the  current and at high water got stuck to [Music] these [Music] let that burn down a little [Music] [Applause] bit flaky Juicy M oh my God  it cooked perfect well this really hits the [Music] [Music] spot F boom yeah perfect this is celebrating another adventure  finished tomorrow the float plane is going to   be here probably between 9 and 9:30 I would guess  they're apparently leaving Mayo at 8 it's a pretty   long flight perfect that is a lot of food and we  have real maple syrup that Tori and I made from   the maple sap that we tapped on the maple trees  right on our property is a good little celebratory   meal for what ended up being an epic last day of  the trip and have just an absolutely Wild Ride by   far the most intense rra of of the trip and I  will say as far as just a straight wave train   or just a massive standing wave that's and like  curling at the top I don't think I've ever hit   anything quite that insane in my entire canoeing  career I'm not out of here yet sometimes you can   get weathered in some fingers crossed but I have  completed the canoeing portion of my journey and   I might add without one page that's pretty cool  I can't say that about most ITP so I'm going to   call it a night and I'll see you tomorrow morning  we're going to go for a little floow plane ride well it seems like it's another  absolutely beautiful day here in the Yukon it's looking like it's probably  going to be good weather for my float   plane pickup though I see some kind  of sketchy looking cloud here but I   don't know I think that they'd fly in  this depends on how it is near mayo [Music] [Music] though [Music] [Music] yeah [Music] well I am just waiting for my flow plane pickup  and now that I finished the heart River and I   just sat down to take a moment to have a coffee  this morning I just started thinking about the   trip in general everything that it was it wasn't  an intense terrifying Rapids around every corner   kind of trip but it was still spirited I mean  especially up higher there's tight turns sweepers   and then the challenge of uh getting into Elliot  Creek and realizing that the water there was not   high and having to drag and drag and drag and  drag some more and then that fear of okay well   what if the water level's dropping day by day  and only gets worse and now that these Rapids   I can Wade through or D drag over these rocks  if the current just disappears into the rocks   at that point what am I going to do I'm going to  be I'm going to have to Portage uh endlessly for   days and days on end that would have taken  me probably 12 days just to do that and uh   moving down the heart having just epic uh Mountain  scenery amazing spires just free standing spires   dotting the sides of the cliffs and climbing  Mount Nitro finding the remains of some sort   of you know uh old building that is very very  old and spending some more time higher up River   hiking leaving myself with over 80k to do on my  last two days and the most challenging Rapids   of the trip um made things feel a little pressed  but I'm glad I took that time to hike and spend   my time in the more mountainous regions when I did  and then on my last day just running what was one   one of the most intense Rapids the first one was  challenging but I managed to avoid everything I   remember being in it like wow these waves these  holes look massive have I misjudged this am I   getting myself into trouble here and I nailed it  then the second one running a line that was just   completely insane I came in I I lined up too far  right it's very hard to tell where you're lining   up I lined up too far right almost went into the  hole had the steer go this way and turn back this   way but unfortunately I hit my line pretty close  to be honest with you but no matter where I hit it   I was going to be hitting a massive at least one  massive standing wave and I hit it a bit further   to the left and it just took me on a wild ride  through the craziest wave train one wave I went   down the waves completely covered me like this the  wave is boiling at the top and I went way up like   this and I almost got stuck on that wave it was  so Steep and big and I just had to paddle paddle   paddle hard and push myself up and over that wave  it was just incredible tooken a lot of water but   not too much that I couldn't steer and Eddy out  and bail so that was like phenomenally exciting   experience I was not expecting to get into any  Rapids that intense on this trip let alone what   is likely the most powerful intense wave train  I've ever run in my life before just an amazing   amazing experience and uh one that I'll take with  me for the rest of my life that's for sure to the Yukon and there is my ride out of here there's my ride out of here it's all working okay here we [Music] go [Music] [Music]

Channel: Jim Baird - Adventurer

Views: 1,051,481

Keywords: jim baird, jim baird adventurer, special episode, wilderness documentary, hart of the yukon, 14 days solo camping in the yukon wilderness, wilderness travel, floatplane pick up, fly in fishing, bush plane, remote river, yukon, yukon wild, yukon river fishing, trekking, solo travel, wilderness adventure, camping, canoeing, wildlife encounter, hart river, survival in the wild, wilderness techniques, outdoors, epic outdoor adventure, backcountry experience, class 4 rapids

Id: QTT7iq6hKTY

Length: 142min 14sec (8534 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 09 2023