There’s a land where the mountains are nameless,
And the rivers all run God knows where;
- Spell of the Yukon, by Robert Service
This page is a work in progress
We’re planning a trip in the mighty Yukon. Bold? Perhaps. A rip? Certainly.
An idea to paddle in the Great White North came abouts last year, hiking the Chilkoot trail with our local correspondant DH. As it took shape, there were two guiding thoughts: getting some whitewater would be nice, and Dawson City would make an excellent destination.
While there are many excellent waters in the Yukon, we opted to save on floatplanes this year. These things considered, one river fell in our sights: the Pelly.
The Plan
Ok so we might be very stupid. Or beauties. I’ll explain. You can follow along at the link below:
Pelly-Yukon Research - Google Earth
As said earlier, we have two goals: to get some whitewater, and to reach Dawson City.
So, we have two viable drop spots on the Pelly River: Faro or Pelly Crossing. There is nothing in between these places.
Pelly Crossing is close to the end of the Pelly, about 60km back from its confluence with the Yukon River. Dropping here would give us minimal whitewater, and combined with the speed of the Yukon River, it would be a river cruise of a trip.
To quote a forum post, “you would literally have to backpaddle” to do Pelly Crossing → Dawson in 8 days. Think we’ll have to rule out this option. This brings us to Faro.
Faro is nearly 300km upriver from Pelly Crossing. It provides us our whitewater experience, but is certainly a bit further back than we’d like. The math only works if the current on the Pelly is strong.
Itinerary
Finishing on August long weekend, The Guys will be undergoing the following itinerary, roughly:
- Shuttle from Whitehorse to Faro, Pelly River (26th)
- Pelly River (27th)
- Pelly River (28th)
- Pelly River (29th)
- Pelly River, maybe reach the Yukon (30th)
- Pelly River, must reach the Yukon (31st)
- Yukon River (1st)
- Yukon River, arrive to Dawson City (2nd)
