Got a late start by about 1 hr this morning. There was plenty of time to go into town and take a few pictures and pick up a couple of post cards. Got the cards written and mailed before Karsten pulled up in the van and we are on our way to Carmacks.
Met Werner and Fred. Werner is from Germany and Fred is a Canadian from Toronto. On the way Karsten told us about the fire that took out much of the local forest in '95. The Yukon is generally pretty dry, not getting much rain or snow compared to the coast and fires are a yearly danger. We passed miles of burned forest. The burned areas are covered now with grass and young poplars and fireweed so there is lots of good grazing in any case.
Got to Carmacks and found our group. We are picking up a trip in the middle and three of the group are leaving and we are joining the three who are making the entire trip from Whitehorse. The three going on are a Swiss couple, Lawrence and Sabine from Bern and a Japanese student, Toru, from Tokyo.
After a quick pack of the canoes (I figured out the bag) we are on the river, my instruction consisting of sitting in the front and paddling and allowing the more experienced Werner to steer in the back.
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