12/22/2021
One of the best "first boats" you can build. It is simple, inexpensive, and a great start to the boatbuilding hobby. Free study prints (they're dual dimensioned, inches and millimeters) and bill of materials here: https://spirainternational.com/hp_wald.php
12/13/2021
There's still enough time to buy a set of boat plans for your family, friends, or yourself and still get paper of e-plans them for Christmas. Here's some ideas:
https://spirainternational.com/hp_wood_boats.html
12/02/2021
A Land Gone Lonesome
Matt Walker and Terry Brayman's Adventure
Wanderings down the Yukon River in a home built boat
#8 Dawson to Eagle - A Different Kind of Border Crossing
Downstream from Dawson there is a steamboat graveyard. Ghostly hulks line a slough ( pronounced slew, a real tip off to the locals if you pronounce it slough), a backwater cutoff loop of the river. Their weathering frames are a stark reminder that this was once a thriving artery of commerce. At the height of the gold rush years there were something like 123 steamboats in service on the river between Whitehorse and the Bering sea. Long gone now, but in the moonlight it is easy to fancy that ghosts still walk some of their decks.
We talked about this being a Land Gone Lonesome, Once thriving and bustling with commercial traffic; dreams, dreamers, adventurers, entrepreneurs, and ne'er do wells. Now quiet, frequented only by types like us, looking for a semi-epic trip, and a taste of solitude. I guess we hadn't expected the places' history to feel like a silent traveling companion. Passing 1st nations fishing camps the same day as the steamboat graveyard put a poignant accent on the thought.
We attempted to stop at another ghost town, 40 Mile, for the evening. It seemed to be undergoing repairs, and even though there were some hardy Canadians gutting out the bugs, the Yukon mosquitos proved too much for us. We retired downstream a few miles and pulled up on a gravel bar, and enjoyed a bug free dinner and evening while we watched a small black bear swim the river.
Coming to old man and old woman rocks - perched like the clashing Cyanean rocks of Greek mythology on opposite sides of the river, (but with a more benevolent storyline than the destructive Greek version) - we decided to hike to the top to take in the vista.
This also afforded me a chance to pay homage to a childhood friend, whos' passing I got word of when we were doing motor repairs in Carmacks. I engraved a suitable memorial and buried it overlooking the river, with a view I am sure he would have approved of.
Eagle lies on a high southern bank at a curve in the now formidable river. We beached the boat and took stairs up the bank to check out the town, and to check in with US Customs. After our misadventures getting out of the US and into Canada, we weren't quite sure what to expect.
It has a population fluctuating around 86, and no road service from October to April. In 2009 and 2013 it suffered devastating floods when the ice jammed up just downstream at the turn, and water inundated the village. Even though we saw pictures, it was hard to conceptualize gazing out over the 30' high embankment down to the river. We strolled through the town, asking where to get gas, and how to check in with Customs. "Oh, you go down that street, and use the yellow phone on the wall of the supermarket for Customs" one helpful woman told us. Well, the yellow phone was on the outside wall, and on picking it up we were connected with somewhere inside the bureaucratic bowels of the US Customs service - exact location undisclosed. Terry gave our names and a succinct version of why and how we were reentering the US. "OK", came the distant voice on the other end of the line - and that was it. With the Beach Boys "Back in the USA" running through my semi consciousness we felt vaguely cheated that that's all there was to it. We spent the next 1/2 hour trading "what if" scenarios - what if we were drug runners, arms smugglers, terrorists, etc.
A short stop at Yukon Charley National Park office, unsuccessfully looking for river maps, but getting plenty of park brochures rounded out our stay at Eagle. Full gas tanks in hand we hit the river again - headed for Circle; 158 miles downstream.
