Paddling Our Own Canoe...: First Time Out...

Unloading @ Pickhandle Lake, YT.

Last year, when Jennie and I decided that we were going to
move to Alaska, I decided we needed a new canoe! We didn't end up with a new one, but we did get one that was a lot less used than what we had been paddling for the last 15 years. What we had been paddling was an old Clipper that one of my Dad's friends had given me. When I got it, it was in 3 pieces. After picking it up, I stopped on the way home and bought some fiberglass resin and mat. Once I had thoroughly read the directions on the back of the resin can, I proceeded to 'fix' my new canoe. Throughout the years, there was more resin added, a couple modifications and even an occasional duct tape patch.

Just before we left Washington we found our new canoe on Craigslist. We didn't have a chance to paddle it before we headed north, so we just tied it to the top of the truck and were off.

We had wanted to do as much paddling in BC as we could along the way, but it was October and we felt like we should get to Alaska as quick as we could, before the snow started to fall. As we got further and further north, we began to relax a little and decided that we should start watching for some good places to paddle. That's about the time that the temperature dropped and all the lakes we were passing were frozen! We finally drove into a little warmer weather and found ice free water, Pickhandle Lake in the Yukon Territory. We pulled over and unloaded. This was a great place to paddle. We ended up in some icy spots on the back side of the lake but it was open for the most part. We saw a lot of muskrats swimming, eating along the bank and poking their heads up through the ice. We also got to see a Lynx! We were paddling slowly and quietly just along the shore when Jennie spotted him on the bank, probably looking for more muskrats just like we were.

We were able to get a few great pictures of him before he wandered off into the trees. We couldn't have asked for a better paddle or for a better maiden voyage in our 'new' canoe!