“Ok I’m at 66 degrees 1784 North 144 degrees 4487 West,” Mingo tells me as soon as I pick up the phone this afternoon. “Yesterday was a long ass day,” he continues. “Got caught in these islands and that slowed us down. Right now we’re on this little island we nicknamed Baby Bigfoot Island,” he chuckles. “It’s about 2 acres, 2 feet above sea levels. But its sand and gravel but dry.”

“Don’t know what the actual name of the island is,” he continues. “We named it Baby Bigfoot ’cause there’s this log that looks like a bigfoot. We dressed it up and took pictures.” He’s chuckling again. He sounds tired but not exhausted. “The last two days have been great weather-wise. No rain. The weather is hard to figure out. It looks like it’s gonna rain again soon,” he tells me.

I ask about how his shoulder is doing. “It’s sore. I worked it hard yesterday.” He pauses a moment. “We saw some great wildlife. Took some pictures of the beaver. They were pretty pissed we were there. Also got some pictures of a lynx. That’s a BIG kitty.”

“Did you take pictures from the boat?” I ask.

“We did an 8 mile hike yesterday since the wind was so bad. Just pulled up and hung out. Then put in the water at around 9:30 and kayaked until 3am. It’s weird the sun goes down then two hours later it comes back up in exactly the same spot.”

“It’s absolutely gorgeous out here, but rugged. Definitely wilderness. People kept telling me that I’d see people along the way. Yeah, right. There is nothing out here. If you happen to see someone, you’re lucky. There’s not a great deal of civilization.” Mingo takes a deep breath. We have an absolutely fantastic sat phone connecting today which is a nice break from the norm.

“This is a different river. It’s like 2 or 3 rivers in one. Sometimes it’s calm and flat, very nice. In places the river is 2-3 miles wide. It looks more like a lake than a river. Then you get into areas where the current is moving at 8-9 knots. I got caught in a whirlpool yesterday. Sucked the boat back and bounced me around. Had some trouble gettin’ out of it. As long as you stay in the boat, the river is pretty safe. If you go in, you’re in trouble.”

I quickly ask him about the Swedish guy Sharron mentioned this morning.

“Yeah, Marcus. He joined up with us yesterday. Makes the trip much more pleasant. Got people to talk to , joke with. Plus it increases the safety for all of us. Especially when you’re tired, you don’t always know what you’re up against out here.”

As we finish up the conversation, Mingo tells me he’s continuing to watch and asses his shoulder. They are planning on hanging out at the island for a little longer, hoping for the wind to die down a bit more.

“We’re gonna push to Fort Yukon tonight where I can hopefully recharge everything there. It’s been a fun trip so far. Never a dull moment.”

Day 4 was Friday, June 27th. Mingo usually calls at night so I went about my business during the day. As 8:30ish (CST) approaches, I started getting anxious, ready to hear what he encountered today on the water. Nine o’clock rolled around. Nine-thirty. Ten o’clock. Still no call. Well, I guess I’ll just head to bed, I figured.

Saturday morning my husband and I woke up and went yard sale-ing for a bit. It wasn’t until we returned home that I realized I’d completely walked out of the house without my phone. Ack! There were two messages waiting - one from my dad and one from Sharron.

“Hey, we’re safe on an island upriver from Fort Yukon,” was all Mingo recorded before the sat phone dropped the signal. OK, that’s good news.

After listening to the next message from Sharron and calling to follow up, I learned that Mingo ran into some wind problems on the river. He and Ulley found an island to hang out on and ended up putting in late (around 10 pm Alaska time). His shoulder was still hurting. He got to see and photograph a lynx! And he and Ulley had a new group-mate, a guy from Sweden joined up with them.

As I hung up the phone I thought that this is truly turning into an adventure, the type you only read about in storybooks. Yet this was one Mingo was actually living. How lucky!

PS - GPS coordinates of the island they stayed on were 65 degrees 5759 North 14 degrees 4041 West.