I have been back for almost 2 weeks now. I have had some time to think about this trip as it affected me in ways that other expeditions have not. James Bay was not a particulrly beautiful place. Swamp and tussuc country and very little chance to see this country. It was mostly plan to stay alive this new day. kayak, try to find a tent spot and survive the tides and storms. In is just survive that day and the the next.That was the pleasure. Climbing has more beauty to it as the mountains of winter are gorgeous. Here again though it is breakdown camp, climb all day, one foot after the other after the other, setup camp and enjoy the scenery as you eat another dinner frozen by the nasty weather. Again there is beauty in the effort and the environment and that is what makes it worthwhile. The first two days of the Yukon were like that. Pile on the miles because I had too. To many miles on this trip to stop and enjoy where I was at. After the injury that all changed. My power was cut close to 40%. I also pretty much knew that I would not complete it as my shoulder was not going to get better with mileage. I had to slow down and when I did I started to become one with the river, learn from her and enjoy that I was one of the few that ever get to kayak this great wilderness river. What an honor I began to realize was happening to me. I kayaked and floated for about 400 miles hurt. That 400 miles was some of the best time I have ever spent in the wilderness. It was painful at times, just ached most of the time but the river made me forget about the injury and enjoy this magnificient place. The river taught me to listen to the hiss as this was the main channel. I learned about the currents and how they can help or hinder, the turbulence that threaten your safety all the time. I saw whirlpools of immense size that I believed one only saw in the movies. I experienced thunderstorms that ran me off the water and into the trees. Microbursts that came in fast and left just as fast. As soon as you heard them you turned the bow into them and paddled just to maintain a heading into the storm. Nothing I could do would move me forward. Awesome violence in these storms. I learned to enjoy every inch of the shoreline as each had a story to tell. to enjoy the toughness of this place. As I plodded down this river I became more like it each day. The river has a story if one allows it into them.
In my next blog i will talk about the people that live with the river.

I have been very busy writing and setting up computers and editing film. This has given my shoulder time to figure out what it wants to do. It has made some progress but I think that it will take some time to heal completely. It just makes way to much noise when I lift my arm up. Oh well, just apart of the deal when you signup for these things. It is a bit frustrating though. I am not the most patient person when it comes to injuries. I have seen improvement though.
I finished the first draft of the first chapter on the Yukon River book. No title yet. Any ideas, send them to me. This trip seemed to change me a bit. I am much calmer and have settled down just a bit more than normal. I think that the river and its people brought me back much closer to the mountains and what I am. It feels good to be this calm again. Odd though for those that know me. I will write more about this as I understand it. It is cool though.
I also realized that if I had stayed out I would have really torn my shoulders up. When I got hurt I started to change all the mechanics of kayaking. This put an extra strain on my right shoulder and this I feel even now. The river is a physical challenge that is well worth playing on her. It might happen that we see each other again.
I will write tomorrow of some actual river time. Show you what it was like. Late now and sleep is calling me.
Thanks for all the support.

I am back in Arizona after a marathon 7 day drive from Tok. I was tired getting here but am at last sleeping in a real bed again. The trip was everything and more than I expected. Kayaking was hard at times, brutal at others but mostly fun all the time. The river is probably more difficult than most of the ocean kayaking that I have done with the notable exception of James Bay. That was sporty for sure. The terrain was magnificient and the native peoples a true delight to be with. My shoulder appears to be doing somewhat better. It seems that I had a partial separation of the joint when I got tangled up with the sweeper on the second day. Not a great way to begin a long trip. That is part of the deal though. When it popped back in it pinched a nerve that made my hand go numb. I would pull on it and move it around and the nerve would be fine for awhile until I popped the joint into a bad position. My doc was pleased that I did not impinge any arteries passing by the region. That would have been BAD. Anyways that seems to be the problem. The effect was that I lost about 40% of my power. I could not bridge my paddle so my strokes were somewhat ineffective. Basically more motion without much power forward and somewhat of a discomfort most of the time. I did max out on naprosyn and that seemed to help with the swelling. Oh well. It will get better.
I was disappointed for sure. This was not the first time I have been turned back because of injury on a trip. Probably will not be the last either. The 500 miles that I did was just incredible. The Yukon is a large, actually very large river. More like a lake in some places. It is gentle and calm and then turbulent and hostie with serious and convolted currents in many places. It boils and roils, has a tremendous amount of underwater debris and obstructions and hugh whirlpools that I though only existed in Pirate movies. I was caught in a couple that were about 100 feet in diameter. Those were really cool! Microburst winds caught me in the open once. These very localized and fortunately short lived events came from no place and hit quickly and violently. They were possible 100 yards wide, lasting for possibly 5 to 7 minutes and with winds close to 50 miles an hour. You just had to keep the bow into them so they would not capsize you. That was some of the fun. I have to continue setting up my computers and start downloading images. I will start getting images to Libby in about a week or so. There are some beautiful sights to be seen.
I thank all of you for your thoughts, prayers and support.
Mingo

“I’m in Prince George, BC and I’m gonna keep going. This is where I wanted to get to today,” Mingo told me on the phone this evening (through Verizon - yea!). “I’ve been driving since 4:30 this morning and I’m not tired yet, so I’m gonna keep at it a few more hours.”

“I should be back in the States tomorrow - the land of cheap gas. I did find gas today for $1.07 a liter,” Mingo tells me. We chat a little more then he tells me about what a great picture day he had yesterday. “I probably shot 600-700 frames of animals yesterday. Saw all kinds of critters!”

We talk a little more about his shoulder. He still has no feeling in his hand but he says that at least the shooting pain has subsided some. Now it’s just numbness. “I definitely did something in there. I haven’t been using it at all and there’s still no feeling coming back.” It sounds like he’ll wait to see a doctor until he gets back to AZ.

For now, he’s enjoying the drive back and stopping to take lots of pictures. He is in awe of how beautiful Canada is and even more amazed at how vast. “This is a big territory!”

I just talked to Mingo (for literally 2 minutes before the sat phone connection dropped). He’s about an hour and a half outside of Fort Nelson at a campground for the night. He “just kinda cruising” as he puts it. He expects to be in Prince George by tomorrow then back in the States on Thursday.

And that’s as far as the conversation went! Darn sat phone. It will be nice when he’s back in the US and we can go back to using Verizon.

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