Hart of the YUKON – 14 Days Solo Camping in the Yukon Wilderness – E.9 – Searching for Sheep Caves

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Hart of the YUKON – 14 Days Solo Camping in the Yukon Wilderness – E.9 – Searching for Sheep Caves

In this latest ‘Hart of the Yukon’ episode, I find myself paddling through very smokey surroundings. There is a lot of forest fire smoke in the air and it’s making me a bit nervous since I’m uncertain of their proximity.

During a lunch break, I prepare a simple meal of ‘Amish Tacos,’ which consists of summer sausage wrapped in tortillas. I also take some time to do a bit of fishing for Arctic Grayling while at the foot of a beautiful mountain.

I spot come sheep caves way up the mountain and try to climb up it to reach them. Near the mountaintop, I find some impressive rock spires and other fascinating rock formations.

After a long day, I eventually found a spot to camp by a side slough. However, a few beavers don’t seem to appreciate my presence and make their feelings known by slapping their tails against the water.

In the evening, I humorously acknowledge my lack of self-control as I snack on my remaining food, including my last two fruit source bars meant for breakfast.

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Chapters:

0:00 Beautiful Morning at Mountain Campsite – Reflections on Life
4:04 Cold Steel Survival Rescue Knife Review & Survival Skills Tips
7:20 On the River Paddling & Firest Fire Concern
9:49 Spotting Sheep Caves & Stopping for Lunch
14:25 Beginning my Mountain Climb Up to the Rock Spires – Searching for Sheep Caves
22:48 “I’m Scree Falling” Jim Sings a Song on his Sketchy Decent of the Mountain
25:35 Mountain Trek Done & the Rubaboo Stew – Table Fair of the Currier Du Bois
28:25 Paddling Montage – Awesome Mountains
30:14 Beavers Make Noise at Camp
31:10 Reflections on the Day & What I Ate for Dinner

It is day nine of my trip I have  4 days left counting today who   knows what today has in store  hopefully I get into some epic fishing time to fire up the eyebrow remover well there is my attempted splint fix I put  two pieces of sapling on either side of the  

Uh broken joint The Joint was missing this  little metallic colored piece here I don’t   know how that disappeared maybe got pushed down  inside or so I had to splint it with two pieces   of Twigs basically I use green twigs and duct tape  seemed to work but it’s definitely questionable I  

Only have 4 days left on this trip including  today so hopefully it makes it three more nights will my coffee be too weak or too  strong somewhere in the middle or just right I miss um my kids a lot um I have like  a couple videos on my phone that I’ve watched  

A bunch of times cuz I brought my phone I’ve  been using it as an alarm clock clearly not   very effectively cuz I usually sleep in about  a half an hour after my alarm rings but and so  

I videos of huie playing the ukulele and of Wesley  laughing while listening to music and like a bunch   of other things too you know we get so caught up  in our lives our day-to-day uh lives the busyness  

Of of having a family of our jobs and managing a  household that we sometimes forget to just stop   and realize how like amazing and special our lives  are you know and I guess just being away from the  

Family and missing them and like just watching a  couple of these videos of the kids too just makes   me want to go home and slow down for a little bit  and enjoy my property spend time with the kids  

Swimming and barbecuing and tending to the gardens  and stuff like that as we build things and we   build like our lives that we always kind of want  more and you need to you need to how am I going  

To save for retirement you know you need to keep  working and all that but I think it’s important to   sometimes just slow down and just like reflect  on what you do have my remaining boiled water

Just wanted to talk about my knife a little bit  uh you see me joking around stirring my coffee   with it and and that kind of stuff and where that  comes from is at the end of the day a lot of the  

Things you’re going to use a knife for when you’re  in the bush are your basic things you know cutting   up uh uh vegetables uh stirring your coffee and uh  spreading peanut butter and these kinds of things  

And you know so sometimes you question do you  need like a giant Rambo knife to spread peanut   butter well the answer is you don’t however when  you’re going into remote places especially places   where there’s cold water temperatures um a good  sheath knife is what I bring with me this is the  

Cold Steel srk it stands for survival rescue  knife and this is an CPM 3v steel so very high   quality steel and the reason a lot larger knife  is a good idea on these kinds of Adventures is   because it gives you the ability to Baton pretty  large pieces of wood which is essentially just  

Splitting wood so if everything’s soaking wet the  only place you’re going to find drywood is at the   center of a log so let’s say I dump out here I  go for a long swim um I’m hypothermic I can’t  

Find my canoe I need to get a fire going to save  my life this is what’s going to save my life in   those situations yeah I’ve used it definitely  um to cut rope to gut fish clean fish I used  

It to uh Bushcraft a special little uh pot hanger  thing for the tripod I made when I made fish stew   and a number of other uh uh things of course  all right let’s see how this coffee turned out today just a oh little weak little  weak darn it’s pretty darn near  

Close though I’ll tell you yesterday  was perfect it’s actually cooled off   um quite a bit feeling a little  uh like I need my snuggly sweater so I’m at kilometer 160 so that means I  have 100 km to go in 4 days um and if I  

Have a long Portage around that Canyon that  might be pretty challenging but if I don’t   I should be okay let me see okay here’s the  Rapids so yeah the Rapids are it’s not just   that the Rapids are uh class three it’s  that they’re super long so I doubt it’ll  

Be a raging class 3 the whole way but it’s  almost a kilometer of Class 2 three Rapids   three Rapids over a kilometer and a half  and then uh some more on top of that so   it’s looking like it won’t be today but it’ll  be tomorrow which will be an intense White Water

Day so I still don’t see any fires by Mount  buos I got word that they’re north of Mount   buos which is kind of the direction I’m  traveling um hard to really pinpoint   where they are but it doesn’t look like  I’m in any immediate danger that’s for  

Sure there just like an abyss of smoke in  general across Canada the worst uh Wildfire   year in Canadian history just north  of that mountain there are some fires see the visibility you can barely even see the  mountains um in the north the Tiga forest or  

The northern Boreal here in the subarctic fires  are common they have been getting more frequent   in recent years but they are natural actually  the biodiversity of the northern boreal forest   is actually largely fire induced and uh some  biologists even call it pyrro diversity so it  

It does play a role it is an important part um  in the cycle but either way there’s forest fires   around here and I’m not sure how concerned I  should be about them or how far really they  

Are away from the har River um they’d be on  that bank so you know I I can’t imagine it   would burn incredibly quickly during the time I  passed through here but I’m sort of on the fence  

You know do I do a hike if I do a hike I can’t  even see anything anyways but I’m hiking up to   see caves not necessarily the view or do I just  kind of get past this whole area where the fires  

Are and get to where for sure I’ll be safe I  don’t know I’ll have to make up my mind soon though you know it’s very challenging to  see the caves um you know cuz I want to see  

Them before start climbing so I know where the  heck I’m going some of those caves high up in   the mountains um you know doll sheep has been  using them for thousands of years and you can   find preserved fossilized bones and skeletons  and stuff um just lying there even other cool  

Things like that see a cave there but that looks  like a death clamber to get up there even for a sheep here’s a little tributary stream bet you there’d be a couple fish here  well I see a cave up the mountain that would be  

Cool to go explore but it’s very Steep and I’m  just trying to see if there’s a route where my   chances of dying are little to none cuz ideally I  don’t want to die it’s just it’s not me so today  

For lunch we’re changing it up a little bit we’re  still going with tortillas which are going strong   out here they last forever and we’re going  with uh mustard and summer sausage instead of PB&J yum I call these Amish tacos because the men and night and the  Amish make summer sausage and this is  

A tortilla shell or soft shell taco shell I  mean could you come up with a better name than that there are Grayling here as there seem to  be in many places look at that fin Isn’t   that cool love it well I decided that uh  I’m going to pop around to the other side  

And see if there’s some visible Cav from  there and maybe a better way to get up cuz   this is a little crazy and I’d have to bushwack  quite a ways to get to a decent spot to climb up that’s the way up right there

There [ __ ] looks like I could have gotten up  that way after all oh man I couldn’t see until   I was right there all right we’ll stick with  the new plan checking it out from the other side quite an impressive Rock here expect to see  gargoyle staring down at me well from here I  

Don’t really see any caves from this side but  I see some really cool like uh standing sort   of spires up there this looks epic so I think  I’m going to climb up see how high I can get up  

To the ridge I might not be able to get all  the way up cuz it’s near vertical but I can   definitely get up a good ways so I think I’m  going to give it a go looks pretty exciting

Actually wow I just uh tossed my Nene bottles out  of the boat to take on my hike and something bad   happened look at this oh oh no well looks like  I’ll have one liter of water for this track  

These things are supposed to be unbreakable  camp Wabun now come to think of it Tor and I   found this on a Portage Trail about 6 or seven  years ago and maybe it had sat out all winter   and weakened oh well what happens when you  party you have to be extra careful with that

One well I am on my way I’m trying to figure  out which is the best way to start going up I   see two little caves over there I think I might  head over to this stretch of green so I’m not  

Going to be clambering up scree those pillars now  they a little closer look like they’re at the top   of a sheer Cliff um maybe Alex hell could bang  that off but uh doesn’t look like it’s in the  

Cards for old gym today so we’ll go up this  way pretty cool don’t know if I’ll find any   caves but I’ll definitely get a good view our way  there with the grass looks a little more gradual  

I think I’m just going to go right up right  up this way a little bit of bush walking is required kind of cool in here actually hey bear doesn’t hurt to make a little noise when  you’re bushwhack walking hey bear just so you  

Don’t come up on a Grizzly and surprise it it’s  what they say to do that’s why some people carry Bells that looks steep I don’t remember  looking the Steep from back at the river just making my way up here slowly but  surely and I glanced up quick and it looked   like something was staring at me ducked  away behind the rock something white so  

I think it was either a Dall’s sheep or a  mountain goat probably Dall’s sheep kind of cool or maybe it was a Yeti there my canoe I’ve made it quite a ways Up just taking a break because uh this is  exhausting probably about halfway I don’t   know what I’ll do when I’ll get up there I’ll  see if I can kind of walk side Hill a little   and hit a ridge and maybe walk along this  Ridge a bit or I might just enjoy the view  

And come back down I still have 20 clicks  to make it today and uh probably wouldn’t   hurt to get out of this forest fire area  too so might do that we’ll see what it’s   like if it doesn’t take too much effort to  get up on the Ridge then I’ll probably do it

Check in with the canoe it’s still there hey up uh this long sharp scree  scramble really second guessing whether   I want to go down that way but  look I’m almost where I’m headed for I decided to keep climbing what  the [Music] hey I’m surprised to  

Find what looks like bear poop up  here and maybe a mom and Cub it’s old but they both have like Flex of bone in them which means yeah I think it’s a mom and CB

Bear it looks like like I could get back up the  ridge line there and uh get a view over the other   side of this mountain to where I first stopped my  canoe and considered climbing uh I haven’t seen  

Any caves here which is you know whatever but it  just it’s still super cool like I’m just way up   here amongst these crazy rock formations there’s  crevices in the Rock there’s just freestanding   spires basically a little truck Tri angles like of  a it’s basically like a saw tooth across the top  

There across that Ridge it’s super cool and the  views are just amazing it’s it’s hard to believe   my canoe is way down there I’m actually starting  to dread the hike back down and there is my canoe  

This is so awesome when I considered turning  back it was at that point that it was like just   starting to get good and I’m able to just sort of  walk Along on one side of the ridge here and just  

Experience all these cool rock formations it’s  so awesome look at that, a true Spire [Music] there I could probably make it up there but  it’s already 6:00 going down the same   way I came up is kind of uh it’s the devil  I know you know what I mean uh but from  

Here going down the Little Valley just to  my right looks like not as steep but more   scree but yeah some of that loose scree man  going down is gonna be and it was sharp too   going Down’s going to be pretty interesting  albeit sort of dangerous so I don’t know  

I’ll make the final decision when I get a  little closer I think I might try the new route old way or New Way think I’m going to go   a new way why the hell not if I  fell back I could probably cut my

Hands feel like I haven’t come down very far  at all well this way is proving to be more   dangerous as you can see from here this  near Cliff what do you think it’ll take   me an hour hour would be pretty good  took me an hour and a half to get up here A she’s a good girl loves her mama love Jesus  in America too she’s a good girl crazy about   Elvis loves horses and a boyfriend too but  I’m a bad boy cuz I don’t even miss her I’m  

A bad boy for breaking her heart but I’m Free  Falling Now I’m Free Falling scree Falling oh   my loveing scree falling watching all this  scree fall made me think of the song Free   Falling by the late great Tom Petty anyways  I’ll tell you what partially falling down the  

Mountain is making things go a lot faster  I’m just basically like like sliding down   with the scree just going to keep giving  her and I’ll be back down at the boat   pretty soon right now the boat is about  half the size of my pinky fingernail from [Applause]

Here that is a fossil of some sort okay this is much better made it back onto  some uh dirt and vegetation it’s just far less sketchy going try to cut down there bushwack  around back to the boat which is right

There well I did it I made it down through  some really steep sketchy scree picked up   some uh nice soft Earth with uh vegetation  grasses and stuff in it followed that down   and now I’m back in the bush so I just got to  follow this little animal Trail here and uh do  

A bit of bushwacking and I’ll be back at the  canoe in no time awesome awesome little hike   I’m glad I did it and there it is folks the  canoe and that’s what I just climbed pretty  

Good okay so we are done epic little track in  the books and back on the river and uh it’s   5:00 already so I don’t think I’m going to uh  try to push really far today but I’m going to  

Try to bang off like 10 clicks maybe maybe I’ll  do 15 anyways what the hey you know just make it   a later tonight I want to uh cook up a delicious  stew tonight um one of the things I like to cook  

Up while I’m on the trail is a rubo which is a a  kind of Stew made with pkin a lot of the voyagers   used to make it mate te used to make it it uh  it’s a mixture of two languages um which is uh  

Aonan Abu which is just super or stew and Rue  which is French and is a thickening agent so I   guess it’s a bit of a pigeon language which was  actually spoken you know uh since uh you know  

Late 1500s along the eastern coast and in land of  Canada um pigeon language between French Basque   Al gonan languages we’ll see if I if I get to Camp  within enough time I’m hoping I have time to cook  

Up this stew if not uh well then I’ll at least  make it a bit more and eat something small and   go to bed so feeling fairly tired considering  I’ve toled 10K and climbed a mountain today   already feel good though feel real good well  now I see what looks like a sheep cave right

There bummer but I guess live and learn but yeah  that’s the Sheep cave there I could have gotten   to that one that would have been pretty cool but  I don’t know man it’s hard to it’s hard to say and  

What I did was pretty cool too though but anyways  goodbye Mountain got a rapid here looks fairly intense almost like a Ledge Wee A A and the wee birdies sang and the  wildflowers bloom and in sunshine,   the waters are sleeping but the Brokenhearted  cans thou shall Second Spring again though the   wayful well cease Fair their greeting oh you take  the high road and I’ll take the low road and I be  

In Scotland afore ye and my true love will  never meet again on the Bonny Bonny Banks of Loch Lowman now another one of these things is broken you got to be freekin’ kidding [Music] me yes I still have veggies and uh the veggies  are are still good these root veggies so  

That’s pretty awesome um it’s almost 10 so it’s  a little late to be doing that plus I paddled   35k and climbed a mountain so I’m exhausted  um before I set up the tent I pounded like a  

Ton of Trail Mix and I ate two fruit source I  eat the rest of my fruit Source bars so that’s   it I don’t get any more fruit Source bars in  the morning just no self-control whatsoever   basically I think I’m just going to turn in  I’m exhausted I’m going to drink some water  

I’m feeling a little dehydrated I got a couple  of beavers that are you know hanging out in the   slack water of this Sid saw here and they’re not  too stoked that I decided to Camp here tonight um  

They’re cruising p and staring at me and sniffing  at me and slapping their tails repetitively again   and again so I’m sure I’ll be probably hearing  that throughout the night I tried to tell them   I’m just chilling I’m just passing through but  uh yeah they don’t they don’t want me sticking  

Around it is what it is not too exciting uh end  of the day for old gym but what is exciting is   going to bed because man I could use some sleep  so that’s awesome uh tomorrow’s a big day going  

To try to get up early get a good breakfast in  me and I’ll be feeling pretty awesome once I’m   pass those those Rapids but uh they’re supposed  to be challenging I don’t know if it’s going to  

Be a Portage um we’ll see it might be an  intense run I’m probably going to have to   strap my dry suit on and and give it a good  scout if I do run it so lots of excitement in Store