The Snake River
The Snake River flows into the Peel River and is part of the Peel Watershed. The Wind and Bonet Plume Rivers, both of which offer opportunities for the wilderness paddler, also flow into the Peel. The Peel then flows into the Mackenzie River which then flows into the Artic Ocean.
Our starting point was Duo Lakes a one-hour flight from Mayo 220km in a straight line. Taco Bar our finishing point is approx. 20km from the artic circle. Temperatures experienced ranged from close to freezing at night (ice formed on the canoe spray decks one night) to 27C during the day.
Paddling distance from Duo Lakes to Taco Bar is stated at anything between 280km to 320km, much of the difference explained by the various braided channels you can paddle and the fact that every year the river changes its course slightly as the ice melts. During our journey we will drop over 1200m in altitude as we weave our way out of the mountains and onto the River Peel.
The Group
Carol, Sian and Bill from Shropshire Paddlesport, Mark and Sharon Evans who had completed an Embark Expedition to Greenland the previous year, would be led by Pete Catterall (Head Instructor) and Ollie Sandeman (Head of Paddlesport) at Plas Y Brenin.
Getting There
As part of the expedition preparation, two weekends in Wales were organised by Pete and Ollie. The first focused on camp skills with an ‘overnight wild camp’ on the river Wye. Complete with campfire it facilitated some group bonding as well as discussion on the protocols of wilderness camping and surviving in bear country. The second weekend honed our tandem skills on white water at Tryweryn as well as some practical ‘marriage guidance’ advice on communication between bow and stern paddlers.
Getting to the start of the Snake is not easy, commercial flight to Vancouver and then on to Whitehorse (capitol of the Yukon) were followed by a 420 km drive north to Mayo, a small community with a summer float plane base. The float plane then took us to Duo lakes the highest access point on the Snake. Flying over the Mackenzie mountains, Wind and Bonnet Plume rivers was exhilarating and gave us a perspective of the size and remoteness of our forthcoming endeavour.
The Wilderness
The Canadian wilderness is vast, the drive to Mayo passing through tiny communities then the low level float plane flight over mountainous country with no sign of road or habitation impressed on us the serious nature of our undertaking. In Mayo we off loaded the boats from the trailer onto two float planes, then all our kit was weighed to calculate any fuel surcharge – apparently we were ‘paddling light’. Then after a quick safety brief including where the life vests are kept and not to inflate them before leaving the plane we were in the air. With no co pilot one of us was able to ‘sit up front’ and saw first hand what pilots do (coffee, sandwich and a quick look at the tablet). Landing on the water at Duo Lakes we off loaded the boats and kit then waved goodbye to the friendly pilot and his plane – we were now on our own. Whilst some others paddle the Snake each year, the campsites and river banks are clean, we found no rubbish, no toilet paper, no tin cans etc etc. Paddlers who enter the Yukon respect the environment and leave no trace.
Camping and Portage
Camping our first night at Duo Lakes allowed for some paddle practice in our almost new Esquif 15, 17 and 19 foot boats. Shortly after we got off the lake a caribou was seen swimming the lake – the first of many sightings of the Yukon wildlife. Combined with campsite discipline of food and cooking areas well separated from the tents and a hilarious practice with the bear spray set us up for a good nights sleep hundreds of miles from any road or civilisation.
Note: in July it does not get dark in the northern Yukon.
We woke to the sound of the bear alarm (a trip wire that circled our campsite and was designed to warn us if a bear or wolf had entered our small community), nothing to fear, just one of our group making their way into the bush for a toilet trip.
In the ‘Guide to the Rivers of the Yukon’ it states Duo Lakes provide ‘easy access’ to the Snake along a 1.5km portage trail. Easy it was not, and it felt considerably longer as we dodged bogs, fought our way through undergrowth and occasionally lost the trail altogether. It was after lunch before we were ready to start the paddle. Fortunately, it was the only portage of significance that we encountered.
Our campsites were mainly gravel / sandy midge infested beaches. Relief from the midge came from strong sun, wind and grouping around the daily campfire. Bug shirts and deet offered some minimal protection. The ‘first nation’ tribes, including the Gwich’in who lived from the land, hunted and fished to survive, respected and worshiped the environment and animals of the Yukon, yet in all our research we can find no word of respect for what we would call ‘the midge’.
Food was a key part of our daily routine, filtering water, breakfast, lunch and an evening meal all had to provide the necessary calories to sustain us over the next two weeks. Before leaving Whitehorse we obtained ‘fresh food’. Cheese, cured meats, vegetables and fruit, all heavy, bulky and relatively short life in the wilderness. Our stapple diet then became Firepot dehydrated meals and various forms of cereal bar / trail mix. Baked Apple Porridge, Tuscan Stew, Spicy Noodles and Beef with Pearl Barley were the names most mentioned. Bland lacking in texture, occasionally they were modified with a touch of chilli powder or a squirt of honey. Each of us had brought out a small quantity of alcohol (whiskey, rum even port). Amazingly we all managed to save some until the last night – 12 days later.
Every morning and evening Ollie would gather wood and light a campfire, his knowledge on what wood to gather and how to prepare and light a fire was amazing. One night, with no lighter or brought in flammable materials, he showed us how to make fire, with just with a bow drill, suitable wood and tinder.
We lived day to day on a ‘leave no trace basis’, burning paper / card on the fire and transporting all other food packaging out at the end of the trip. Even a trip to the toilet was accompanied with a lighter to burn the paper before filling in the cat hole.
The Paddling
No one in our group had paddled the Snake before, only one guide book could be found and this provided a very general (and at times inaccurate) description of the route. So, none of us really knew what was around the next corner, it was a real first decent for all of us.
Day 1. Tired from the portage we got on the river after lunch, there were numerous narrow channels (braiding) to choose, fast flowing and with useful eddies as rare as bear sightings. Total concentration was required to avoid boulders in the water. Communication between the bow and stern paddler was at times frantic and often misunderstood. After about 10km we reached the first canyon and decided to line the rapids. We were all tired and not settled into paddling long and heavy boats. Part way down the canyon was a large boulder in the centre of flow – a very significant risk for broaching and getting the boat pinned. Loss of boat, equipment and even minor injury would have significant consequences when we were hundreds of miles from civilisation and a ‘sat phone rescue’ potentially taking days. A wise decision to line this one.
We reached Reptile Creek, our planned campsite at 19.00, tents up, camp fire and a meal under the tarp then straight to bed, it had even started to rain.
Day 2 the sun was up and we planned 11am on the water, it took 3 hours from waking to being boat ready. Considerable ‘faf’ in packing up tents, re packing food barrels, carrying everything to the boats and re-lacing the spray decks all took considerable time and effort. Over the next 11 days we became more efficient at this, but ‘off the water activity’ was always more physically demanding than paddling.
With clear skies and sunshine we enjoyed a glorious day of paddling with constant grade 1 & 2 rapids with fewer boulder fields. The scenery was stunning and we saw our first Dall sheep running across almost vertical cliff faces – they are absolutely bonkers!
For the next 5 days we were paddling in the mountains. The river became larger as it was joined by numerous small creeks running down from the mountains. One of these was Milk Creek, so called because of the milky colour of the water – glacial ice melt containing grit from high up in the mountains.
The water became more milky in the afternoon and early evening as the sun increased the volume of melt water. We spent the night here and went for walk away from the river to explore the mountain views (ringing our bear bells and right hand resting on our bear spray holsters). We also had our first human contact at Milk Creek, a group of 6 from Colorado who were paddling and climbing the Mackenzie mountains, they left their boats and headed off to spend a couple of nights at higher altitudes. A few days earlier they had done a similar off river excursion only to return and find one of their boats mauled and holed by an inquisitive bear.
We had two incidents in the mountain section. One capsized boat in a huge hole, resulted in a mid-day fire on the beach to dry clothes and bodies, and a separate painful fall onto rocks when landing. Both were unpleasant but could have been far worse and a reminder to all of us to be vigilant and remember we were wilderness paddling.
The scenery dramatically changed as we left the mountains, although the speed of the water did not (we were regularly recording speeds of 15-18 km/hr, just going with the flow). The valley was wider and now the banks were tree lined. Evidence of beaver activity was present at numerous sites, and it was not long before we saw our first beavers swimming in the water. An elusive moose standing in the undergrowth was also spotted as we paddled past. We were ever watchful for bear, plenty of footprints, but no actual sighting. We paddled past and camped near the Iron Ore mountain, rocks were streaked with red and significantly heavier as a consequence of the ore they contained. Attempts had been made in the past to establish mining activity here, but the wilderness location and more recently the protected status of the area had frustrated the industrial exploitation – thank goodness !
One night we lost one of the drones, flying over the campsite and river it was caught be the wind and dashed against the cliff face before tumbling into the Snake. It was a sad occasion, we will miss its buzz overhead, fortunately the majority of the filming had been saved to Pete’s tablet.
Another night we camped on our usual site of gravel and sand and found a kill site comprising fur and bone, it was not recent and difficult to identify. The orange colour fur resembled that of an orangutang (said Carol)!
The fast pace of the river did not diminish until the last day with constant rapids to excite, small rocks falling from cliff faces and the fun of finding the best route through the braiding of multiple river channels.
The ‘In Reach’ weather forecast was indicating possible thunderstorms on the day we were due to be picked up by the float plane at Taco Bar, we wanted to give ourselves some wriggle room for an early pick up if needed, so we put in a couple of long days (37 & 46 km).
On the last day some of us decided to have a bit of fun and swopped paddling positions from bow to stern, it was also the day that helmets went under spray decks to be replaced by floppy hats and caps. We were nearing the end and the confluence with the River Peel and a couple of km further on would be Taco Bar. Lulled into a sense of complacency the fierce eddy line on joining a faster and much larger river nearly took us out – not home and dry yet.
Note: Taco bar is a gravel bar next to a long straight stretch of river. It has absolutely no bar or café selling tacos, although………..as we arrived another party were waiting for their float plane and generously gave us a vacuum packed joint of ham – real meat for dinner. Unfortunately, they decided to take the beer out on the plane with them. Just after they took off the thunderstorm arrived, lightening streaked across the sky and thunder reverberated around the mountains. We sheltered under the groups tarp and consumed the last of the alcohol. An hour later the storm had gone.
The Wildlife
We were fortunate to see moose, caribou, golden & bald eagle, peregrines, beavers and chipmonks, but unfortunately, no bear. Fresh prints were seen at many of the campsites of wolf & bear. Ironically, the day after we returned from the Snake, Pete and ollie went for a walk in Whitehorse and saw a bear cub crossing the road !
The End or the Beginning ?
The last night on the Yukon was bitter / sweet. We were all looking forward to showers and some good food and drink, but that came with leaving our simple life of ‘eat, sleep, paddle, explore and repeat’ a more natural pace of life in the truly spectacular wilderness.
The high notes:
- Being in a true wilderness, realising how small we humans are compared to the natural environment around us. Not knowing what we would find ‘around the next corner’.
- The stunning scenery of the mountains and water courses that went on and on and on….
- The wildlife that shared their environment with us. The caribou swimming Duo Lake on our first evening, the beaver activity and the footprints of bear / wolf along the river.
- Seeing Ollie make fire in the wilderness with two pieces of wood.
- The paddling, definitely the paddling on a river with such great magnitude. Its size and scale dwarfing our previous expeditions in the UK and Europe. Almost constant grade 1 to 3 white water.
- No mobile phones, ie no emails, social media or what gets served up everyday as ‘news’.
- The flight in a de Havilland Otter float plane built in 1953 ie a plane 72 years old !!
- The people who led and inspired us and those we shared our journey with.
The low notes (the things we won’t miss):
- Dehydrated meals. We only took 3 days of ‘fresh food’, we could and should have taken more.
- The midges, biting every time you went to the toilet
- Taking a cigarette lighter to the toilet, so you can burn the paper. On reflection, a small inconvenience to preserve the environment for future paddlers. Only once on our entire journey did we see any rubbish left behind……. And that was a wrecked open boat, washed up high on a cliff side. A warning perhaps that this Snake can still bite.
A week after landing back at Heathrow we are sea kayaking off Salcombe in Devon and writing this account in the evening. Was Embark to the Yukon our trip of a lifetime ? With out doubt it was an experience of a lifetime, but will it be our last and only paddle in the wilderness – we think not.
Thank you to Pete & Ollie from PyB for guiding us and making the trip possible and thanks to our paddling partners, Carol, Sharon and Mark for sharing the experience and making it so enjoyable.
Bill and Sian Norris, 2025
