YUKON RUSH

Head north to river-tripping paradise and a standup style of wilderness voyage.

- DAVE SHIVELY

When the DHC-2 Beaver pontoon plane lifts off Lake Laberge and quickly shrinks in the Canadian sky, there’s no avoiding the realization of just how isolated our party, disgorged onto shore, now finds itself, days distant from the nearest town. So attention purposely swivels to our massive pile of gear. First up, we set to the task of unrolling and inflating the rugged standup paddleboards that will be our life support for the next four days.

Guide Stu Knaack provides lessons in Zen and the art of bungee-cord maintenance (hint: use lots), demonstrating the finer points of hooking, stretching, wrestling, and wrapping them to the board’s nose and tail attachments to rig dry bags, air pumps, and food barrels. As we inch the obscenely weighted SUPs toward water’s edge, he rattles off obligatory safety protocols, mostly concerning local wildlife: how to identify wolf tracks, react when a moose drops its ears, and aim bear spray (up the approaching beast’s muzzle). Oh yeah, and actual paddling stuff, too, cautioning us to stay together out on the river, which while predominantly flat, is also wide and plenty swift.

“If you fall in,” calls Knaack, “get out and change all of your clothes as fast as you can manage—hypothermia will set in immediately.”