Dawson City, Yukon- Circle, Alaska(417km, 1 ride by kayaking)

One day, a Japanese guy, Kenichi, was coming from Whitehorse to Dawson City by kayaking, and fortunately his kayak was for two persons. I thought about crossing the border by kayaking could be interesting. So I asked him then he accepted and welcomed me. We did kayaking together in Yukon river and crossed border into Alaska.

In Yukon river, we were just paddling, I mean, what we should do was to keep the kayak straight. Because the river was too fast- this speed was around 8-10km/hr. So we could get almost 80km a day for 8 hours. Yukon river was not clear, and the water was very cold. The ice just melted 2 weeks ago. The scenery was wonderful, but a little bit boring. We, of course, pitched tents on the riverside, otherwise stayed in the cabin if we could find, but the problem was heaps of mosquitoes!! We didn't have sprays against them, so it was terrible. They were a little stupid, though. I mean, it's easy to catch them. I guess, they could not be used to be around human being, that's why. In Yukon, Alaska, the landscape itself was amazing, but mosquitoes annoyed me anytime anywhere. I was always screwed up. A German guy, Torsten was kayaking with us, and on the way, we met 2 other German guys. We (Kenichi and I) were suffering from mos. but they didn't care, because they got a good mosquito's spray. Fortunately they got extra and gave us one which was extremely great!! Such a magic spray which was called "Moskol".

The border between Canada and Alaska was quite hard to find out. I mean, just a straight line was set up in the forest with both countries' flags hung up. Actually the custom is in Eagle, but a woman (when we were there) was waiting for somebody coming, then if they show up, she just stamps in their passports on the top of her car's trunk, that's all. Not restrict, but very easy. It was also interesting experience too, you know.

After all, we were kayaking for 5 days to get Circle which is small native village in Alaska. We, of course, couldn't take a shower on the way. In the small village, there are a motel or B&B, so if we want, can take a shower, but have to pay actually more than 5 bucks. It was ridiculous. In addition, when we got in circle, there was a kinda public shower, but it was broken at that time. We had no choice anymore.

In Circle, we could buy beer - fucking American light beer, though, and drank together. Except me, they kept going to the end, Bering Sea, so they need more than one month. I was really happy to kayak there, and would never forget such an interesting experience. Thanks, Kenichi and guys.