So we made it to Circle. Yay!
One problem though, Finn and Rina’s car was still at Yukon Crossing, several hundred kilometres away…. Not ideal.
The plan we devised in Dawson City regarding the matter was simple. The boys would fly from Circle to Fairbanks on the bush plane that comes to deliver mail every weekday, and Megan and Rina would hold down the fort and the gear in Circle. Once in Fairbanks, the boys would pick up a rental car and drive the 3 hours to Yukon Crossing on America’s most beloved (feared) highway, the Dalton. Assuming Finn and Rina’s car was in one piece and still at the bridge when they arrived, the boys were to drive the two vehicles back down to Fairbanks, drop off the rental car, and drive another 4 hours back to the girls in Circle to pick up gear and canoes. Easy peasy.
This plan was to go ahead as intended until a couple of lovely gentlemen working in Circle asked about our travels and what the next steps were. They let us know they were heading to Fairbanks in the morning with an empty truck and could cut out a few steps for us by taking a couple of us and all of our gear into Fairbanks.
This moment, among many others this trip, was a heartwarming reminder of how good people can be. We’re all so grateful for the individuals that took the time to take in some scraggly paddlers, make us feel welcome, and help fix predicaments we got ourselves into.
With the help of our new friends, and complete disregard for everything ever learned about splitting up in horror movies, our newest plan was underway. Megan and Nathan flew out in the early afternoon the next day to go collect the rental car, leaving Finn and Rina to tag along with the canoes and gear into Fairbanks.
Megan and Nathan made it to Fairbanks ahead of the other team, so they collected the rental car and wandered around downtown Fairbanks before heading to Costco to pick up some essential items, namely Dot’s Original Seasoned Pretzels and Sailor Boy Pilot Bread.
Finn and Rina made it to Fairbanks after a lovely 3 hour drive filled with chatting with our new friends Louis and Al about all things fishing, hunting, and local history. Both groups met up at Costco, moved the camping gear we needed for the night into the rental car, and coordinated with Louis on a pick up location for the rest of our stuff the next day. We bid adieu to the kind strangers, demolished a Costco pizza between the 4 of us, and were once again on the road; heading towards the Dalton for the last time this trip.
The drive to Yukon Crossing went off without a hitch, we sang our little hearts out to the likes of Fergie and the Spice Girls as we expertly avoided the potholes strewn about with reckless abandon. We all breathed a sigh of relief as we pulled off the E.L. Patton bridge and into the parking lot to see that the Subaru we had left 3 weeks prior was there, drivable, and even cleaner than we had left it (thank you thunderstorms).
We switched some of our gear from the rental into the Subaru, split up drivers, and set off again.
Very shortly after we started our drive back to Fairbanks, a newly flashing check engine light and 2000rpm wobble in the rental Jeep threw another spanner in the works. 3 hours out of cell reception, we had few options other than to keep driving and hope the Jeep survived until we could give it back. After a couple hundred kilometres and a lot of stopping and stressing, we arrived at a rest stop just outside Fairbanks and decided to make it our home for the night. A mostly unrestful night of sleep gifted us a pretty groggy morning, but a call to the rental company provided for a sigh of relief.
“The vehicle just does that sometimes. Don’t worry about it, just bring her back in.” The friendly voice on the other side of Nathan’s phone call confirmed.
Perfect. No engine replacement fee for us.
We packed all of the gear into the Subaru and set off with much more chipper attitudes towards the airport to free ourselves of our rental car before heading to get some breakfast.
Full of reindeer sausage and classic diner pancakes, we headed with full stomachs and open minds into our next challenge: fitting all of our gear, both of the canoes, and the 4 of us into/onto the Subaru. After playing some barrel tetris and individually shoving each box of pilot bread into the available crevices, we successfully packed the car in a way that left us with 4 available seatbelts and (nearly) 4 full seats to sit in. Great success.
The drive back to Johnson’s Crossing left us cramped and greatly looking forward to having 2 vehicles again, and after bonding with the Alcan Border agent over the deliciousness of Dot’s Pretzels and giving him one of our trip stickers, we were just about there.
Upon arriving at Johnson’s Crossing, we were reminded of another problem to solve: one of the tires on Meg’s car got a little too friendly with a broken nail the morning we started the canoeing portion of our trip, so we were met with a tire that was unfortunately not miraculously patched when we returned.
Finn and Megs took to locating the nail and patching the tire while Nathan and Rina started on reorganizing all of the gear for the last time and sorting it back into the cars they were originally in.
The next morning we fuelled up the cars & ourselves and hit the road, happy to be split into 2 vehicles once again. We stopped for lunch at the Baby Nugget RV park in Nugget City for our last lunch as a group of four. At the junction 2km down the road, Megs was splitting off to go to the Liard Hot Springs while the remaining 3 of us headed to Prince Rupert.
After finishing our overpriced burgers and fries, we headed to the parking lot & said our goodbyes; bidding a bittersweet farewell to each other, the Yukon River, and the land of the midnight sun.
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