adventure

So this last trip up to Eagle I had a day off up there. I tried to get up to Dawson City, but there wasnt a room avaliable. So i had to find something to do so I wouldnt feel like a bum. I talked with some of the local kids- James and Clint, about climbing Eagle Bluff. There is a bluff 1, 2, and 3. We decided to go up to the first on that day off. So we left about 3 after Clint got off work and waded across mission creek and started scrambling up the side of the bluff. There was alot of loose rock so there are 2 rules: 1- if you dislodge a rock, call it, and 2- if someone calls "rock" get the heck out of the way. So we got up about 1/4 of the way and there was a rope to help us up the steepest part of it. It was steep and you had to move fast to keep from sliding back down. Feel the burn! James is 14 and was the first one up. I think it was good for him and his self-esteem. Nice kid. We got to the top and it started raining- weather tends to change rapidly up here. I did get some good pics that i will upload soon.
On the way down, kevin- one of the other drivers, decided to take off and just ran down. Which we did too, but by separating himself he put himself at risk. He ended up catching a rock in the back of his leg. It cut him up pretty good. We ended up going for a swim in an eddy in the Yukon River. Kevin chalenged us to see who could stay in the longest- whomever got out first is not important... Anyhow, kevin decided to swim to Moon island (it realy does look like a moon from above), putting himself at risk yet again. Before we could say anything the was already 10 or 15 yards down river and the distance was growing. We hollered at him and he decided to head back. by the time he got back to the shore he was about 10 feet upriver from a sheer cliff. If he had got down to that point we would have had to go up to the boat dock and grab a boat to get him. That would have been about 30 min. Who knows what would have happened then. But i'm glad to report that he's alive and well. Still kind of crazy, so i guess mostly well...
My groups were real impressed with my driving skills. One fellow was a Locamotive Engineer and pulled me aside and said, " son, you're good. You can tell you know what you're doing and that you were trained well." I had several others say similar things as they tiped me. All in all it was a good run.