From here, it has been down river all the way. Rough water with many big rocks, narrow passages, and water falls, not to mention all the other obstacles, I have been drowned four times and three of the people that were with me, have disappeared.
We started in the little settlement of Murky, and had to have all our gear shipped in twice, A small air craft, that was delivering the stuff, crashed and all was lost. Then another airplane attempted to make a second delivery and got lost and it had to turn back. Finally it was winter and a dog sled got it all to us.
We started in the little settlement of Murky, and had to have all our gear shipped in twice, A small air craft, that was delivering the stuff, crashed and all was lost. Then another airplane attempted to make a second delivery and got lost and it had to turn back. Finally it was winter and a dog sled got it all to us.
That meant we had to wait until spring to start, The water, “run off” was extra large this year and we had to wait for the water to recede. That took another couple of weeks.
But what we didn’t know, was old mother nature had some ideas of her own. We had started down the river and it was on the second day of our journey when we were shown what was coming. We managed to make it to shore and get the gear high up on shore. But the three canoes were lost as the rain and wind got stronger. We waited for two days and then started to build a raft. But when we got it into the water, it sank.
We packed what we could and were going to carry the stuff down river by using leg power, then return for the rest of our stuff. We were looking for a place that could provide us with better material for the next raft. We had used most of what we needed to build the first raft and it was now under swift water. So this time it was going to be a real challenge . It took three days to build the raft we all thought it would fall apart before we got it in the water, but once it was in water it should be okay.
The river was calm, for close to ten miles, when we came into some rapids. At the first twist, the damn thing was in several pieces, We all hung on for life and made it to another calm place down stream. We located a log jam and tried to separate some of them, to construct another raft. In the end we each had a log to float on and took along what we could hold onto.
At one place, we had to paddle back up the river, about ten miles, as we took the wrong fork, We went right when we should have gone left. We managed to camp on dry land for the following three nights, but our supplies were dangerously low. We hunted for things we could eat, to take along. But us green horns, didn’t know much about what was good or bad.
The next day we got an early start and before noon we had arrived at another small village. It was difficult to communicate with these people, they spoke a language, we did not understand. We drew pictures in the dirt for each other and finally got what we needed to continue our journey.
The boat they gave us, was strong and it had made many trips up and down, this river. Arriving at our destination, we were placed under arrest. It appeared that the things we traded and the money we left, was not enough. How they got word to the old Chief, was unknown to us.
But the Chief said: he understood! We were crooks and river pirates and he was going to keep us in a pen until restitution had be made. We were allowed one drum call, and it was never answered. Smoke signals were not understood, so a runner was commissioned to carry a message back to civilization, but the runner must have died somewhere along the way. No one has heard from him or do they know where he is.
Happy new year, has arrived about eight or nine times, and a miracle was about to occur. The first pay telephone was coming to the area!
( Do you happen to have any change I can borrow? )
By: Ben ®
But what we didn’t know, was old mother nature had some ideas of her own. We had started down the river and it was on the second day of our journey when we were shown what was coming. We managed to make it to shore and get the gear high up on shore. But the three canoes were lost as the rain and wind got stronger. We waited for two days and then started to build a raft. But when we got it into the water, it sank.
We packed what we could and were going to carry the stuff down river by using leg power, then return for the rest of our stuff. We were looking for a place that could provide us with better material for the next raft. We had used most of what we needed to build the first raft and it was now under swift water. So this time it was going to be a real challenge . It took three days to build the raft we all thought it would fall apart before we got it in the water, but once it was in water it should be okay.
The river was calm, for close to ten miles, when we came into some rapids. At the first twist, the damn thing was in several pieces, We all hung on for life and made it to another calm place down stream. We located a log jam and tried to separate some of them, to construct another raft. In the end we each had a log to float on and took along what we could hold onto.
At one place, we had to paddle back up the river, about ten miles, as we took the wrong fork, We went right when we should have gone left. We managed to camp on dry land for the following three nights, but our supplies were dangerously low. We hunted for things we could eat, to take along. But us green horns, didn’t know much about what was good or bad.
The next day we got an early start and before noon we had arrived at another small village. It was difficult to communicate with these people, they spoke a language, we did not understand. We drew pictures in the dirt for each other and finally got what we needed to continue our journey.
The boat they gave us, was strong and it had made many trips up and down, this river. Arriving at our destination, we were placed under arrest. It appeared that the things we traded and the money we left, was not enough. How they got word to the old Chief, was unknown to us.
But the Chief said: he understood! We were crooks and river pirates and he was going to keep us in a pen until restitution had be made. We were allowed one drum call, and it was never answered. Smoke signals were not understood, so a runner was commissioned to carry a message back to civilization, but the runner must have died somewhere along the way. No one has heard from him or do they know where he is.
Happy new year, has arrived about eight or nine times, and a miracle was about to occur. The first pay telephone was coming to the area!
( Do you happen to have any change I can borrow? )
By: Ben ®
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