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Poking around old rundown camps-cabins-trapper's huts

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I for one cannot paddle by an old cabin or campsite without at least pausing, if it looks abandoned or vacant I sometimes stop, stretch my legs and poke around.
I like to sit on the front porch and admire the view. If it's locked up, I might peek thru the window and see how it's set up....what kind of stove, maybe a fireplace, the old table under a window that faces a view of the lake and imagine what great times this old place has seen.
If the door is half open, I'll step inside...always a mouse infested mattress, some old newspapers under the bed with dates from the last century, maybe even some old canned food the bears haven't found yet.
If it's an active camp, cut grass or obvious signs of activity, I pass by slowly and admire from a distance.
It's those old places no one comes to anymore that peek my interest. I see lots of these in trip reports so I know I'm not alone here. I like to admire the craftsmanship that went into building the camp, how it was put together and wonder what kind of tools where used..an ax, handsaws, old chainsaws, sometimes even I can figure these things out. Lots of fun exploring old camps.
 
I did five hundred miles of the Yukon river this summer by canoe just for the very reasons Beavertail mentioned. There were cabins in various stages of decay all along the way.
And one sort of preserved site Ft. Selkirk. It had not been a fort in over a hundred years and some four decades ago it ceased being a village. Fun to poke around and peer in windows.

I highly recommend the trip for history buffs. We imagined the hard work of those trudging along the river. There used to be a telegraph line all along one shore. You can still see the imprints of the trail. All this because of a short period of time called the Gold Rush.

I have to write up a TR..that will be chock full of old stuff I noticed.. Meanwhile here is an external site abut Fort Selkirk. We spent a whole day there poking in the woods and fields.

http://www.tc.gov.yk.ca/973.html
 
This old trapper's cabin was near one of Marten's lunch sites in Woodland Caribou PP when we were traveling together last August. There was no sign of any activity there for decades.

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This was taken through the window.

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Very cool... Any more photos? The Yukon is definitely on my bucket list. A friend and I were working on plans to go in 2010 but he backed out when he heard the water was murky with silt. He's a kayaker and too accustomed to the clear waters of Lake Superior. I may have to solo.
 
Very cool... Any more photos? The Yukon is definitely on my bucket list. A friend and I were working on plans to go in 2010 but he backed out when he heard the water was murky with silt. He's a kayaker and too accustomed to the clear waters of Lake Superior. I may have to solo.
Yes...1000. Needless to say I have to sift through a lot of photos. I know I missed a lot of old cabins.. We saw about sixty and also several hundred spirit houses.
The Yukon is not a hard river; you can paddle it in almost anything. Running 7 mph it requires only pointing in the direction you want to take a picture of. It does have squirrely currents but just riding with the flow is all you need;; of course an eddy turn and upstream ferry comes in handy sometimes. Five Finger Rapids is the only rapids of consequence and standing waves were for us easy to sneak around. Its only silty below the White River about ninety miles above Dawson, The White brings in significant volcanic ash which is difficult to filter out. However there are side streams so clear water supply is not an issue. Above the White its pretty clear!

Here is a picture close up of Mechem Creek(downstream with the confluence of the White) where it intersects with the Yukon. The whole area is about three foot square.

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Side streams will be stained brown from the spruce trees supplying tannin to the water.

You can do the Yukon solo easily.

Little tease..this building is still used in the village of Hootalinqua for camping

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http://sightsandsites.ca/rivers/yukon-river/hootalinqua.html
 
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I too like to snoop. Thinking about times gone by, the people who lived there. Did the same thing in eastern Washington, some lonely abandoned farm house set in the middle of nowhere, flat, dry, dusty. Wonder how many brides from some greener place went mad or ran away. What hopes, some realized and some dashed.

A caveat for us snoopers: don't raise any dust. The mice (and there's always mice) may be carriers of hantavirus or some other fun thing. Plague? But on the other hand it sure would make for a interesting tombstone: Here lies so and so, dead of the black death. (!)
Rob
 
I also love the cabins. They vary so in western Ontario. Some are shacks. Some are sturdy log cabins. I found one that was a dugout, half cabin and half cave, low and dark and tight as a cell.
 
Hogan,

I remember that trappers cabin. It was so odd how things were left inside, it was like the owner might be home any minute. That was such a cool place to visit.

Bob.
 
I've seen several cabins that way, Bob, with hanging socks and and various accouterments of a lonely life in the bush, all awaiting the return of their owner, who appears to be long, long gone.
 
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