S4 Ep6 This is how it ended. 935km Family Snowmobile expedition in remote Yukon, Canada.

S4 Ep5 This is the end. 935km Family Snowmobile expedition in remote northern Canada.

This is episode 3 of our 3 part documentary about our family snowmobile expedition, with our dog! From Atlin BC to Dawson City by snowmobile.
To watch part 1 and 2 of this episode, click here
Part 1    • S4 EP4 A DOCUMENTARY. 935km Snowmobil...  
Part 2    • S4 EP5 OPEN WATER! Atlin BC To Centra...  

We start todays part of our family snowmobile expedition in the forests by McCabe creek, we ended here on our last episode, having to cross open water with our snowmobiles.
The trail is easy going with some trees to cut. It's late by the time we find a place to camp.
Time for this family to take the ice out of our snowmobiles, cut some firewood, set up our Montana canvas wall tent, our camping cots, and all the other chores that come with hot tent winter camping.
In the morning we wake up to an amazing sunrise. We make our way toward Pelly crossing. In Pelly crossing, we gas up with enough gas to last us till Dawson city, because the next part of our snowmobile expedition is going to be remote and there will be no more villages until we reach Dawson city.
We had hoped to buy some teats at the store but when we showed up at the Pelly crossing gas station the store was closed. The locals mentioned they were short staff. But to our luck, the store opened just as we finished gassing up our snowmobiles, so we could pop in for a treat and a special drink.
During this expedition The temperatures have been steadily warming up.
In Pelly farm we meet Dale who explains us the route to Scroggie Creek. He warns us for spring glaciers en route. We are surprised how wide the forestry road is and when we come to our first spring glacier, leandra takes it too high and falls in to the water.
What is a spring glacier? A spring glacier is A Yukon/Northern phenomenon.
In the winter, even with temps down to the -40's, valleys and hillsides drain water. This trickle of water freezes over, and continues to do so all winter/spring, creating a thick sheet of ice, at a 30 degree angle. The spring glacier continues growing in thickness and builds something resembling a retaining wall over time. Behind this retaining wall is retained water, so it almost works like a dam. Spring glaciers can be small or large. A couple of the ones we encounter are large.
Leandra takes one of the spring glaciers too high and falls through the ice, into the dammed water. It's cold and it's hard to get the snowmobile back up and out of the water. From then on we are careful with the other spring glaciers. We don't want to go swimming too often.
We are grateful for our bunny boots that are the best arctic winter boots. They have no liners, so when you fall into the water, yes, your boots fill with water, but the heat of your own foot warms this water up and keeps your foot warm. We are going to be doing a review of these boots in a next video, so stay tuned.
The next day we come to Scroggie creek and the Stewart river. An important checkpoint of the Yukon Quest and an important part in our snowmobile expedition, because once we cross the river here, we are closer to dawson city than we are to pelly farm, and that means that from here on our egress in case of whatever, will be to Dawson city. The temperatures are warm and we are a bit nervous to snowmobile the frozen stewart river, but only a bit of minor overflow and we make it through. We arrive to the Dawson city gold fields and are very excited.
The last day we face the last obstacle of this family snowmobile expedition. The Black hills. We start by the switchbacks and then have so much wind drift that we drop our toboggans and break the trail ahead for a few km. we do this a few times until we come to a more protected area of the hill and the snow is soft. We get to a plowed road, as one of the Dawson city gold mines is getting ready for their gold mining season. Thankfully it's only plowed for a few kilometers and at King Solomon dome we have great conditions. Also the sun pokes out so we can enjoy the views of the Black hills. Once we arrive to the Historic dredge #4 we know we can make it all the way to Dawson City.


We are the Brient family.
We live in Atlin, a remote community in northwestern BC on the Border with the Yukon.
During the week we operate a wood fired organic coffee roastery, at our off the grid property. On our weekends and days off, we go exploring the remote Yukon backcountry.
Join us for family uncommon adventure trips that take us deep into the Yukon and BC wildernesss.
We hope you’ll be inspired to take the road less travelled!

Find us on Patreon patreon.com/TheBrientFamily
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For resources and trip inspiration: www.thebrientfamily.com

Order some fresh coffee at www.atlinmountaincoffee.com

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