DAY 1 ... we set out in the afternoon and paddled downstream. That first afternoon was just about getting used to the kayak and the river. It was truly
beautiful and I fell in love with the river instantly.
I had been relieved the campsite was easy to get to from the kayak as we had passed many high cliffs where it would have been impossible to leave the river...
At the end of day 1, the river already seemed remote. I loved the sense of freedom I had.  Neither of us wore a watch, and for five days we never knew the exact time. We based our decisions of when to stop on how hungry we were, how far the next camp was, and the position of the sun in the sky... 

DAY 2 ... we quickly arrived at Lake Laberge. Another cloudy day but the weather was bright.  The lake was huge, the far side was some way off in the distance. And yet the far side we could see was only about half
of the lake... 
The lake was beautiful, it always was, but at times that morning it was soul destroying.  We followed the east side of the lake but did not paddle close to
shore, so the perspective we had made it seem to me that we were making no progress at all... 
At times, I doubted if I was still travelling forwards... 
Sounds were amplified on the lake, and often I did not know in which direction a noise was coming from... 
Just as we were setting off (after lunch) Tobias told me that the guide did not advise being on the lake if the waves had white tips.  In my mind, the waves were huge and all had white tips, but Tobias assured me it would be ok.  I trusted him as I had quickly realised how dependent on him I was.  My boat had the food, his the cooker and tent.  If I lost him, I could have survived on dried fruit, but I would have been miserable at night with no tent and would not have slept for fear of bears.
The waves seemed so choppy, and at that point I felt quite vulnerable, that I would flip my boat at any time.  Actually, I never lost that feeling.  I still
worried about capsizing at the end of day 5, despite the fact that my confidence had increased tremendously... 
We paddled a beautiful stretch of the lake, made particularly beautiful by the sun setting in front of us.  Before we lost the light, we stopped to set up
camp.  That was probably my toughest day of the trip, my arms hurt from all of that paddling that I wasn't used to.

DAY 3 ... my muscles still hurt.  But the lake today was a very different experience than yesterday.  We paddled next to the bank so that we could see the progress that we were making, which helped me tremendously... 
Later the Alaskans we met on the day before sailed past, as did a motorboat and a canoe.  Our river was getting busy!!!
When we set out in the afternoon, the river was absolutely stunning.  Flowing quite fast, we had the wind behind us, the sun was shining and the scenery
was beautiful...
Later on, I came around a bend on the right hand side.  There, on the far bank, were some boats.  A family maybe?  A fire was burning and they looked happy.  But hang on, that boat is the same colour as Tobias' boat.
It can't be, I should leave the family in peace. There's a man, by himself, wearing red, I've never seen Tobias wear red.  Excuse me, have you seen my
friend?  Of course it was Tobias and I had truly missed the landing beach.  The current made it impossible to paddle upstream, what to do?  Being
swept past the island at 10km/h, I headed for the bank and crash landed...
(At camp) it was nice to chat to other people and hear their stories, but actually I preferred the nights when the river belonged to us.  As I was trying to sleep, the mosquito who had buried itself deep into my ear began to buzz and buzz.  I knew that if I didn't get rid of it, I might be driven insane.  Tobias, who was slightly sceptical of me having a bug in my ear and thought I was already insane, suggested we drown it so he poured water into my ear, solving that problem.

DAY 4 ... The Teslin River joined the Yukon this morning, not too far into our trip.  It was very beautiful and so tranquil.  Just after that point, we stopped at an island to see the wreck of the steamer Evelyn which was spectacular.  Here, in the middle of nowhere, was a beautiful ship... 
Onwards we paddled. The landscape had changed throughout our journey.  Not so many steep cliffs now, more trees on the banks... 
Day 4 and my muscles no longer ached...  When I arrived (at evening camp) he was in high spirits.  100km today he called out. Wow!!!  We'd had a long day paddling with the wind behind us and the river flowing fast. In fact, I did not appreciate quite how fast it was flowing until I was off the river and watching it...  After dinner, I just needed to sleep. It was dark by then. I felt great about the day's trip, it had been an extraordinary day.

DAY 5 I felt tinged with sadness as we left. How had the last day arrived so soon?  We had made great progress and would easily be in Carmacks by tonight...
The paddling was challenging in a different way today. The river, as glorious as ever, was very bendy, and often we had to paddle into the wind. That was tough going...
That last, final stretch of the river was perfect. With the wind behind us most of the way, we took our time, just floating down, paddling here and there...
We saw signs of life - there was the road and here were billboards advertising campsites...
Tobias pulled into the right. I saw a couple of other boats there, and not wanting to crash into them, I overshot the landing.  Sitting parralel to the bank, I waited for Tobias to hold my boat steady so that I could climb out. It was obvious what was going to happen, into the Yukon I splashed. But we had done it!!!  Being cold and wet at the end no longer mattered!!!