Before I share the photos from Day 2 of our canoe trip on the Chatanika River I wanted to show you a few additional pictures from Day 1.  Morgan was kind enough to send her photos from the trip.  All photos are courtesy of Morgan except for the last two.

Remember that killer portage I told you about?  The one where, had they plowed ahead, Helen and Morgan might have died?  Morgan's shots illustrate the dangerous sweepers much better than mine did:

In addition to the log in the foreground there was also the enormous mass of trees just beyond:

Yuck!

Day Two dawned and we weren't sure what obstacles were waiting for us.  In addition to dead trees we had a few live objects to navigate.

Running into a moose is one thing, but if we hadn't stopped to scout as far upriver as we did we would have had to navigate a cow and her calf.

Eventually we ran into something that, no matter how long we waited, would not move:

Yes, that is a car blocking the only passable channel in the river.  We ended up lining the boats along the gravel bar on the left and then across the river to the bank.  We then emptied the boats up onto the riverbank, and then portaged gear and boats (four boats, one at a time!) through the woods to put back into the water.  Thrilling.

Break time!

I know I make the canoe trip sound insane, and it was, but it was all worth it for the few moments like these:

I even managed to sport a few proud injuries at the end of the trip.  Both of my knees and legs were bruised on the outside from bracing them against the boat for leverage when paddling in fast water.

The blisters on my thumbs are healing but still visible.  This is what they looked like the day after I got home.

Josh and I leave Fairbanks in less than 48 hours and there is still much to do.  Stay tuned to Snowcones and FL1 for photos and stories from our 5500+ mile road trip across North America: the Yukon, Banff, Glacier, the Grand Tetons, Yellowstone, the Badlands, Mt. Rushmore, and so much more.