Few outdoor pursuits are as involved as river trips, and few are equally exhausting and rewarding. The river trip, be it a summer long expedition or a day float just outside of town, embodies the adventure once experienced by the early pioneers.
In North America’s youth, river runners were commonly referred to as ‘voyageurs’. The name came from the French Canadians, who dominated the fur trade and transported furs on the major rivers that served as highways for commerce and opened up the continent.
The life of the voyageur was dramatized by many as one of adventure and prestige, but in reality it was probably more hard work than anything. These men played a critical role in getting goods to market, though, and their knowledge of the rivers and how to run them in big boats and canoes was extremely valuable.
Charlie Wolf was what you might call a modern day voyageur. Fascinated by the river runners of the old days, Wolf spent his summers re-tracing many of their footsteps and canoe paths throughout Canada and Alaska. He was a friendly man, always stopping to talk with people he met along the river. Charlie’s good natured demeanor, love for conversation and his signature canoe paddle, with a human eye painted on one side to ‘watch for rocks under water’ earned Wolf legendary status among those in the areas he traveled.
The military brought Charlie to Alaska, which he made his home for decades. The sense of adventure and a need to travel rivers found him spending almost every bit of leave time he could scrape together on river trips. After he retired, of course, there was much more time to be a voyageur. Retirement meant Charlie could take longer trips, often spanning the entire summer.
During ten years of retirement, Charlie spent his winters trapping in the bush. He bought a cabin and trap line from the legendary Ed Owens up the Colleen River, traveling there by canoe each fall to reach the cabin from Fort Yukon, and returning downriver the following spring. After Charlie had enough of trapping, the area was taken up by Bob Harte, who trapped there for decades and eventually starred in the Discovery Channel show “The Last Alaskans”.
Long after retirement from both the military and the trap line, an aging Charlie Wolf kept traveling rivers with the enthusiasm and energy of a kid. During one trip in the early 1970’s, he made a unique exception to his standard practice of traveling alone, and took on a partner for the summer. Young Tom McGuire, long on free time and short on prospects, convinced Charlie to have him along for his planned trip down the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers.
“99 Days on the Yukon”, written by Tom McGuire in 1977, documents his trip with Charlie Wolf in a 17 foot canoe from the headwaters of the Yukon River to the ocean. The book provides valuable documentation of the rivers, their people and villages. It gives the reader an up close and personal view of Charlie Wolf the voyageur and character, and it follows the journey Tom experiences as he tries to learn from and live with an experienced old hand in Alaska’s wilderness, one of the most beautiful places in the world.
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