Day 58: May 30, 2026
Will was pinned down by a severe storm that blew in from the north and provided a “tent-slapping” mix of rain, snow, and heavy winds. The river will have to wait until tomorrow.
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Yeah, Will here, May 30th, day 58. A big storm came in last night, first in the form of rain and then heavy snow and very strong north winds. And it's still blowing and snowing right now. It's been going for about 20 hours now. There wasn't any chance at all to get on the river—cold and just as miserable of a weather as you could imagine. Real hypothermic. It's right around freezing, maybe 28 degrees. And in a tent-slapping away, it's a normal thing.
But pretty wet with this driving snow, wet snow, it gets moist inside. But just another typical wait-out day here, which is kind of the norm here on this expedition. And I imagine that this will blow itself out. I'm anxious to get back on the river. I think it was probably good that I gave the river another day here.
So there's still going to be a lot of high adventure coming in tomorrow when I do get on the river. And I'm ... it winds and bends a lot. So it's not too far from where I'm going to be starting to hike. But miles-wise, I think it's a good 110, 120 miles. And that's dodging a lot of ice along the way. So it'll be good. I've got probably too much sleep right now. I'm just killing time. It's evening time. I'm good at just sitting and listening. And I'm not really doing much. That's about all there is here. I don't bring a book. And I don't read or get lost in my mind here. I just kind of sit it out and be in the present. And I don't mind a windy day, although my preference is to be on the river right now.
So I got a little more organized. Yesterday was quite a thrill. I think I know my messages have been cutting out. I'm thinking that I'm hoping that last night ... I know they cut out at 10 minutes for sure. But I'm hoping that full message went out. It was quite an ordeal there. I'm kind of on bad re-rations right now. And so I don't want to go over what happened yesterday right now. But I'm taking for granted that some of it got reported.
But I'll talk later, tomorrow. I'll check in. It'll probably be much later. I'll put in a really long day if I'm able to get on that river tomorrow. And so it's Will here. I'm doing well here. Good health. Over and out, May 30th, day 58.
One day of travel is the limit as a storm halts progress up the river. Will anticipates getting going again tomorrow. Visit Will’s interactive map for complete control of magnification and orientation.
Though Will is not traveling today, when he gets back on the river he can expect to see rapidly flowing water and large, dangerous blocks of ice, as seen here in this photo from his 2023 solo expedition.