TravelStream™ news feed for member hcb on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/hcb en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Tue, 11 Aug 2009 18:17:50 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hcb/2/1250025101/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hcb/2/1250025101/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hcb/2/1250025101/tpod.html Tue, 11 Aug 2009 18:17:50 -0400 Our Yukon Adventure!

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Canmore, Alberta, Canada

July 22/09

Just a bit less than 10 days to go before we start home.

Sad news for us, a good friend Bob Reddick, passed away in his sleep back in May. This reaffirms why we are out and about. Other sad news is that we had to put our big malamute Cedar down last week.

She was failing badly, not eating and after 12 great years we decide it was time. Lots of sadness for us but she had an outstanding winter up here in Yukon. She got to ski or walk every day off leash. Although she was losing weight over the winter she was in great condition and loved the exercise. We have lots of great memories of her and have received quite a few e-mails from friends remembering a particular time they had spent with her. We know she's up in malamute heaven sorting out the others.

July has been spent with great summer conditions. Last summer there wasn’t any warm weather and so far we’ve had outstanding weather.

Our garden and greenhouse have given us great produce. We’ve been eating spinach and lettuce for the past few weeks and we also have eaten zucchinis and the odd tomato and I’d say we will get lots of tomatoes before we leave. Our peas just have flowers this week and the carrots are growing. Our potatoes
(14 hills) don’t have flowers yet so Buck, the owner of our house, will benefit once we leave.

With Cedar not doing well and the bugs being bad we didn’t hike much but we’ve continued biking on the road. We have been lake paddling a few times though on Annie Lake and Fish Lake.

We did drive up on Montana Mtn down above Carcross one day with Ron Adams and Clare Massicotte.

The whole mountain has exploration roads on it so a 4X4 can get you up high to start a great hike.

We also discovered the hiking down Annie Lake Rd. This gravel road is maintained in perfect condition by a mining company so hiking access is great. The way the mountains are built here is that it only takes an hour or two to get to Alpine then once up on the mtn you can walk almost anywhere across the flat tops.

August 11/09

Our good friends from Thompson MB., Tom and Sandra Crawford arrived near the end of July and we had a great visit with them. We did tourist thing around Whitehorse and took off down the Klondike highway to Skagway over to Haines on the ferry and on up to Haines Junction and back to Whitehorse. This is known as the Golden Circle route and we’ve done it three times in the last year. It never gets old. We love the idea of driving two hours to get to the ocean. The fresh fish are great as are the crabs.

We went out to an all you can eat crab restaurant and Tom ate them out of crab!!! Cheryl and Sandra stopped at one Dungeness each while Hugh ate red meat..

It was really great having such good friends come all the way from MB to see us and for them to experience some of what we have in the past year.

Our final weeks were taken up with many parties and small diners. We were taken out to eat at a great restaurant on the Alaska hwy by our good friends Dick and Cheryl Smith. Dick and Cheryl billeted me while I was up here two winters ago for the winter games. We have become good friends. They even tried valiantly to teach us how to play bridge. They were our go to people if we needed anything.

Our friends also threw a going away BBQ out on an acreage. It was really great to see all the different folks from our different groups of friends all in one place. It was truly amazing to realize how many people we got to know in the short time we were up here.

Suddenly it was time to leave. We packed up our shipping crate and sent it off to Canmore.

We were ready to go. The weather was hot +32C so we headed out and only got one hour out of town. We stopped at a campground and went for a paddle. 29C at 10 pm. This is the North?!!!!

We met some friends who were heading off on a short canoe trip up a series of lakes and the next day we accompanied them up the lake and through a set of creeks to another small clear lake. We toasted our leaving again with them had a quick dip in the lake and headed off back 3h to our campsite.

Our trip home was uneventful. We did pass by forest fires burning down to the road and ran into the Aug long weekend crowds along the highway. It was only 2300 km of travelling and approx 25 hr total of travelling time. Overall average speed of 79.9 kph (Got to love a GPS!)

The re-entry to the south hasn’t been too bad. We always thought Canmore was quiet vs the city but comparing it to Whitehorse it’s down right noisy here. There are so many more people down here but we are slowly getting up to speed.

Ending off this blog I wondered if I could come up with something profound….. I got nothin’!

We did what we set off to do. We wanted to travel, see new places and meet new people. We’ve made a lot of new friends and done a lot of things, seen some new country. We certainly love the north. The folks we met in Yukon are outstanding. We are going to miss them. Heck, we already miss them and we’ve only been home a week.!

We did it because we could. If you read the first instalment of the blog, I said the same thing. You perhaps, have to be old enough to understand that statement.

Over the past year we’ve lost one Father, three friends and one dog. We’ve had friends getting diagnosed with cancer. We’re not standing still.

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." (Mark Twain)

Ok perhaps this isn’t profound and I had to borrow from a great author but………
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Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” (Mark Twain)

June 28
The quote above just about sums up the why of our year + long travels.
May had us skiing one day and paddling the next with the odd hike thrown in.
Friends from Canmore, Mike Coppang and Burke Duncan flew up for a couple of days for backcountry skiing in May. Cheryl and I skied with them one day down towards Skagway Summit. We skied up Feather Peak on one of those perfect spring days where we could have been wearing shorts.
We skied and hiked up for 4.5h to the summit and then sat on top for an hour. We skied back down to the truck in 45 minutes on perfect corn snow!

Cheryl’s sister, Barb and Mom, Donna arrived mid May for a visit. It was really great to be able to show them around the Yukon and have them experience some of things we have for the last year.
We toured the museums and went shopping. We went down to Skagway and then took the ferry across to Haines returning via Haines Junction. This trip has become one of our favourite routes as it takes us through two beautiful mountain passes and gets us down to the sea all in a couple of days.

Barb and I took the White Pass Yukon train from Fraser B.C. down to Skagway. This was on the May long weekend and there is a Yukoner’s special with discounted fares. The rail line had only been opened for a couple of weeks after being closed for the winter. The snow banks were so huge that they had to cut through them and were right up to the edge of the tracks.

Two days after Donna and Barb left, Kevin and Myra arrived. They actually drove all the way from Winnipeg. We had a great visit with them. We had never really had the opportunity to spend a large block of time with them before so this was a special treat for all of us. We went camping out to Kusawa Lake for a couple of nights eating smores and cherry pies, canoeing and sitting around the fire. We let them do their own version of Yukon’s museums. We took the Washout Special train from Carcross to Bennett with them. The White Pass Yukon Railway ran this special trip because of a washout on the rail line. The normal trains run straight through from Carcross, Bennett, to Skagway. We had a couple of hours to hangout at the terminus of the Chilkoot Trail, before returning to Carcross. The train line is right along side historic Lake Bennett so the views were spectacular.
They took off from here, taking the ferry to Port Hardy on Vancouver Island. They hung out down in the lower mainland for a bit and then did a marathon drive back to Winnipeg. I think they might be back in the Yukon at sometime as they only just barely got their feet wet up here.

In keeping with our being active, Cheryl and I entered the Kluane Chilkat International Bike Relay. It is a 240km bike relay from Haines Junction YT to Haines AK on June 20. We actually got a fair bit of riding in before the race. We only have our mtn bikes up here so we trained on them using slick tires. We ended up teamed up with another couple who live close by. We were able to use their road bikes for the actual race. We each did two legs and it took us 10 hours to complete the race, We were in the middle of the pack for the mixed 4 man teams but we figure due to our age if they handicapped us we’d be in the top three…..in our dreams!
The race itself attracts, full on racers to folks riding bikes wearing costumes and taking 14h to do the race.

Cheryl actually rode hurt as she had come off her mtn bike on a training run the week before banging up her shoulder, hand and ribs. Being the trouper she is, she rode really well. She rode legs 5 and 6 which are up in the Alpine and have great views although I doubt if she got to appreciate them during the ride. She also finished her leg doing a downhill of 2000’. She says she was glad that there was a headwind so she didn’t go too fast! I rode the last two legs which are along the Chilkat River. There always seems to be wind coming off the ocean and this day was no exception. I hadn’t ridden a road bike seriously for 40 yrs so it was fun to get into a train of other riders and get a bit of a draft.
The relay ends in the Parade Grounds in Haines. It was a great party with a thousand people camped in a field roughly the size of two football fields.
Right after the relay we hung out in Haines with some friends and hiked out along the ocean for a day and stayed at the Chilkat State Park right on the ocean’s edge. The wild iris’s were in bloom along with all sorts of other flowers we don’t get to see inland.
We got home to Whitehorse in time to help out at the Yukon River Quest. This year we worked the start and up at Carmacks. We did equipment/safety checks and carried boats to the water on race day. There were 77 boats in the race. 8 Voyageur canoes along with 3 C1s and the rest being single and double kayaks and C2s.
This was the 11th year for the race and it attracts racers from all over the world. They came from: Slovenia, Dubai, Australia, Britain, and U.S.
The start is a Le Mans style, (Racers have to run from the start line to their boats). At 12:00 noon Wed. the racers took off down to the Yukon River. It was really exciting to watch all the racers tear down to the river and get into their boats.
We then drove up to Carmacks, 200 km north to get ready at the next check point. The check point is at Coal Mine Campground, which is right on the river.
The racers have a mandatory seven hour layover here. They used to run the race straight through without layovers but they found racers went so far into deprivation they were no longer safe.
The first boats arrived around 6 AM Thurs AM, having paddled 18h straight. They pulled up on shore and their race support crews got them fed and into tents. The racers continued to arrive until 9 pm. The arrival cut off time was 11pm on Thursday. We stayed up until 4:00 Am Fri getting racers back on the water. After it was all over we had been up for 26 hours with only a few hours of quick snoozes. We chose not to follow the race up to Dawson for the finish as we had done that last year. For all this we got a T shirt! I’d do it again!
We are now thinking about heading home. We have to start packing and paring down our food supply. We’re not sure how we will get all the stuff we accumulated over the past year home….. :)
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Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada

April 27, 2009
Not really sure where the rest of winter has gone but finally we have spring weather!!!!
+15 at 6:00pm. The snow has been shrinking really fast. We despaired for a while but now the heat is on, we see why folks have skis, bikes and boats on their trucks and cars all at the same time.
We went out to Marsh Lake last weekend to a brunch at their community centre and then rode our bikes back on the Alaska Hwy to Swan Haven approx 22km to see the Tundra and Trumpeter Swans. The day before we had ski skated on a local lake for a couple of hours. We still can walk early in the AM on the skidoo and ski trails until the snow warms up then we start to break through. We have gone for a few hikes along our usual ski routes taking snowshoes in case of rotting snowpack.
March/April are somewhat of a blur but we did manage to ski the Buckwheat Ski Classic race down at Log Cabin. It's a really cool race that was written up as one of the top 10 things to do in Alaska in the winter. The race is run by the Skagway ski club in B.C., with mostly folks from Yukon skiing in it. People do come from all over Alaska to ski as well as down south.
We made a weekend of it and went down to Skagway for Friday night went to the breakfast on Sat morning at the Presbyterian Church, went back into Canada to race then back into the US for the banquet. We came home on Sunday and went for a quick ski at log Cabin to see what we had raced the day before.
We also went down towards Skagway summit a few times to ski tour with friends. The terrain is wide open alpine valley so on a clear day it is truly spectacular skiing as you can see for kms. We haven't gone down there for turns as the folks we know are not into BC skiing. We hope to make it a few times before the skiing is done. We have been going into Mt McIntyre to skate ski there once a week as well as our usual tours around here.
Our curling is done of course but with some good news. Cheryl ended up on a team that will by representing Yukon at the Dominion Curling Championships in Toronto this November. This is a brand new series that has been created for club level curlers. It gives them an opportunity to curl against other curlers of the same calibre from across Canada. Cheryl had to playoff against another team from our club then in a bonspiel against other rinks from around Yukon. They came out on top and will get a free trip to Toronto.
My team is still waiting for our third and deciding game which will happen in Oct/Nov. Perhaps if the curling gods align I'll be living in AB and curling for YT. Go figure!

We had to scramble a bit the last few weeks as our house sitting gig appeared to fall apart at the last moment. The fellow we were supposed to house sit for wasn't going to be heading out of town until the end of May or not at all so we frantically looked for new digs until at least June. The alternative would be to live in our camper which, if you've seen it, would be a trial in cold weather. We did arrange to stay in a log cabin out the Annie lake road approx 50km from town for the first two weeks of May. It belongs to friends who are heading out. We did have a fall back at a neighbour's back yard, close to us, if all else failed but it would have been the camping deal.
To add to this:
We have Donna (Cheryl's Mom) and Barb (sister) arriving in mid May for a visit so we arranged for a B&B for them.
Kevin (Cheryl's son) and fiancé Myra are arriving at the end of May as well.
Luckily today we talked to our guy and we will be moving into his house after all.
May 4
We now are living near Takhini Hot Springs 20 minutes north of town, up the Klondike highway towards Dawson City. This is the complete opposite end of the city. We went to a BBQ near our old place and it took 30 minutes by highway to get there. Not a long time in a city but somehow it feels we're in our truck too long.
Our house is really nice. It looks like a cabin from the front but in reality it is a three level front to back split situated on 6 acres. They also have a huge shop out back along with a big John Deere tractor for yard work. Layton and Zack would love this place.
It was a bit of a pain to pack up after nine months in one place. It's amazing how much crap you can accumulate. We are in the midst of spring now with the snow disappearing at an amazing rate. It is hard to know what activity to get ready for each day. We have boots for skiing, cycling, hiking, and paddling at the front door.
The temps in the last week have been in the low 20s and high teens with no clouds. We were only skiing two weeks ago now the canoe is on the roof and the bikes have been tuned.
We went for a hike near Carcross which is south of town. We walked up a 3000' ridge and of course down Legs were like jello by the end. Cedar was over heated and stopped at every snow bank to lie down. Today she is no worse for wear yet our legs are killing us.
The crocuses were out in full force and most of the snow had burned off the ridge. The hike gave us great views. We were able to see all the way south down Lake Bennett to Bennett, the last stop on the Chilkoot trail.
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Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada

January/February

Christmas was a busy time for us. We were out for dinner quite a few times over the holiday season so we didn't even cook a turkey. We did a little hosting ourselves.
We found a lot of folks go 'out' to family or take off on holiday for warmer climes.

The temperature dropped in mid Dec to the mid -30s and didn't get above for 4 weeks. Lowest was -45C
The cold snap lasted for a month and was one of the longest in 15 yrs. (I seem to remember last summer was the coldest in 35 yrs) Yes I know Neil... suck it up!

We didn't get a lot of skiing due to the cold but snowshoed quite a bit. We waited till the full "heat" of the day and then hiked up to exposed ridges where the sun was shining. Cedar loves this activity in that we go slower than she does so she can tear around through the bush. She's going to be 12 in Feb and is still going strong.

We took our turn at getting "out" in mid month and travelled to Whistler/Callaghan Valley to ski and watch the World Cup Cross country races. This was the test event for the 2010 Olympics next year. We know we won't be able to go next year so this was our Olympics. The best skiers in the world would be there. We'd get the same effect without all the crowds and security.
We got lucky with the weather as it was above 0C and sunny the whole time we were there. We went from frost bite to sunburn all within a couple for days.

This was our first trip to Whistler in winter so we took our Tele skis and spent a day on the hill. Temps at the top were over +10 so we sweated all day as we were over dressed. Whistler itself is BIG. Even mid week in Jan there were lots of folks on the hill. Snow was Ok as there was no powder due to the weather.
Skiing was OK as well and I'd have to say that Revelstoke is a better hill or at least more intimate.
We did the whole tourist thing and took the new Peak to Peak gondola from the top of Whistler Mtn over to the top of Blackcomb something like 4.4km span with a height of 436m above the ground .
http://ww1.whistlerblackcomb.com/p2pg/
It was impressive but not for the faint of heart as the spans and elevation are huge.
Of course the staff that keep just about every establishment open are from Aus. It was unique to hear an English/Cdn accent. [I know Michelle.....:)]

We spent three days at Callaghan Valley skiing and watching the WC races. The facility itself it quite unique for Canada in that the Biathlon, Cross Country and Ski jumping venues are all close to each other.
Imagine the Canmore Nordic Centre with Biathlon and XC and then add a jumping stadium just off the east end of the XC stadium. It really is quite impressive. The feeling amongst people we talked to was that this may be a white elephant after the games as it is so far from a large population centre (approx 2h from VCR.). Most of the spectators were relatively new to racing, judging from the questions we fielded from people around us. The spectator area is small and apparently the tickets for XC are hard to come by.
We skied the recreational trails and found them to be a bit challenging for beginners as most of the trail system appears to follow creek beds which means, skiing either up the valley or down the valley. We enjoyed the skiing. We skated as we didn't want to mess with warm waxes at +0 temps. It was truly weird skiing with no gloves, hat, wearing only ski pants with no long johns , one layer of long underwear top with no shell after skiing with two layers plus vests, jackets, balaclavas, mitts.

The races, themselves were outstanding. We watched Individual and team sprints as well as the Classic/Skating pursuits. As the host country, Canada got to enter more skiers than normal so some of the younger skiers got to race with the big guns. Young Alex Harvey (Pierre's son), and George Grey got onto the podium in the team sprint an exciting race with an even more exciting finish.

While we were away, the Whitehorse temps went up to +10 (new record high) causing the snow to ice up and roads to get really icy. We arrived home to less snow but warmer temps and a long term forecast of regular temps with daytime highs of -13C, one heck of a lot better than the -30s of the past month.
Of course the snow was iced up so skiing was crappy so we snow shoed and enjoyed the warmth. Luckily the snow followed closely to the thaw and as of this writing we have 2X the normal snowfall. The snow is bottomless though so we have to stick to our established trails. Stepping off the trail gets one up to their ass in snow whether on skis or snowshoes.

Our curling is doing well. The mixed league has changed somewhat in that a few teams are not curling in the second 1/2 as Yukoners seem to go 'out' in Jan/Feb. We have added a new player, a young woman, Maegan, from ON who has curled a lot and now appears to be our third. We have ended up on the B side of our competitive night and still can't seem to find the winning way although we curl well, the others curl really well. Clearly, the new shoes and stabilizer aren't doing their jobs! We still are teaching curling once a week to school kids. There is a really strong School program here. Hugh is coaching, once a week, a 12yr old curling team getting them ready for a March Jr bonspiel.

With the warm weather of Feb. we have been skiing and snowshoeing right out the front door. Our little loop gets lots of use from everyone in the neighbourhood.
We've entered the Managers Air North Challenge at the XC ski club. We have to ski all the 75kms of the ski club's trails in Feb., to be eligible for prizes. It took us 6h skiing on the Mt McIntyre loop with a 2h/1500' rise to the top and a leg burning descent on a skidoo road. Because the is no logical way to ski the trails without repeating some, we figure we've skied 100+km

We also skied downhill at Mt Sima right here in town and had a better day @$29.00 than our $89 time at Whistler. Go figure! We had a fresh dump overnight and skied powder on every run with next to no one else on the runs. We weren't the only Telemarkers on hill either and a lot had AT gear so we know there are folks out there that go into the backcountry once the snow settles in the spring.

February is dog sled race season. We helped out at the Carbon Hill Sled dog race at Mt Lorne in early Feb. It was great to be up close to the dogs and mushers. A lot of these teams race in the Yukon Quest which started on Feb 14. We went into town to see the start. It was -31C but the sun was out as were the spectators.
The race is still on as of right now and everyone follows it.

The Sourdough Rendezvous starts this week as well. We figure it is kind of like the Stampede in that folks dress up in 1890s costumes and there are events all week long. Instead of Family day/ Louis Riel Monday we have Rendezvous Friday as the holiday. We have our outfits, ready to party.



Feb 24/09
We went dog sledding yesterday at Muktuk Kennels. This kennel has 127 dogs. A virtual dog city.
It was really cool to help hook up the dogs then after careful instruction take off onto the Takinini River for a two hr run.
We had six dogs pulling us. Poor bastards had to pull me..... Cheryl and I took turns 'driving' while the other sat in the basket of the sled. They really are well trained but dogs being what they are tend to be a little rowdy and a few fights broke out amongst some dogs on the teams. Not good for the traces. They would be all tangled up and the guide would have to come and sort it all out.
These dogs are small and wiry, not anything like Cedar in size. They were very friendly and are treated with care and respect by the handlers. I've posted some pictures on Facebook and will add them to the Picassa link I posted back in the Fall.

The days are getting longer now and it's only a few weeks until the Equinox. We're gaining 5 ½ m/day so over the course of a week we get an extra 40minutes of daylight. We get quite the opposite feeling of last Fall when we were going the opposite direction. Everyone marvels at the extra daylight. The locals say this happens every year (the marvelling part...).
The snow still keeps coming. We are at approx 2x the normal snowpack. There are fears of localized flooding on some rivers and lakes once spring hits. The snowpack is very similar to the prairies where we used to call it sugar snow. It's very granular like sugar and isn't consolidated. Ski , snowmobile, or walk off the packed trail and you end up floundering. In the mountains, they call this depth hoar which makes for very unstable snow conditions if you try to ski down any slopes. All I know is that I wish I had a snowblower for our driveway. We have to clear 75m of driveway as well as the parking areas after every snowfall. We finally called in a neighbour with a Bobcat to plough out the drive as we couldn't keep up. Even at the ski club we've had to hook up two machines to get another out of the rhubarb after it has slid off the trail while packing.

We've gotten notice from our landlords that they are returning one month early so we'll have to move out for May 1. We of course just extended our renters lease to the end of July in Canmore so we are adrift for three months. We hope to stay up here till the end of July. We have no firm plans of trips so if you are thinking of coming up this way......
Knowing more folks, we may get a house sitting opportunity but what ever happens....
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Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada

Oct 9/08


For us up here, Fall is done. All the leaves have fallen and everything is brown. We have been watching the news from Calgary TV stations and are envious of the great Fall weather. We've had a few snow falls and regular below freezing nights. The daytime temperatures are not melting the ice in the puddles of our driveway and there are remnants of the last snowfall in the bush. I've put the winter rims on the truck as we had one drive home in slush.

We're waiting for Winter however, talking to the locals, the cold will come soon but the snow doesn't always come early. In fact the skiing doesn't get started until well into December which means a long stretch of wondering what to do.

To combat this, we got the City's Fall Active living guide or Recreation calendar and decided to register for a few Fall courses. We found out if one doesn't stay on the phone and hit redial one doesn't get into the courses one wants. By the time we got around to registering all the courses were full so we were out of luck. We went on the wait list for Over 50 Weight Training and they decided to add an extra class.
It turns out the course really is a circuit training type class using dumbbells and exercise balls. I figure I qualify as the former so the course should be a success. Odds are good as I'm the only guy in the class..... :)

The course takes place at the Canada Games Centre which was built for the 2006 Canada Winter Games.
For the folks that know Whitehorse, it is situated at the top of Two Mile Hill right above the Alaska Highway.
This complex would the envy of any city in N.A. There are two hockey rinks, one being Olympic proportions (wider than reg. ice) with an extra ice surface at one end outside the end boards that can be used for public skating even when the hockey rink is being used. When there is public skating scheduled on the large ice surface they open up the end boards and make a huge surface to skate on.
There also are two field areas, one is setup for indoor soccer and the other is a general purpose area both with artificial turf. Upstairs there is a 200+ m running track as well as a weight room/ fitness area with all different types of fitness machines. There also is a large pool with play area and hot tub. There are also meeting rooms, a Physiotherapy area, a coffee shop and a Subway takeout. If you are into inside activity this place would be all you need.
What makes this all nearly perfect is the curling rink with 8 sheets of ice and the Cross country ski area are right up the hill behind the CWG center. These two sports share the same building so we will get to know this area quite well through out the winter.

We have joined the curling club and are curling 2x/week. They started last week.
One league is a mixed league where there are 12 teams and early draws only at 6:45 as we do have 8 sheets to curl on.
The second league is a competitive league. We curl against men's, mixed and women's teams. Our team is Cheryl, myself and two guys. This is an odd combination as the two guys are quite competitive (read, good) and are trying to put together a team for the World Curling tour bonspiel this Nov., here in Whitehorse. One of these guy's, is also attempting to get a team organized to try for the Yukon/NWT Briar spot. No pressure here.....
We are alternating skipping duties and Cheryl skipped and won, last week. This league has 20 teams and we alternate early and late draws.

I've returned to my old roots by joining the short track speed skating club. This is a far cry from freezing my butt and other things off at the old Sargent Park in Winnipeg (now Susan Auch oval). We skate 2 nights a week for 1 ½ h. I originally thought I could just go out to skate around but because we skate on a hockey ice surface I have to take part in the workouts. I also bought new skates which are designed for short track. The boots are even heat moulded and the blades have a bend in them to facilitate turning. I felt pretty awkward the first time out but feel better now. There are two guys my own age with the club who are fit and can skate really well. One of them holds two Canadian masters age class records so it is really great to skate with them and they have been a great help getting me started.
Cheryl has started running again as well as doing Pilates at home using DVDs. I tried to run a couple of times and I just don't think my body likes to run.

Of course we walk Cedar nearly every day out behind out house. The old abandoned White Pass Yukon RR line is 200m from us and there is a lot of bush with all sorts of trails to walk on.

This September we were quite busy. We started off volunteering for the Klondike Road Relay. This road race starts in Skagway at 7:00 pm. The race goes on all night and finishes the next afternoon in Whitehorse. There are ten legs and we helped out at the start of third leg which is at the top of the White Pass summit on the Canada /US border. The teams started arriving at our station at about 9:00 pm and the last team through was at 2:00AM. As it was dark the whole time we had generators to light up the night. We had a set of those huge construction halogen lights up on a 20' pole powered by and diesel genset.
This area is known for dense fog as we were only 20 kms up from the ocean at Skagway, at 3500' elevation. It was quite surreal as the runners would appear out of the fog into the pool of light created by the lights then after the hand off, the next runner would disappear into the night.
We took our camper to the summit and stayed overnight at the pullout along with a few others from our team.

We've found out if you volunteer for enough things you are supplied with logoed shirts and tops to keep you clothed with for a long time. I've received two LS shirts one T shirt and a great Hoodie so far and it's only Oct.
We paddled the upper portion of the Yukon River from Marsh Lake down To Whitehorse with some friends about a six hour trip. It was really nice to get back on the water after all our hiking.

We had our first visitors from down south in Sept as well. Carol and Burke Duncan, friends from Canmore, came up for a week.
We spent the time out hiking, flight-seeing and driving the area.
We did the golden circle which is a drive from Whitehorse, to Skagway taking the ferry across to Haines AK and the up the Haines Hwy through Kluane National Park, to Haines Junction and back to Whitehorse.

Skagway was getting ready to celebrate the end of the Cruise ship season and everything was on sale in the stores. T-shirts for $3.00, Christmas ornaments for a buck, Ball caps for $2.00 all with Alaska or Skagway on them.
We took out truck on the M.S. Malaspina on the hour ride to Haines. Haines had rolled up its sidewalks the previous week as the last Cruise ship on the season had departed. We had supper at the Bamboo Room and stayed at the Captain's Choice Motel.
Haines was another of the jumping off spots for the Klondike Goldrush. It was originally an Army outpost established in response to Sam Steele's NWMP presence on the Chilkoot Trail back in the 1890s. The military pulled out after WWII and tourism, logging and fishing have become the economic mainstays of the town.
This area has a lot of Brown (Grizzly) bears and Bald eagles. The salmon are the reason they hang out here. We saw one bear sitting in the Chilkoot River catching Pinks as they swan by, eating them on the spot. It was like watching pigs feed at a trough; he would finish one fish and then calmly eye the water around his wake in the river and scoop up another. There is a November Bald Eagle Festival where thousands of eagle congregate along the Chilkat River to winter and feast on salmon. We saw eagles on every snag in the river so I wonder how many more will come by Nov.?
As we drove up towards Haines Junction we travelled up into Alpine. It really is weird driving from rain forest coastal to high Alpine in a couple of hours. This highway would be really hard to drive on during a winter storm as it travels along a wide valley surrounded by mountains with few trees to break up the wind.

The mountains and valleys are really different up here. The valleys are much wider and the mountains although tall, don't have steep sides so you can usually find and easy route to the top then you can walk along the ridges for miles.

We spent a night in Haines Junction and like Haines everything has closed up. The Bakery, which we had promised Burke treats at, had closed August 29th!!! The Alaska Hwy going through here is the only reason there is any type of service at all unless you count the odd tourist or mountain climber type. We managed to find only one bar/restaurant open on a Tuesday night. The next morning we hiked the 15 km Auriel Trail in Kluane Park. Lots of bear sign in the way of huge berry filled scat, but thankfully no sightings. We got tremendous views all around us.

After we got back to Whitehorse we took an hour's flight around Whitehorse in a floatplane and got to see the lay of the land from the air. There is a lot of country up here to see and explore! It makes us realize how little of the territory we've seen so far. Let's hope for some great winter ski touring.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hcb/2/1229727900/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hcb/2/1229727900/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hcb/2/1229727900/tpod.html Tue, 20 Jan 2009 13:08:54 -0500 Our Yukon Adventure!

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Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada

Dec/08
I guess this will be our Christmas entry.
We are getting used to the lack of light. It is kind of weird going for a walk at 2:00 pm and having your shadow extend out 50'+. The sun only gets up about 5 degrees above the horizon. Only 13 day to go and the days will be getting longer. The sun is up around 10:00 AM so we don't get it together until 11 to go skiing or into town. We're finding that our area of Wolf Creek although only 10 minutes south of town tends to be 5-10 degrees colder than Whitehorse. This AM (Dec 10) I drove a friend to the airport at 6AM and it was -20 here and when we got to the airport the thermometer on the truck said -10. We appear to be just on the edge of the winds coming down off the mountains from the south. It's not a Chinook wind with the Chinook arch cloud pattern but it does warm up the city. Mt Sima, which is right behind us, has a weather station at the top and the temp is at -7C right now. We have had cold stretches though. I learned the hard way what I used to inherently know in northern Manitoba, 30yrs ago. Be ready for anything! I didn't plug in the truck one night and it went down to -38. Even after I plugged it in for 4 hrs the truck wouldn't go. I had to pull the battery, warm it up inside, charge it, re-install it, all at -38, to get it going.( ever tried to turn a 10mm nut with bare hands?) The battery now has an electric battery blanket around it and the truck gets plugged in every night. I also throw a space blanket over the hood and an old duvet. I also bought a 600 amp battery eliminator to help jump start the truck if all else fails.
We now have been skiing for 6 weeks. Looking at the weather down south skiing is just getting underway in Canmore and Winnipeg. The only drawback of this, is that we may be burnt out on skiing by the end of Jan. To combat this we are heading off to Whistler Callaghan Valley in mid Jan to ski and watch the XC World Cup at the site for the 2010 Games. It won't be a change from skiing but a change of venue. We're assuming Jan will be cold up here so getting 'out' may be a good thing. We are taking out Tele gear so will do a day or so of skiing at Whistler Blackcomb. We've rented a Condo for 5 nights.


After a few weeks of no snow and the snow pack getting thinner, we got new snow. I've been out packing and tracking the ski trails at Mt McIntyre a few more times now. There were 5 of us yesterday, packing the new snow. It was quite a sight, seeing 5 twin tracks staggered out on a trail. This new snow allowed the club to finally bring out the Pisten Bulley which can pack and groom a trail in one pass. That means less snow time on the twin tracks for me but better trail grooming. Most of the trails are wide enough for the big machine but we will still be out after a snow storm packing.
We celebrated my birthday with a ski tour right out or back door around the trail we have been packing and ski tracking for the last 6 weeks. A bunch of friends came over and we skied then came back for mulled wine and munchies. It was one of those good ski days where even though it was cold everyone was dressed for it and we had a great ski. The temperature has now dropped with highs in the -20s and lows of -30s. However, today (Dec 15) it was -42 in Canmore so we are sitting up here smugly at -23.


Our curling is going well. Both our teams are hit and miss in the win column. Some nights we are crap and others we can do no wrong. It's such a mental thing. Our Thurs night league has a lot of good teams. We curled against last years Briar reps for the YT/NWT and actually were in the game. No, we didn't win....We also curled against the Jr women's team that has been to the Cdn Jr Championships. They have a coach that marks every shot they make. They,'high 5', after every shot and are always communicating back and forth. ( 6,6, T line!, hard for line! HARD for line! Hurry girls HURRY...!) We just about beat them and lost it in the last end.
We have also been teaching curling in the school program that goes on every day. We've worked with Gr 1 kids and grade 11s. This program acts as a feeder system for the club. There is an after school program on Thursdays and a more advanced program on Saturdays called little Rockers.

( if you don't curl ignore the next two paragraph as you may nod off )
Both Cheryl and I have started throwing rocks using a stabilizer instead of our brooms,( the kind Dave Nedohin uses). I find my shoulders are square to the broom and I can actually hit the broom more consistently. I also find I'm more stable while I slide and I can concentrate on my weight. Up here I'd say 30% of the folks use them. Now, with our new Asham curling shoes we have higher expectations.....LOL!!!

We also have started to time our rocks. Cheryl has a stopwatch on her broom handle and I use a regular stopwatch. We time, T to hog for draws only, and it has helped in judging weights. I find I have to adjust for the individual style of delivery though as we all seem to throw rocks differently.

After not having gone to a dance other than wedding receptions for many years we went to our second dance in a month called the Senior's Soiree which is a fund raiser for the Hospital fund. The name 'Seniors' gave us pause cause we're not Seniors......yet!
We met at a neighbour's house for drinks and then on to the dance. It was really fun as we had a table of eight and we spent most of the time up on the dance floor doing butterflies and waltzes. It was a fun night and we found we actually knew other people at the dance whom we had met over the summer, so we are starting to feel like we are part of the community.

We now have been 'travelling' for over 6 months. It doesn't seem that long and as the year comes to an end, we've been looking back, thinking how lucky we are. We have great friends at home in both MB and AB.
We've lost one friend and one Father this year. That is more than enough incentive to keep travelling and try something new each day.
We've met a lot of great people in the past year and hope this adventure keeps giving us those experiences.

Have a great holiday season! Let us know how things are in your world.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hcb/2/1227057120/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hcb/2/1227057120/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hcb/2/1227057120/tpod.html Tue, 20 Jan 2009 12:41:49 -0500 Our Yukon Adventure!

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Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada

Nov 2/08
Well October has gone by quickly. Not sure where, but we did start into our winter routine.
At the end of September, we decided that we needed to go back to MB to make sure we had another good visit with Cheryl's Dad. Back in the spring, Alex had been diagnosed with cancer, (multiple Myeloma, cancer of the plasma), and the first round of Chemo was ineffective. Our timing was right. We got home and Alex was in the hospital with pneumonia.
He lasted about 10 days and passed away on Oct 21 two days after his and Donna's 61st anniversary. He was 84. It was a sad time for the family. He was a man with big hands and a bigger heart. I remember how his eyes lit up when we came to visit and Cheryl walked in the door. Cheryl stayed an extra 10 day in Rivers to help her Mom.

I returned to winter. -20 at night with highs of -10. It has snowed up here. It is early for snow but we're skiing already. Rocks skis are need as the packed snow cover just barely covers the ground.
I've signed up to help with the grooming at Mt McIntyre Cross Country area which is right on the edge of town about 15 minutes from home. I spent Tues night out on a twin-track skidoo, packing trails. I had forgotten the lovely smell of 2 stroke engine exhaust! The club tracks and packs trails with these skidoos until there is enough snow to use the big Piston Bully snow groomer. The only problem with grooming is that the club grooms in the evening and early morning 6:30 AM . I'm busy 4 nights/week so there aren't many nights left to groom. I'm not really keen on the early morning start but it is a great way to learn the trails.



I went skiing on Oct 30 so I got more snow time than all of you !!!! I got another ski in on Nov 1 as well. I tell you it's rough getting older. The inside of my thighs are killing me. We got about 2 cms again last night so the snow pack is growing.
The cold weather has its pluses. I went walking with Cedar today and went down a trail that has been flooded by beavers so until it froze we couldn't get too far. On the other side of the swamp is a trail that is perfect for skiing. I was on snowshoes and walked for about 45 minutes until I turned back. There is a sign up on a tree asking for non skiers to stay off so it may be a great local trail right out our back door.
To that end one of our neighbours has a snow machine and a track setter. We went to their place for Thanksgiving and he appears to be quite keen on maintaining trails right out or door or most likely he wants me to do it. Jeez, he must think we retired types have all the time in the world......


Our curling is going well. In spite of our trip 'out' we've managed to get a lot of curling in. Our mixed team is 4 and 1. Our Thurs night team is 3 and 2.
We were lucky enough to get a two hour teaching session with a professional curling coach who coaches Pat Simmons from Saskatoon and a women's team from QC. He coached the Yukon/NWT team at the Briar last year as well. We spent most of our time working on our deliveries using video. Both of us learned a lot and gained confidence in our deliveries. I can actually hit the broom on my Inturns!
We also will be helping out teaching curling to school kids.
Cheryl and I both went to the Asham curling store in Winnipeg and bought new curling shoes. Now we're hot!!!!
The best part of curling is that once the game is finished both teams go upstairs to the lounge and sit around with a drink, chatting. We've met a lot of great people so far. Some are transplants who came up for a visit and never left and others are born a raised here. Everyone is very helpful and pleasant.

The question we've been asked the most from everyone down south is what the sunlight or lack there of is right now.
With the time change the sun rises around 8:45 and sets at 4:45. We're losing around 5 minutes/day
By Dec 21 our time will be 10:10 AM / 3:34 PM, roughly 5.5 hours of sunlight/day. In comparison Winnipeg and Calgary are currently at 7:30 and 5:00 and on Dec 21 8:44/ 4:37 8h of sunlight.

Nov 18/08
Cheryl got back from staying with her Mom early in the month and we've settled into a winter routine. We are getting up later and later as the sun now rises after 9:00 AM. We have coffee and breakfast and get ready to ski, snowshoe or just hang out. We've decided we need rest days so some days all we do is walk the dog.

Our ski trail out back has evolved into a 2.5 h snowshoe or a 1.25h ski. We've packed the trails on snow shoes and then ski in a track. Other than the occasional Snow machine or quad, so far the only other person on the trail appears to be a neighbour who runs on it with about 6 dogs. Not the best but it's not our trail so we'll live with it. We've gone out with a brush saw and taken out deadfall and small bushes that will catch ski tips. There are rocks and as the snow cover is thin we've had to postpone using our neighbour's snow machine to pack. Skiing is still good though and it does give one a sense of satisfaction to clear and pack you own trail. Old time skiing.

We also ski at Mt McIntyre, the local ski trails, where I help groom. I've been out 2 xs to groom. It is certainly cool literally and figuratively grooming in the AM (6:30) and have the sun come up while one the trails. The trails themselves range from flat to challenging race courses. The Whitehorse club hosted a 1981 World Cup here and the trails have since then been upgraded to current race standards. They will be hosting the 2010 Sr. Nationals right after the Vancouver Olympics. We have been skiing the flatter trails as they have the best snow cover in early season. This AM it was -19 with hoar frost everywhere. We skied out and got to a sunny point to soak up some rays. The hoar frost was on every tree and bush. Truly spectacular!!

Our circle of friends is growing. We went out to a friend's acreage about 1/2h from town last W/E for a ski, potluck dinner and sleep over. As part of the deal we went to a barn dance complete with caller at Mt Lorne Rec hall. Live fiddle music, allemande lefts, and all. It really was a laugh. There were about 12 of us so we did create a bit of a stir as the locals wondered who the heck was invading. In true Yukon fashion however, we all were having a great time do si doing and bowing to our partners. We, of course, danced superbly and were the hit of the dance, or maybe it was the wine.... We ended up for a night cap at a house that sits on a south facing ridge overlooking the Watson River. Their view from the huge windows is spectacular. On sunny days, with the huge south facing aspect, they have to shut the heat off even at -35C. On a clear day they can see all the way to Carcross.

They have started blowing snow at Mt. Sima, the local ski hill, which is 5 minutes from here. It may appear funny to have an on-hill snowmaking operation so far north. It's not the cold but the snow cover that is the problem here. We are in the shadow of the coastal mountains and we don't get a lot of snow (or enough to keep good snow cover on a hill). We're not really into DH skiing but it is so close and I'm sure someone will organize a ski day. The temperature is cooperating for them as -20 is optimal for snowmaking and it seems to hover around that temp day and night.

Just as a quick note our return plan date is a moving target. Kevin and Myra have postponed their wedding date from June 09 to ??? so, we've decided to rent our house in Canmore out until the end of July and are planning to stay up here for two more months. This of course may change but now is the time to plan a trip up here. We should be around until the end of July. We won't have a place for you to stay after June 1 though but there are lots a canoe trips to do and rental RVs.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hcb/2/1220379960/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hcb/2/1220379960/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hcb/2/1220379960/tpod.html Tue, 20 Jan 2009 12:33:10 -0500 Our Yukon Adventure!

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Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada

July 23/08: Finally we are into our new digs
Our landlords flew off to Europe yesterday and we promptly moved in.

After living out of our camper for two months it was good to be able to unpack a lot of the stuff we brought.
Funny how you can survive for two months with so few clothes.

After coming back from the Takhini R. we ended up north 1.5h at a cabin on Little Braeburn Lake. Dennis and Margie Peters invited us up for a few days. This is a true cabin in the woods. Jeff Foxworthy in his "you know you are a Redneck when" spiel say that you are one if the directions to your place entail going down a gravel road you are a redneck.... The directions to this place are down the gravel road for 1km, ford the axle deep stream at the bottom of the hill, drive on the Trans Canada trail for 1km, turn right onto the old Dawson trail and go 4km on a single track dirt road.
Originally, the cabin was used for an eco tourism/dog mushing operation. There is the main lodge which sleeps 9-10,a large sauna building and a second cabin. Dennis bought it off the owner and they use it as their cabin in the woods. They are the only ones on the lake. They tell us there is good fishing but we never even got a bite. The lake has grayling, pike, whitefish and lake trout.

The weather has really been poor and most everyone is complaining. Of course, it is what it is, so we adapt.

Aug 1/08
Our new home is outside Whitehorse proper approx 15 minutes from DT. We are on 3 acres in a subdivision called Wolf Creek south of town. The location is great with lots of trees and trails right out the door.
The house is very nice. It has lots of south facing windows with a big kitchen, and open dining area. However the appliances leave something to be desired. I guess our landlords, although nice folks, have a different idea of what constitutes as acceptable for the price we are paying. The appliances are old and so far we are waiting for parts for the dishwasher, and dryer. The Fridge's shelves are held in place with duct tape. At the risk of sounding snobbish this is not up to Canmore standards.
We also have their frikkin cat to look after. We didn't think this was part of the deal so aren't really impressed. Cedar and this feline have yet to meet so we'll see....
We are disappointed with the situation but we really haven't given things much time.

After hanging out waiting to get into the house we realized summer is nearly over up here and so we best get a move on.

The Chilkoot Trail was next:

The trial is managed by The National Parks Service in the US and Parks Canada. It is a cooperative effort between the two. Only Parks Canada charges for the use and runs the reservation system. We called Parks Canada to see if we could get onto the Trail anytime soon (the quota is 50 hikers / day to start) They had an opening in two days time. Not a lot of time but we went for it.

The Chilkoot Trail has a great place in the history of the Klondike Gold Rush of the 1890's.
It was the easiest way for Stampeders to get from the south up into the gold fields of the Yukon. Easy is a relative term. It is 53 km long. The first 26.6 km is UP to 3600', the rest is down.
It really is only a small part of the overall trek that started in Seattle for most Stampeders and ended in Dawson City. It also was the hardest.

The trail starts in Dyea, close to Skagway at sea level. The first two days we hiked up through coastal rain forest. We got to know what hiking in mud is like. When we asked about the weather conditions, we were told that hiking in the forest canopy we would be protected from the rain. We found they were right!
It was damp but comfortable hiking. Shorts, gaiters and a long sleeve T shirt worked rain or shine. We saw the sun 2x in the first three days.

The trail itself is well trodden. The first kms are on old logging and wagon hauling roads which have had over 100 years to degrade and grow back in. Some parts were easy to walk like any sidewalk and other were riddled with rocks to stumble over and of course, mud. It wasn't really all that soggy but we were glad to have good waterproof backpacking boots.
The trail of course, went up. We passed through Finnegan's Point where Pat Finnegan and his two sons laid down a corduroy road over the mud and charged a toll for using it. (the concept worked well in summer but in winter you could walk up the frozen river so the idea died). Our first camp was Canyon City at Km 12.5. Not a long day by backpacking standards but according to my body it was long enough after 4.5h of hiking. (We had also gotten up early in Whitehorse, driven down to Skagway as well as the hike)

Most of the 50 folks who started on the trail that day stayed here. We would get to know these folks quite well over the next few days as we toiled up the mountains. This is not a wilderness trip although we travelled alone; we always were close to someone. There were folks from Nelson B.C., Calgary, Edmonton, Olympia WA, A great group of Boy Scouts from Denver and folks from all over the US.
The mix was very different from our Yukon River trip which was almost all German.
Cedar was a great conversation starter and we got to know most of the people at the campgrounds.
Most of the campsites were full every night. Sheep Camp was overbooked one night.
This camp is the last one before the summit so it is the most heavily used.

The US Rangers give a talk about the trail to the summit and urge everyone to be out of camp and walking by 5:30 AM!!!!!
Cheryl and I got up at 4:00 AM and were off before 5:30 and we weren't the first ones.

Right out of Sheep camp is "The Long hill" which is just that, a long uphill slog to The Scales 3-5h where the Stampeders had their outfits weighed and the ones that could, paid/lb, to get their outfits hauled to the summit. Others hauled their gear up and over the Steps to the summit where they all paid Canadian duties to Sam Steele and his NWMP. Each man had to have 2 yrs worth of food to be allowed into Canada.
This entailed multiple trips up the Steps to the summit.
We made one trip in our special hiking boots, high tech clothing, and backpacks.

Once past the Scales we went UP! The Steps are just that, steps. They are a jumble of rocks that cause you to scramble up using all fours. Modern day Backpacks are not designed for you to climb up with them on your back while you are bent over trying to find a foothold.
I had Cedar in hand so it was even harder. We had to take her dog packs off earlier as she would get hung up on the rocks as she tried to squeeze through gaps along the trail.
I didn't want to let her go as I was afraid she'd have problems finding a route up.
She did a lot of Malamute complaining as I boosted her up over a few gnarly spots.
Along the route lay remnants of the Gold rush. There are huge steel cables which were used in the overhead tramways to haul gear over the summit. It is so hard to believe that the Rush lasted less than 4 yrs and it was done by 1899.

We made it up to the Summit 1h after we started.
We were very lucky with the weather as it was overcast; threatening rain, but we had no low clouds or fog.
If it's foggy, the route is very well marked at Alpine with markers so if you are fogged in you wait until you can see the next marker and then move on. We were able to move quickly and made it to the top with no wind. We stopped at the summit and had lunch at around 10AM.
The views from the top were outstanding. We could see all the way back down the valley we had just ascended and all the way down into Canada past Crater Lake.

The Canadian side still had a lot of snow and is in stark contrast to the US side. The US side of the Trial is essentially lush rain forest and the Cdn side is alpine. Bleak rock and ice predominate.
We hiked down from the summit on snowfields, making great time. The sun came out and we were hiking in T-shirts by the time we arrived in Happy Camp, 7.5 h after leaving Sheep Camp.
It was a long day but truly worth the effort. All our new friends in the group made it and some even travelled on to Deep lake Campsite another few kms down the Trail.
Cedar has become the main attraction and folks would come by our tent to chat and see how she had done on the climb.
Next AM we are up and off to Lindeman City where there is a tent museum of the Chilkoot trail.
We were warned about bears so we made lots of noise along the way.
Arriving at the campsite we are warned not to camp at the upper campground because of bears.
We set up at the lower area by Lake Lindeman. What a pretty place. Clear water and a dry flat campsite.
Most of our group move on to the next campsite (Bare Loon Lake) 1.5h further on so they can be closer to the end of the trail at Bennett. They want to be sure of catching the train at noon.

We spend a peaceful night with two other tents in the campground. In the AM, as we are getting packed at the shelter and have all our food spread out, a lone black bear comes calling. A bit of shouting and one bear banger later we persuaded Mr Bear to move on.

The rest of the hike into Bennett was great on relatively flat and well maintained trails.
We arrived in time for our train back to Skagway and as we walked down the last hill to the station all the folks we had walked with over the past few days came out to see us and Cedar.
This trip is wilderness but not solitary. We were on the trail with 50 others within a few hrs of each other.
The trip is really a trip down the history of the Chilkoot Trial.

We were lucky on the trip back to Skagway. We (hikers) had a whole train (3 cars) to ourselves. It probably was a good thing as we were used to our smells but I'm sure the average cruise ship tourist who had a shower in the AM wouldn't have appreciated our scent.

If the hike would be considered main course, the train ride back down to Skagway was for me, the dessert.
I love trains, and riding on a narrow gauge rail line that was completed in 18 months back in 1898-99 on some pretty hairy mountain slopes was a treat.
I spent the whole trip outside on the last car taking pictures of the mountains, the tunnels, the huge river gorges and taking in the whole downhill ride back to Skagway. Uncle Ed Guest would have been right there beside me.

We returned to Whitehorse and got ready to head off to Juneau AK to see our Canmore neighbours and good friends Carole and Glenn Nelson. They are celebrating their 25th this year and were taking an Alaska Cruise. They had 8hr in Juneau so we decided to join them.
We headed back down to Skagway and caught the ferry to Juneau. The trip is about 5.5h long so it was a real treat to get to the ocean and not have to drive.
Along the way we saw a pod of Humpback whales bubble net feeding on herring. One whale would dive under the school of fish, circle around under them, blowing a stream of bubbles. The bubbles create a net effect grouping the fish together. The rest of the Whale pod would swoop in and grab a mouthful of fish.
It was a very impressive site as from a distance all you could see was a large disturbance on the water and as you get closer you can see individual whales swimming and diving. We saw this both going and coming back.
Juneau itself is a beautiful city. It's stretched out along the coast for 20 miles. The Coast Range of mountains comes right down into the ocean so there is not a lot a places to build unless it's on the water.
The Mendenhall Glacier is 20 minutes away and is a very impressive sight to have in one's backyard. The Sockeye salmon and Chums were running as well so we got to see spawning salmon minutes out of the ocean.
We met Glenn and Carole on a rainy morning and had a great time catching up and doing the tourist thing taking tour buses around town and out to the Glacier.
We ended up in the Red Dog Saloon for beers, ate Dungeness Crab, and really enjoyed seeing someone from home.

We got back to Whitehorse and got ready for our next trip.
We went sheep hunting with the Peters clan. This was a family trip with Margie, Dennis, and kids: Katie, Ali and Maria.
The plan was to go out to a river near town paddle down it a bit, stash the canoes and hike up the mountains with 6 days of food and gear. We were to base camp so only had to hike up to alpine and set up camp.
We thought this would be easy as we had just hiked the legendary Chilkoot Trail!
So you know the TV show; 'Are you smarter than a fifth grader' ? Perhaps it should be 'Are you fitter than a 10 yr old' ? We thought we'd be fitter than the 10 yr old, Maria.
How wrong we were.
The jaunt up the mountain over hill and dale, through the woods past Grandma's house, only took 7.5h!
Dennis had warned us is would be slow because of the kids. Little did he realize we needed the slow pace.

We found a great campsite in an alpine valley with lots of sheep terrain all around. We are hunting Dall Sheep who like to hang out WAY UP on cliffs. So where do you go to get them?...Way up on the mountains. Everyday we would take off and look for sheep. The prerequisite for hunting is a good set of binoculars and lots of patience. We hike, stop scan the rocks and hike again. We'd be sweating, freezing, and panting hard all within ten minutes as we scrambled over the mountains. Some nights we get back at 8pm eat supper, and hit the sack.
One day, we did get close enough to some legal rams for the Dennis and his 12 yr old Ali to do a 'stalk'. They crawled through the rocks to get closer to the Rams wearing white painter's coverall which lull the sheep into thinking they are seeing other sheep.
This all took two hrs while the rest of us hunkered down in the wind, hugging rocks and tried to be quiet.
They got close to one ram for a shot but unfortunately missed.
We covered a lot of country on our hikes and had a lot of laughs with these kids. We learned a lot of riddles quizzes, songs and games. Example: What's the difference between Pea Soup and Roast Beef ?........ Answer: Anyone can roast Beef!!!! ......

The hike out was a mere 4.5 hrs, mostly downhill, with no food in our packs. No sheep, but great memories of a camping trip.

While all this was going on, the Olympics have been taking place. We rented a DVR player from the cable company so I was able to 'tape' most of the week's events while we were away. Got to get me one of these things when we get back.
We've spent a lot of time watching Beijing 2008 and really enjoying the CBC coverage.

In the past week Fall has struck. Aug 9 was our first frost -5 in the AM. The fireweed is changing and if you look up onto the mountains around town there is a riot of reds and oranges. We are losing 5m 30s/day of sunlight. Got to get firewood in and start thinking about what to do this winter. We've got skis, curling stuff and all our winter clothes. We're just not ready to give up just yet.

Aug 26
Still raining after 10 days. Not hard, but just enough to screw up a day outside. It's also been cool with highs of +15 being a heat wave. The colours are changing big time and of course school is just about back in.
We've collected almost a cord of firewood off the property here just by cutting standing deadwood.
We've also had the wood stove on a few nights as well. I've ordered a couple of cords from someone as well. I hope it is enough.
Our house is heated by an oil monitor and electric baseboards in the basement bedroom area. There is no central forced air system.
As there is no heat source on the upper level other than the wood stove, the oil monitor which is situated at the bottom of the steps on the lower level is supposed to heat the upper level. We'll see how it goes.

We've built Cedar a wire kennel to the west of the house, using stucco wire strung between trees and a few old pieces of chain link fence. She now has a kennel that is approx 30'x20'. I just have to build her a dog house. She likes being in it so we will feel better when we are away if she is in the kennel rather than just tied up at the door.
We still have the cat. Nickel just about has Cheryl trained. We let him out at night and around 4:00AM he meows at the outside bedroom door and Cheryl gets up to let him in. I'm all for letting him stay out but the meowing gets annoying. Cedar and Nickel have met. Cedar comes in and if Nickel is on the couch he just stay there until there is a chance to dash to the basement. He doesn't seem to bother Cedar too much as she tends to look the other way when the cat is around. Cedar did give the cat the bums rush off the 10' high deck one day.
Nickel does like to sit on our laps and snooze so I'm sure there will be times, this winter, when they will have to occupy the same space.

Sept 1/08
The weather has broken and we now have sun.
We went hiking on the Labour day W/E. A short ½ h drive to Fish Lake and a 40 minute hike got us to Alpine. Access time is not unlike Canmore, but alpine here is at 4300' and once at Alpine, you can walk along ridges forever.
We started hiking at 9:30 and saw only one other hiker. We walked along ridges and enjoyed the fall colours. We were congratulating ourselves on being up north and not seeing other folks, until as we started back down the trail! We met probably 25 other hikers most with dogs or kids. Even when we got to the parking lot at around 2:30 it was full of folks getting ready to hike.
So much for the isolation.

I've woven pictures into the blog but if you want more..... here is a link that has the best of our summer's pictures. I will be adding to this link as the year goes bye.
Link to photos http://picasaweb.google.com/hughb123/YukonPics?authkey=BcKcal9Khbc
You may have to cut and paste this link as I don't think it's active on this page.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hcb/2/1215886080/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hcb/2/1215886080/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hcb/2/1215886080/tpod.html Tue, 02 Sep 2008 14:26:26 -0400 Our Yukon Adventure!

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Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada

July 11, 2008

Canada Day was a rainy affair but Dawson put on the parade complete with EMS,Fire, Police Red Serge Mounties, Diamond Tooth Gerties float and a bunch of kids on bikes throwing candies..Not unlike Canmore or Snow lake's CD parades.

We ended up at Kathy Webster's house for a BBQ. Kathy a retired teacher,is the Dawson coordinator for the Yukon River Quest. I really was great to sit in her living room by a wood stove and hear what life is like in Dawson.

The next AM we set of over the Top of the World Highway for Alaska. This hwy is to most northerly road connecting Canada with USA. The road winds along the top of mtn ridge tops for 60km in Canada to the border. Very spectacular views in that instead of looking up at mtns you are looking down into valleys from the top. At the border the road goes from fair to poor and the next 60km to Chicken AK is terrible.
Gravel with huge potholes 30kph top speed caused our poor camper to vibrate over the road.
We ended up in Chicken AK for lunch as does almost everyone who travels this road. The name chicken is because they couldn't figure out how to spell ptarmigan so the story goes.

From there we traveled on to Tok (sounds like poke) AK. We stayed in a State park which was a relief from the RV park we stayed in Dawson. Quieter and way more room.

We headed down to Valdez on the coast. We didn't really plan this part but the drive down to the coast was worth it. The Richardson Highway is the oldest in AK. It's 384m from Valdez to Fairbanks. It began as a pack route for the goldrush back in the 1890's. The highway passes by the truly spectacular Chugach and Wrangell-St Elias mtns! Along the way, the salmon are running in this area so every salmon stream had a bunch of people fishing at the bridges.
Valdez is a true fishing/coastal/mtn town. 1964 saw it wiped off the map by a Tsunami after an earthquake just up the coast. The town has been rebuilt on bedrock not much higher than before but the original site was on gravel so it vibrated and sank into the ground during the quake.
The Pinks were running and most folks couldn't believe we weren't there to fish. The conversation would start with: "Where you from?, Been fishin'?", " No", "Oh,.....have a nice day"
The mtns come right down to the ocean all around and there still is a ton of snow up high. The Worthington Glacier in Thompson Pass, is just above Valdez and comes down close to the highway. Up we saw lots of fresh ski tracks on the sides. This area has recorded up to 5' of snow in a 24h period.

We sent a couple of days in Valdez. Cheryl took a boat cruise out onto Prince William Sound while I dog sat. The tour took her out to the Meares Glaciers and Columbia Glaciers. Both the glaciers calve off into the ocean. She got to see growlers (chucks of ice) floating along with sea otters, sea lions, seals, humpback whales and dolphins. It was the first day of commercial fishing for Pink Salmon, so the bays were full of fishing boats pulling in nets.
As it was the 4th of July Independence Day I went downtown and watched the parade. Not much different from what we're used to. Police, Fire, EMS boy scouts, kids on bikes, throwing candy just a little longer than the Dawson parade. The biggest difference is the fireworks. Just about everyone seemed to have some sort of explosive devices.
The biggest problem is that even at 11:00 pm it's not dark. The town's display had lots of percussion type works. Big bangs, but a lot of the beauty was lost due to the daylight. The echoes off the mtns were something though.

We made our way back towards YT and ended up in Beaver Creek. The weather had turned so we decided to head for Whitehorse. We drove by Kluane Nat Park in the rain and will have to save it for another trip. The roads along here were in rough shape as the permafrost beats them up. Because the traffic NW of Whitehorse is 85% American going to AK, the US Gov't has pledged $265Million to help with the work. There is lots of construction to upgrade the roadbed so we sent a lot of time waiting for pilot cars to get us through.

We are now back in Whitehorse, house sitting for friends waiting to move into our "home' on the 23rd. My driver's license arrived in the mail so Cheryl doesn't have to do all the driving. (there is a long version of this story about poor timing and bureaucratic BS). I think Cedar will like being in one spot for a while. I know we will.

We weren't back more than two hours and we had an invite to go paddling on the Takhini river with Dennis and Margie Peters (mutual friends of Jim and Michelle Wiebe). They were taking their three kids out to do some intro whitewater paddling. We headed out a day later to paddle the "rock garden" and the "Jaws of Death". We paddled for two days with them, doing eddy turns, front and back ferries and surfing waves.
The Takhini, is very much like to Bow R. around Lake Louise a bit larger but the same sort of flow.
The water level was high so when we got to the aforementioned "Jaws of Death" the waves were bigger than Dennis had ever seen.
Nothing really dangerous but big standing waves and a right hand turn with the eddies at the bottom washed out. After looking closely, we lined down RR and went on our way. The flow has changed here in the last few years a new channel has appeared and the RR channel has most of the water. At lower levels this is a great play spot and being only 1h from Whitehorse, is a good spot to paddle.

We've done a bit of hiking trying to get our legs in shape to hike the Chilkoot Trail. We're aiming for mid August. We hiked up Grey Mountain which is right beside town yesterday. Cedar almost had a run in with a very large porcupine. Luckily I saw it just as she stuck her nose out to sniff this big pincushion.

We are slowly getting to know Whitehorse. There is a farmer's market on Thursdays and there is a daily vegetable and fruit stand downtown. I know where the Yukon Brewing Company store is J.
We've scoped out the vet's office and pet food store. I have to get a tree cutting permit so we can have firewood for the winter. Dennis Peters has offered to show me the good spots for wood.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hcb/2/1214788500/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hcb/2/1214788500/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hcb/2/1214788500/tpod.html Sat, 12 Jul 2008 13:48:24 -0400 Our Yukon Adventure!

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Dawson City, Yukon, Canada

June 26/08
Well chalk one up for us old folks. We hiked to the top on Midnight Dome 1.5h UP!, for the Solstice. And then down. The old quads were screaming two days later.
The sun goes down below the horizon for approx 1.5hrs at 12:30 AM. We hiked up with two Swiss folks we met here in Dawson. Barbara and Daniel have chucked it all and are traveling the world. We think we've made a big step to move to the YT, but these two sold everything and are traveling the world!

We took off to the Dempster Hwy the next AM and drove up to Tombstone Campground.
It's only 70 km up the hwy but it might as well be another world. We camped there for 4 nights and hiked right from the campsite. Because of the daylight you can wait all day for the rain to clear and then hike in the evening. We were able to get above tree line in about ½h walk, up of course, but once we got up on the ridges you could see forever and walk along almost any ridge. Only 3km further up the road and through a pass the tundra opened up before us. We saw Caribou and the biggest Moose I've ever seen! There was a Grizzly close to our campsite the night before we got there but we are somewhat used to this from Canmore. What a great place. There were quite a few people driving all the way to Inuvik. Lots of folks on motorcycles. Lots of BMWs Lorna. Mostly the GS 1200 the big brother to your 650 (I think that is the model that Fred our neighbour has).
We've got to get back here for autumn which in these parts is early Sept. The colours are spectacular. Anyone want to join us???

We're now back in Dawson waiting for the finish of the Yukon River Quest. Cheryl and I are helping out at the finish line on Friday and Sat. For this we get T shirts and a steak dinner!!!!
We're planning our next move but it's so nice here we may stay for Canada Day and then trundle off to the Alaska on the Top of the World Hwy spend July 4 there, then get back to Whitehorse.
Of course our digs become available July 23 but we also have the opportunity to house sit for Cheryl and Dick Smith from July 7th. Lots of things to do up here. The Atlin Music Festival is coming up in July and we may make our way down there for it.

Living out of our camper is pretty good. I thought it would be a pita but so far everything has gone well.
We did have lots of bugs up on the Dempster but our new add a room tent which was designed to attach to our camper works great. Cedar sleeps inside it and we had a great bug house to sit in. Of course the warm weather in Dawson has made it easy. I keep looking at the forecast for Whitehorse and we think staying up here is a good thing. I doubt we'll feel this way in the winter as they still get -50.
Our 4 nights at Tombstone was the longest stretch we have camped dry without benefit of power. I hooked up our 20W solar roll to the battery and we had no power issues. The biggest draw on the electrical system is the fan that cools the 3 way fridge when it is on propane. There are always the usual draws on the system like the radio and gas detectors. We really haven't had a chance to see how long we can go but the 22h of sunlight certainly must help to charge the battery.

June 29 We've just come back from visiting the paddlewheel graveyard on river left downstream of Dawson/ There are probably 6 old paddlewheelers pulled up on shore rotting into oblivion.
Kind of sad to see part of our recent history of the Yukon sitting and being forgotten.

Cheryl and I spent the last three days helping with the Yukon River Quest. http://yukonriverquest.com/
The top team finished the 750 km from Whitehorse to Dawson City in < 40h approx avg speed of 18kph Yikes!!!! That's FAST!!!! By way of comparison we did the same route two weeks ago in 9 days of paddling and perhaps 54h of effort on the water and the guide books suggest 14 days is a good time.

We worked at the finish and we helped racers out of their boats after they'd finished. Some were in bad shape and had to be lifted. Others bounded out of their boats. One guy I helped, stood up in his Kayak, stepped up on the deck in front of his seat, and fell over backwards into the Yukon. He was truly out of it!
His reaction reminded me of the 60's which I wasn't there for......LOL We talked to people who hallucinated. One guy saw a floating log which he swore called him by name!
We sat with the Kayak solo female winner at the banquet today. Ingrid, who I assume is in here 60s said she was paddling by a dock on the river with a boat pulled up. She saw a woman standing there and waved to her. She swore she received a return wave so in spite of being in a race, pulled over to chat. Turned out it was a broom with a rag attached stuck at the end of the dock.
I asked Cheryl if she wanted to do this race with me and I've decided I'd rather stay married......

Canada Day is coming up and we've been invited to a bit of a house party at the home of a retired teacher who was the race coordinator for the finish of the race. We're looking forward to meeting more 'locals'
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