Fall happenings!

  Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada
Thursday, October 9, 2008

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.

Our house in WH

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

White Pass summit

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. 

The way to travel

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. 
 

Carcross Railway bridge

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

the brown bear and the eagle

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.

Carol and Burke on the Auriel Trail Kluane

 
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.

Cheryls Flight