Category: Yukon
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Backcountry style
September 6-7 I did a fair bit of hiking on this trip. Unlike hiking back home, all of Yukon is bear country and so I’ve had to mentally prepare myself for the eventuality that I would find myself face to face with a bear. I have bear spray but that is only used in certain…
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Stepping into the Yukon cathedral
September 3-5 After a quick overnight in Whitehorse to swap out my enormous SUV for something more economical and to replenish my supplies, and to eat an enormous dinner at the very popular Klondike Rib and Salmon restaurant that looked like THIS: I headed west to Haines Junction in the foothills of the towering St.…
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Dawson City or bust
August 30-31 My return trip down the Dempster went without a hitch – mostly. I managed to make the entire trip up and back without a flat tire, a fairly common occurrence on that slate gravel road. The only issue was my ongoing misfortune with the weather. Cloud and rain followed me for much of…
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As the raven flies
I forgot to mention in my last blog post a great little story from my second night at Tombstone Park. I was making dinner in the common kitchen shelter (which, by the way, was fully enclosed and contained a kick-ass wood burning stove that kept the shelter toasty warm and its occupants dry) when a…
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The end of the road
When I was 12 years old, my parents gave me a Readers’ Digest Road Atlas of Canada. It was supposed to be a Christmas present but Mom tucked it away in a closet after receiving it in the mail and then forgot to give it to me. Months later, as my birthday approached, she stumbled…
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A word about the people who made it happen
When I tell people that I volunteer on Habitat for Humanity builds, the next question I usually get is whether work gives me time off or do I use vacation time. When I tell them it’s the latter, I usually hear how wonderful a person I must be or how extraordinary it is for taking…
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Final thoughts on the build
Apologies for the long delay in providing news. I’ve been in the back country of Yukon and NWT where cell service is non-existent. And for some reason, my first world urban brain can’t comprehend why a campsite 150km from the nearest town doesn’t have wifi!!! Also, a few of you have mentioned that there’s a…
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It’s all about foundation
Today we completed the third day of the build – all foundation work. Foundation construction is not glamourous. It’s slow and tedious, requiring copious amounts of gravel, wooden forms, placement of “poly” (plastic sheeting) and rebar and the checking and rechecking of measurements and levelness. The space you see in the photo is for four…
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Intro to Champagne and Aishihik First Nations
Today was the first official day of activites for our Habitat for Humanity team since gathering in Whitehorse yesterday. Today was our “orientation” which took us out of the city to Champagne and Aishihik territory to the west. Our first stop was about 20 minutes from the city so that our local host could show…
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Hello from Klondike country!
I arrived In Yukon on Wednesday and will be here for the next three weeks. It was late afternoon when I landed in Whitehorse so I spent my time walking around town. I stumbled upon their food truck festival and enjoyed some really good poutine! Thursday I was up and out the door early to…
sedativegunk 