Category Archives: First Person

Big Changes/Little Notes on the road to the Yukon

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Another WiFi opportunity will not be wasted here on the way to the Yukon. We’ve crossed over two important markers on the way north:

1. We’ve left the forests of hemlock and Douglas fir and cedar and crossed over into the more open forests of black and white spruce and aspen. It’s a big change. These forests support moose and caribou and LOTS of bears.

2) we have moved from the Pacific watershed to the Arctic watershed. All water flows to the Arctic ocean now.

We really wanted to go to the Grand Canyon of the Stikine, another huge river we hardly know about. BUT, we didn’t think the little trailer could take the trip on that rough, steep road. 18 to 20 percent grades. Ouch. Wise to avoid, I think.

It’s colder. We saw an excellent glacier. Bear glacier. And there is more sunlight. We are too late in the year for midnight sun, but there’s not much darkness anymore.

We are out of fire danger for now and having our first campfire. It’s primal. Humans evolved around the fire. There’s nothing else like it. Give us something flickering, even a candle, and we are hooked.

Noticed: there are not many generators going in the campgrounds, but there are lots of solar panels. Our rig has solar panels and they work great. We always have enough power, but then again, we don’t use much in our tiny trailer.

Next update at the next wifi.

Bear Glacier near Stewart

Report from the Road

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The problem with telling all 3 of your blog followers that they can follow along on your trip to the Yukon is that there’s hardly ever any cell coverage! Here’s a report from the road.

What we’ve seen:

Forests. So beautiful. Joy bringing! We’ve moved from the forests on Vancouver Island to the true boreal forest in all of its vastness. Such joy! And it’s complicated joy interspersed with the grief of ragged clear cuts scarring the mountainscapes and one close encounter with a fire. It burned on one side of the highway while on the other side, right beside us, a water bomber loaded up from the mighty Skeena River. There were lots of fire fighting personnel there. We should all be grateful to them.

Whales. So. Many. Whales. We took the inside passage to Prince Rupert and saw so many whales we lost count. Mostly humpback. I would say they were cavorting. Out there having fun. I am so happy to see them. Their presence is a good sign for the health of our oceans. If you like the whales too, write to Mr. Carney to tell him that his new legislation that allows him to override SARA (Species at Risk Act) in order to speed through major (industrial) project approvals will likely kill whales on the west coast, especially the orca.

Mountains. They’re getting higher. We see snow up there now. We’ll be visiting a the shrinking Bear Glacier near Stewart along the way. It used to reach the highway, but not anymore. There is so much evidence of climate change here. It is as inescapable as the heat all over the world.

Totem poles. We were in a village full of totem poles. Gitanyow. Amazing. Spooky.

Quiet. It’s so quiet. As I say that I’ll make it a lie by saying I hear owls at night. I hear the flapping wings of birds. I hear birds call and others from some distance away call back. I wonder what they’re talking about? Every once in a while, I’ve heard little kids laughing so hard—a fantastic sound. And I love the sound of rain at night.

Fishing. Although so far my record is terrible, I still love it and my casting is improving.

Rivers. I had no idea how big the Skeena is. It makes me realize that Canada is so big, there are massive rivers we barely know about.

The trailer is working out great. All of my new storage tricks are great. Three cheers for command hooks!

My new saying is, “when you’re towing a trailer, you’re always close to home.”

Here are a couple of random pics. I’ll post again.

Great campgrounds

Mosquito Mania

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It’s a bad year for mosquitoes, especially in the Yukon.

The biggest mosquitoes I’ve ever seen in my life were in Watson Lake, Yukon. We arrived there in the VW Camper sometime in 1993, our daughter still tiny, and had to set up camp without any of us getting eaten alive. The air was thick with them and we sat inside our van making a plan. We had the handy “Pack & Play” playpen which we usually popped our kiddo into to keep her safe while we got organized, but this time, we had to absolutely cover the playpen with mosquito netting. I joked they could carry her away. We’ve never moved so fast. When we were ready to bring her back inside the van, we did a rock/paper/scissors to see who would go out in the swarm.

She did not have a single bite. A proud parenting moment indeed.

Fun fact: I recently learned that caribou behaviour is very much determined by mosquitoes. Like us, they want to get away from them. That’s why they hang out on ridges where the wind might give them some relief.

Another fun fact: The best advertisement ever created in my opinion was for Off. Remember the bare arm in the clear cage swarming with mosquitoes? That poor arm. But then, the arm goes back in, this time, sprayed with off and … voila! They don’t bite! They don’t even light!

FYI: My husband likes to claim that his uncle Jim was the man with his arm in the cage, which is hilarious and I’m not saying if it’s true. But try making the claim if you need to liven up a social situation or are playing “Two Truths and a Lie.” It’s a good one. (But which is it? A truth or a lie?)

DEET is allegedly okay to use says a recent NYT article. People worry that it causes cancer or whatever, but the worst thing about it seems to be the smell. Says the expert in the article: “The whole point of smelling unpleasant is you’re not the only one that thinks that….Insects do, too….That includes other bugs like ticks, fleas and biting flies.” The risk of insect borne illness is probably worse than the risk of DEET. In a nut shell, says the article, don’t use more than recommended, don’t spray it in your eyes or mouth and definitely don’t swallow it.

DEET does smell terrible and also leaves my skin kind of sticky. Between that and the sunscreen and not knowing when my next shower might be, it all gets a bit much. So I tend to spray it on my clothes instead of directly on me, especially on my hat. But DEET is no match for Yukon mosquitoes. I know this already. So I have the suit. I will be a kind of superhero in it, repelling mosquitoes.

By the time I come home, I imagine my mosquito suit is likely to have been enhanced by duct tape. It will get increasingly ridiculous. But I believe in the mosquito suit. My suit will protect me. I’ll repeat it like a mantra.

Behold me in my glory!

Me in a mosquito net suit.

Me Mosquito Free

Biking to Beat the Bus

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*Update June 13–We beat the bus yesterday! It was a glorious blue sky perfect day and the ride was really fun!*

My wonderful bike group which is part of Victoria Grandmothers 4 Africa, is putting our pedals to the test to race the commuter bus to Langford this Friday. We aim to beat the bus.

Better Transit YYJ put the battle together, and their goal is to show that the Langford Express bus is too slow for various reasons and that changes need to be made to speed it up, like back door boarding to the bus and dedicated bus lanes.

But my goal is different. I aim to prove that a bunch of granny-aged women can get to Langford on their bikes faster than commuters can on the bus. Why would I want to do this? Because it will encourage others to bike! Because biking is great! Because it means less carbon emitted and quite possibly more fun had. Would you rather be sitting on a hot crowded bus with the fumes of commuter traffic all around you or on a bike with the wind in your hair and the sun on your face?

For me, the challenge is extra meaningful. The past couple of years of health crises, a grand total of three open heart surgeries, one additional heart surgery, and the removal of half of one of my lungs has left me diminished, but still standing, still walking and still riding. This might truly be a case of if I can do it, you can probably do it too.

And by the way, VG4A is in the midst of our annual fundraiser for the Grandmother to Grandmother campaign with the Stephen Lewis Foundation. If you want to support this great cause, here is the link to donate!

Two Against the North

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I’m reading northern stories. Yesterday it was Farley Mowat’s, “Two Against the North.” There are lessons in “Two Against the North,” a whole survival course and more.

Two boys on a hunting trip lose their way in the Barrenlands of Northern Manitoba just as the Arctic winter is beginning. It’s a rip-roaring adventure tale, and as you can see by the “Scholastic Canada” label on the cover, one often taught in schools. It’s a particularly good story for reluctant young readers and is hard to put down even for a grown up.

Cover of Farley Mowat’s Two Against The North.

Here’s hoping Rob and I aren’t “two against the north” on OUR journey, and if it ever feels like this, I’ll try to remember the harrowing tale of Awasin and Jamie. I’m glad we won’t be there in the winter!

The moral of the story comes when Jamie realizes that all of their troubles started when they tried to fight against the winter and the Barrenlands. Awasin says to Jamie, “If you fight against the spirits of the north you will always lose. Obey their laws and they’ll look after you.”

An important lesson.

We settler folks have been fighting against the land throughout our short history on it. Extraction, overuse, neglect—it’s a sad story that has left all of us poorer and now, in grave danger.

I was reading yesterday in “What If We Get It Right,” that “Indigenous people (less than 5% of the world’s population) manage or have rights to around 25% of the world’s land area, which is home to about 80% of the Earth’s remaining biodiversity.” (P. 371) That is impressive and certainly no accident. Indigenous people know how to care for the land and have been doing so for millenia. We (settlers) have managed to wreck it in just a few centuries.

Yet, we settlers still haven’t grasped that Indigenous people have a track record that would make them our best teachers.

Beyond our history of genocide, we continue to try to ignore and bypass them to create more and more extractive enterprises. PM Mark Carney is currently being accused of a lack of consultation with Indigenous leaders as he moves forward with his so-called “major projects.” All that consulting might slow him down, and we all know, it’s full steam ahead. “Progress” at all costs. The success and strength of Canada demands it. It’s our patriotic duty…blah blah blah.

Is it? Wouldn’t it be better to slow down, do it right, maybe even do something else?

It’s sheer hubris to ignore Indigenous leadership and knowledge and that hubris comes from racism.

Maybe Mr. Carney should read “Two Against the North.”

What if all tourism is disaster tourism

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I wrote a post last week about how the Westminster Hotel in Dawson City burned down and that got me thinking about tourism and disaster tourism. Last night I had an odd thought: what if all tourism now is disaster tourism?

The world is changing so fast. We are in the grips of a climate catastrophe. Maybe everywhere we go and everything we want to see is a “see it now before it’s gone,” situation or a “see what happened to it,” situation. I don’t know. But I’m thinking about it. Maybe the very idea of disaster tourism has to be expanded to include how we add to the disaster through our carbon-propelled travel.

And yes, I can think about this even while planning a driving trip to the Yukon. Maybe BECAUSE I’m planning a driving trip to the Yukon I should be thinking about it more than ever.

You may have noticed that I edit pretty freely on blog posts even after I’ve published. Many people would call that cheating. I say, “It’s my blog and I can do whatever I want with it.” I clean up typos and rearrange ideas for clarity after the fact. Usually I would just add new thoughts to the post that it is related to. Just sneak them in there. Blog posts are like first drafts for me. They are thinking out loud. I forget anyone is reading, and when someone mentions a post to me I am often shocked.

But it works for me. So thanks for listening in on my thoughts. You might be watching me write a book of essays.

Maybe.