Today is the first day in over three months that we’ve seen rain in the Yukon. I woke up to the blessed sound of it pattering softly on the plywood and plastic of my hut, then closed my eyes, rolled over and, for the first time in many, many weeks, went back to sleep.…
Or if you’re looking for a more badass name: Climbing “Thya-chul”. So I should probably start off by explaining this title. A few weeks ago the crew went to the Kluane Research Station, about 20 minutes down the road from Squirrel Camp, for our weekly game of rugby. As fate would have it, about 5…
As I write I am sitting in the sun in the front of my hut, soaking up the warmth and watching the lazy buzz of a few fat flies. It’s 11° C (50° F), the warmest day we’ve had yet, I think, but there’s a cool breeze on the air and in the distance I…
“I’m a glass half-full, mud half-dry kind of person.” –Naomi Louchouarn It’s been two weeks since I’ve last written. In truth there hasn’t been much new to say or much Internet with which to say it. Life rolls on here as it ever does, a place where time has no meaning and hours roll…
It’s hard to believe we’ve now been here a month. Sickness and exhaustion have taken their toll and kept my writing to a sad minimum. Even my daily journal entries have taken a hit, with gaps of three to five days between entries and long full pages of rushed writing to fill in…
It’s a strange feeling, disappearing from one side of the country and appearing on the other in a matter of hours, a very different experience from this time last year, making the 7-day drive across plains, mountains, and frozen lakes. In some ways I would give anything to be making that drive again. I’m not…
July 18, 2014 It has now been over four and a half months since I arrived in Squirrel Camp on the first of March. Sitting here at 10 am on a Friday morning listing to Jian Ghomeshi hosting Q on CBC radio it is hard to believe that when I first got here we would…
June 15, 2014 Today we were up at around 10 am again. So late but it has felt so good not to set an alarm! I always seem to regret it a bit later but at the time it’s so nice just to relax and take it easy and not have any schedule at all. After…
June 14, 2014 We are in Tombstone tonight, camping by a lovely little stream and trying to boil water over an open campfire. What a long, pain-staking task. Now I recall the benefits of having a camp stove… Our campsite by the river is one of the few things that feels like it has gone…
June 13, 2014 Today we reached the top of the world. We left the campground at around 11 am this morning after a long and much needed sleep-in. We stopped at Buckshot Betty’s on the way through Beaver Creek to grab a cup of coffee and then hit the road again. Our drive took us…
A couple weeks ago Emily, Lisa and I decided to hit the road for a mini-vacation. After almost four months at Squirrel Camp we were all feeling a little big desperate to escape the 10 km radius that we work in. Our four day weekend took us along the Top of the World Highway to Dawson…
It is the end of May and very nearly the beginning of June. Elsewhere school is letting out. There are graduations and parties, picnics and BBQs. I can remember Memorial Day weekends in high school marching in wool uniforms in 70-degree weather to the tune of the “Battle Hymn of the Republic”. Now I spend…
Today I saw the first leaves on the trees as we drove into the Junction. Their appearance was as startling and sudden as it was beautiful. One moment we were staring at barren branches along the roadside and the next we were watching bright green fluff that framed the base of the still snowcapped mountains…
Change is coming to Squirrel Camp. The days are getting longer, my posts are getting shorter, and our crew just got a whole lot larger. So much has happened in the two weeks since I was last able to write that I’m not sure where to begin. At the end of April we lost two…
Hi friends! Sorry for the delay in my posts, but life at Squirrel Camp has been incredibly busy. Thanks for bearing with me. A new post will be up soon, I promise! Here’s a preview of what’s to come…
Adventures in the Yukon 