Having grown up in the Territories, there are things that I'd accepted as "normal" all my life and would never have given a second thought to, until I met the world.  

When I moved to Toronto to attend university in 2003, the first time I was really able to step out of my own comfort zone and immerse myself in a new environment, I began to learn many new things.  And I found out that most of the things I had previously experienced on a regular basis while living in the north, were considered "once in a lifetime events" or things that may never happen to most people.  In fact, most people I met in Toronto had never even considered any of my experiences to be a possibility.

Things like; having to watch out for grizzly bears (literally like a dozen one time) while walking around the neighbourhood on the way home from school, or having to fend off bears by yelling and waving your arms while hiking or canoeing, pulling a frozen icicle from your tongue and having a pack of wolves follow you home in the winter because of the blood trail, being snowed in for several days during a blizzard and having people come and dig you out, singing and whistling to the northern lights and having them surround and shoot down at you (which was very terrifying I have to admit), spending time out fishing on a lake in the summer and not knowing whether it is 2:00am or 2:00pm, catching a 20lb Arctic Char and having groups of children begging you for the guts and fish eyes because they taste like candy, having a special room in your house for canned and dried food that could last 2 years just in case the grocery barge couldn't make it during the only 2-3 week window in the summer that it could dock, hopping on floating ice chunks in the ocean during break-up and laughing when someone falls in, never really having to "meet" anyone because you already know pretty much everyone in town, spending nights partying by bon fires in the bush with all your friends.  

The experiences were one thing, and the opportunities were even more impressive. Opportunities like; being able to play competitive sports and travel to national events and tournaments, spending 2 semesters of high school on field trips around the Yukon and BC to learn astronomy, biology, forestry and more first hand rather than through text books, learning how to live off the land as part of the regular elementary school curriculum, filling your freezer with hunted meat and fish, and picking berries and mushrooms in the summer and knowing first hand where all of your food comes from. All of this let alone the scholarships and bursaries offered to students attending university programs in the provinces. 

But rather than continuing to outline many examples of this (and believe me I have many more) and you taking my word for it, I have gathered a few news headlines, from here in Whitehorse, that I think will help colour the picture for you.  These are headlines from just the past month and a half while we have been up here.

• Eagle cam eagle eat's pet Chihuahua - no link because it was a radio announcement; "Eagles snatching up small dogs is not myth. The Yukon Electrical Company Eagle webcam in Whitehorse was shut down for several days while the three eaglets dined on a Chihuahua brought to the nest by the parent bald eagles"
• Customer swallows human toe in Dawson City
• Wolf chases cyclist on Alaska Highway in Yukon
• Cyclists chased by black bear in Whitehorse
• Mounties hit pause on reality TV production
• Public’s Assistance Sought: New Information Released in Serial Killer Case

Of all the crazy things that Andrew and I can continue to be amused at, it is the differences in the ways we've grown up that keep us surprised by each other.  We view the world through very separate lenses and enjoy hearing our stories from our different perspectives.  

What are some other crazy news headlines from around the world?  We would love to hear 'em!

We spent the last few days revisiting Haines, Alaska to enjoy the pink salmon run.  The obvious goal was to catch some salmon, although fishing in Haines comes with the added bonus of breathtaking scenery and the incredible spectacle that the salmon run attracts (eagles, seals, grizzly bears, fisherman and, of course, tourists). 

The life of a salmon is a pretty intriguing thing.  Pink salmon hatch during the winter and soon after make their way to the ocean where they spend 18 months feeding on plankton, small fish, crustaceans & squid. Once they've eaten their last meal, they make the epic journey back upriver, drop off their eggs & sperm, and then ... die.  
For whatever reason, pink salmon are shiny and silver-coloured while living in the ocean, but once they start their sex death journey they turn pink and the males develop a large hump on their back and a hooked upper jaw.  Seriously, I'm not making this up.

What I find really interesting is the way the salmon affect their environment.  By feeding like crazy in the ocean and then dying in their freshwater spawning grounds, the fish transport an incredible amount of nutrients upriver.  This is extremely important to the surrounding wildlife (bears, eagles, etc.) as well as the plant life that grows along the river.  Cue the Lion King's "Circle of Life" - naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, sequenyaaaaaaaaaa, mamameeeeeecheeewawaaaaa....

The fishing itself is quite different from any other fishing I'd experienced.  Because they're no longer interested in eating once they've begun their journey back upriver (one track mind?), it's pretty tough to convince them to bite your lure.  You can either use a lure that resembles roe (fish eggs) drifting along the bottom of the river in the hope that an altruistic salmon will take it in its mouth and try to secure it to the riverbed, or you can cast & reel with a shiny lure in an attempt to annoy a fish into biting it.  We went with the latter strategy and had decent luck, though we still caught many more fish "by accident" rather than by enticing them to bite.  It's pretty crazy to think that there are so many fish in the river that you can't avoid hooking into their bodies (like shooting fish in a barrel!), and unfortunately the rules force you to release any fish caught by "snagging".  Being the honest folk we are, this meant we kept only four fish but released over a dozen others.

Besides the fishermen, there are also plenty of other creatures around taking advantage of the salmon run. One evening there were eight grizzly bears feasting on salmon along the 1.5 km stretch of road that follows the Chilkoot River river connecting the Gulf of Alaska to the Chilkoot Lake.  Because they're well-fed and fairly used to people (tourists are brought in by the bus load on wildlife tours), though, there's little danger as long as you don't succumb to the temptation to go in for a hug.  In fact, at one point we calmly watched from within 30 feet as a large female made its evening trek along shore and then back uphill through the campground (where we spent our nights in our little tent, a feat the locals refer to as making "bear tacos"). 

As ridiculous as this all sounds, it's completely safe (especially if you're not the slowest runner in the group).  All joking aside, there really is very little to worry about, and any doubts are quickly dispelled by the ever-present Parks & Wildlife staff as they patrol the river and keep an eye on the bears (and the tourists).  At no point did we see a bear without first being notified that there was one approaching and that we could keep on fishing; they'd come warn us again before it got too close.  In our few days there we got to know some of the staff and a couple of the bears.  The one with Chelsea in the photo above was well known - this was her 28th year fishing on the river - and her daily trek down the river and through the campground was like clockwork.

When we weren't fishing or bear watching, we were looking out for bald eagles and trying to catch a video of one swooping down from the treetops to snatch up a salmon.  I'm not sure we got much usable footage here, though we did get a great video of an eagle pooping (which is even better in my opinion).

During high tide there were also a number of seals that would make their way in from the nearby saltwater to feast.  In fact, we found that the best time to fish was just as the tide reached its high point, since by then the seals had chased a fresh batch of salmon upriver for us to try and annoy.

Although this was my third trip to Haines (and Chelsea's umpteenth) I'd definitely come back if I get another opportunity - it's just too damn magical.

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The last couple weeks have been nice and relaxing.  We've been doing our best to spend some quality time with the Yukon family and enjoy the outdoors while the summer sun's still shining.  

Chelsea's family is full of interesting characters, and it's been great to be around for long enough to spend some real time with them.  We spent about a week camping at Snafu Lake with Mom2 (Carolyn), Alyssa & the dogs, followed soon after by a long weekend at Fox Lake with Momette (Karen), Jock & Shawn.

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Six days, 228 miles, a close grizzly encounter, way too much sun, an incredible thunderstorm, and a constant feeling of awe - this was a trip we'll both remember for a lifetime. 

There are few experiences more humbling than being alone on the river, floating through such a vast and beautiful wilderness.  With the current constantly pulling you along, it's all you can do to eagerly peer around each bend and discover what surprises are in store: breathtaking rock formations, charred remains of forests, sand & gravel islands, looming storm clouds, and plethora of wildlife.  This was the kind of trip that reminds you that you're just another one of nature's creatures. 

The paddling itself was quite non-technical and effortless; with the current flowing at about 7 or 8 km/h you can cover ground just relaxing and letting the river do the work. Much of the actual work we did was to investigate some of the smaller side-streams and islands along the way, or to avoid being drawn into areas that were too shallow or full of fallen trees.  There were only a handful of small rapids, most of which we worked hard to get to just for a little excitement.

We'd both recommend the trip to anyone who's had any wilderness camping experience. If you're well equipped for camping, you should have no trouble gaining your canoeing experience on the river. 

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Day One

We started our trip at Tatchun creek, a couple hour drive from Whitehorse (thanks to Chelsea’s mom for the ride!).  This put us just downstream of the Five Finger Rapids which we were too scared to attempt right off the bat.  In retrospect, we totally could have handled them – we may go back just to prove it to ourselves.  As we loaded the canoe and tied down our gear, a First Nations woman hanging salmon nearby warned us that there was a bear very close by.  Needless to say, we didn’t dawdle long for our goodbyes.

The first day of padding was quite casual.  As we got used to steering through the big eddies and quick current, we spotted a moose on shore and floated quite close before it got spooked and took off.  Later in the day, just before Minto, we spotted a large black bear on shore who didn’t pay us any mind, reminding us that we should take care at camp to avoid any encounters:  cook, eat, and store (in airtight containers or drybags) all food, dishes, and anything else with any kind of scent, including clothing worn when cooking or eating, a good distance away from where you sleep and where you store your canoe.  Despite this reminder, our dinner of rice and bean burritos proved impossible to contain, forcing us to move from our initial island camping spot just across from the Minto airstrip.  That spot was a bit too cozy anyway and we had no option to move our tent more than 5 or 10 feet from where we were eating.  Lesson one: burritos are a bad meal choice in bear country. We covered 37 miles, as the river flows, putting us just past Minto. 

We ended up spending the night instead at a spot marked “Thom’s Location” on the map, with a nice camping area and a usable cabin.  Because there was fresh bear scat nearby, bear claw marks on the trees, and wolves howling in the distance as we were stoking our camp fire, we decided to sleep inside the cabin, with the door tightly tied shut.  And because Chelsea was afraid of spiders, we pitched the tent inside the cabin.  This was a restless night for me, with hours spent listening to the scampering of rodents throughout the cabin.  I guess we shouldn’t expect to be the only ones taking advantage of such a cozy cabin – the tent was a good idea after all.

Day 2

Another day of beautiful weather and wildlife spotting (mountain sheep, beavers, bald eagles, ducks and other birds).  We stopped for a long break at Fort Selkirk (a historic trading post of the Hudson’s Bay Company) to have some lunch and explore some of the old buildings and artefacts.  After an easy day of padding, covering about 26 miles, we stopped at a large sandy island with a beautiful beach.  Lesson two:  when you’re on a remote beach, it’s impossible to resist getting naked and playing frisbee.

Day 3

Our third day was definitely the most exciting.  We awoke in sunshine to rolling thunder from a distant storm which we watched for a few hours as it slowly closed in around us.  Before the dark clouds and lightning got too close, we took shelter on shore below some cliffs and nervously watched the show.  With cliffs on one shore and hills on the other, the thunder echoed and rolled on for minutes at a time.  We managed to duck under a tarp just as the sky opened up dumping rain and hail on us.

Later that day once the rain had dried up, we started to wander from the main drag and explore more of the side streams and island channels in the hopes of finding a good fishing spot and spotting some more wildlife.  This brought us to Seventeen Mile creek, where after tying the boat to a fallen tree in a channel no more than fifteen feet wide, Chelsea was caught mid-pee (literally with her pants down) when a grizzly bear poked its head over some shrubs on the opposite shore about 10ft away.  I managed to alert Chelsea by shouting “Bear! Bear! Grizzly!” allowing her to demonstrate her ability to multi-task under pressure by quickly pulling her pants up, getting back into the canoe and untying the rope, all the while blowing her whistle, waving her arms, and assertively chanting “Hey! Hey! Get outta here!”.  Although we couldn’t see it, we could hear movement in the bushes beside the bear, probably from a cub (eeks!).  Luckily, after contemplating coming in for a closer look (perhaps to eat us), the bear slowly turned and went back into the bush.  Lesson three:  before stopping close to shore, make a ton of noise!

Despite the earlier scare, we found a great fishing spot on shore at the mouth of Selwyn creek and managed to catch a couple grayling for the evening meal.  After covering about 41 miles, we set up camp on another sandy island and finished the day.

Days 4 & 5

The fourth and fifth days offered an unexpected challenge: intense sunlight.  With the long, northern summers (over twenty hours of sunlight) the sun can really take a toll.  We had run out of sunscreen early on the fourth day so we were forced to hide under clothing instead (at one point I wore a pair of shorts over my head to keep my ears from burning). 

Despite the heat, there was a good variety of wildlife along the river.  I’m not sure how, but Chelsea managed to spot a lynx in some bushes on shore (I didn’t see it until we had paddled to within 15 feet of it).  We also spotted a wolf about a hundred feet downriver, though it didn’t hang out to give us a better look. 

After passing White River the water became even thicker with silt, making it tough(er) to filter directly from the river.  Luckily there were the odd creek with cleaner water to use.  You could actually hear a “hiss” from the silt as the canoe moved through the water, pretty wild.

Day four was a long one (we covered 51 miles) – we decided to pick up the pace and try and arrive in Dawson a day earlier (the sun had amplified our thirst for a cold beer).  The sun had finally taken its toll midway through day five, so after 37 miles we stumbled onto an island, set up a tarp for shade and had a long, cool nap.  Lesson four: spray-on sunscreen works fine, but only holds about a dozen applications - useless for a long trip.  Bring lotion!

Day 6

On our last morning on the river we awoke to smoke in the air and a haze in the distance ahead of us.  With a summer as hot as this, its common knowledge that there’s a risk of forest fires, but what would we do if we found ourselves padding into one?  We decided to press on and re-evaluate if the smoke got much thicker.  Luckily, after a few hours it cleared and we were able to continue on.  Later that day, as we neared Dawson City, we could see a large plume of smoke in the distance on the left shore – the fire was still there, but the wind had shifted.  

After covering the final 36 miles, we arrived in Dawson City.  Although it was nice to be done and enjoying some patio beers, we both admitted to each other we wished we had just a couple more days…

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