A Yukon Christmas

Last year my brother in law suggested we all come visit him for Christmas in the Yukon. All my adult children thought it was a grand idea. I informed them of the -40C and the expense being a negative kind of person. I also suggested that we forgo Christmas gifts in order to better afford the expense of flying to the Yukon at Christmas.

It did not turn out so bad. The weather was warmer than usual with -24C being the coldest during my stay. It actually went up to +2C before the kids came home but than dropped down to -35C to give them a taste of cool. My second son and his wife flew over from Brisbane where it was 37C so had to experience the most extreme temperature swing.

We went tobogganing and snow shoeing and I got to use a kick sled. We went to a world class dog sledding operation and went out for a few rides with dogs that are training for the Yukon Quest and the Iditarod. You'll have to google those names. All I will say is the run they are training for is about a 1000 miles. The woman Michelle Phillips finished 8th in her first Yukon Quest 10 years ago with -60C. I could tell she was tough when I met her. I did not know her history till later.

We had to drill a hole in lake ice to get water pumped to the house a few times while we were there. That was about 18 inches of work to get through.

The most exciting part of my trip was on the last day. We went to one of the lakes on the route that the miners used to get to the the Klondike Gold Fields. I was in search of gold of my own and I hit pay dirt. Yukon Cottonwood bark. I was able to scavenge a a cooler load and more to fill half a suitcase. I brought it back home with me and now the fun will begin.

Enjoy the photos and next time I'll post some finished bark pictures.

Happy Carving! (as Floyd Rhadigan likes to say)