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The ExploreNorth Blog
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The writer is a resident of Canada's Yukon Territory with a passion for Exploring the North. This blog is one of the vehicles used to share that passion through words and images.
Recent Posts Tagged With 'Nature'
Renovating the Squirrel Condo
If you’re a squirrel, a sheltered woodpile no doubt looks like a great place spend the winter. There are lots of places to nest in complete safety and relative warmth. But squirrels don’t seem to know what woodpiles are created for –...
Lakes, Bugs & Logging
Yesterday my brother-in-law and I drove 3 hours to their cabin in the high country above Merritt and did some exploring. It’s a beautiful area but the devastation being caused by the mountain pine beetle (dendroctonus ponderosae) and the effort...
Bye-bye, Cruisers!
I try to get down to Skagway to see the last ships each year, and yesterday turned out to be an excellent one. Lousy weather (as expected), excellent day. I always wonder whether people know the kind of weather to expect when they book these very lat...
Our Smoky World
Our good luck couldn’t last – I’m amazed that it lasted as long as it did. The negative side to the hot, dry summers I love is that the forests go up in flames. The Yukon, Alaska and British Columbia are all covered in smoke now. U...
A Recipe for Disaster
Blend together: 31°C temperatures 31% humidity localized winds gusting to 90kmh Add lightning, with rain removed. Stand back – waaaaaay back. This is the recipe that’s being served up in the central and northern Yukon in the ne...
Nice Work, Mother Nature!
This is the most incredibly beautiful summer I’ve ever seen. Look at the weather forecast – it just keeps coming! This photo was shot at the Bove Island viewpoint south of Carcross a couple of hours ago – click to greatly ...
Forest Fires and Airplanes
Although there have been some worries, the Yukon has been exceptionally lucky this summer – lots of hot, sunny days with few forest fires. Only Dawson has significant fires burning – lightning has, I believe, caused all of them this year....
The Night of the Moth
The photo of the Arctic Blue butterfly that I posted reminded me of a magnificent moth that I captured a series of photos of last summer. They were posted on the old blog but disappeared when the new blog was installed. It was just before 10:00 pm on...
Arctic Blue Butterfly
Like most people, I love butterflies (and moths). They can be tough little creatures to take a photo of, but on a hike through the Carcross dunes on Wednesday I captured this image of a tiny Arctic Blue (Plebejus glandon). It has a wingspan of about ...
I Love Rain!
I don’t always love rain, but I sure do love the rain that’s fallen the past 2 days. The forest fire smoke is gone and the flowers, especially the lupine on our property, are going crazy. I was getting very paranoid about fires, despite t...
2009 Biodiversity Forum
The Biodiversity Working Group is pleased to present the 2009 Biodiversity Forum in Whitehorse on Saturday, April 4th from 9 AM - 4 PM. We have over a dozen speakers lined up to give short, 15 minute talks in plain language on a variety of Yukon pla...
Genealogy - Off to the Yukon
A few days ago my mailbox contained a copy of the beautifully-produced newsletter of the Tay Valley Family History Society from Dundee, Scotland. I had supplied the cover art so of course was interested in seeing the article that it was tied to. A br...
Alaskans Get All the Fun!
The first photos of the Mt. Redoubt volcano eruption from the Alaska Volcano Observatory are pretty darn cool! All we have is the beautiful, long-retired Golden Horn, and she’s much too close for an eruption to be fun! It is sad, though, to see...
Another Moose Drops By…..
We had another moose drop by this morning. Monty alerted Cathy that something unusual was up, and she looked out the bedroom window to see the cow walking by about 30 feet away. The cow was walking quite gingerly, and I believe that she’s pregn...
Lynx Make My Day
I enjoy seeing any wildlife when I’m out cruising, but spending time with lynx is an absolutely magical experience. My buddy Rob and I went down to Skagway yesterday for a day photo of photography, and on the way home we saw 3 lynx along Tutshi...
The Yukon Quest - GO Huskies!!
Yesterday was the start of the Yukon Quest, our 1,000-mile sled dog race that runs from Whitehorse to Fairbanks. This was a particularly exciting one for me, mostly because it’s the first time since 2003 that I’ve been able to attend (in ...
Hospice Yukon & the Yukon Quest
This year, for the first time in several years, I’ll be home for the start of the Yukon Quest on February 14th so Cathy and I can both go to it (oh yeah, I’ll be home for Valentine’s Day too ). In this year’s Quest, my frien...
Whitehorse Weather Averages
Do you ever look at the historic weather averages? Just me, eh? Anyway, here are the stats for Whitehorse, from Environment Canada: You’ll note that the coldest temperature ever in Whitehorse was -52.2°C (-62°F) in 1947, and th...
Folks, it’s Time to SLOW DOWN!
You would think that Yukoners would know how to drive on icy roads, wouldn’t you? The roads are extra-icy right now, and the number of vehicles off in the bush is amazing - people who were just driving too fast. Usually accidents here are singl...
Back at the Kitchen, and Snow
I got back to work on the kitchen in the city house today. There’s a lot to do yet, but the timing feels good. The complicated part of the corner cabinet is now done (another pair of hands would sure have been useful in assembling it!). A pot c...
Winter is Really Quite Lovely
This is a rather odd winter for me - I’m quite enjoying it so far. Cathy and I go skiing and hot-tubbing every night, I often go skiing in the morning as well, I keep the wood furnace going, both cars are in the garage so no plugging in or wind...
Environmental Concern or just Big Business??
“Find out what you can do about global warming. Look inside to learn more.” That’s the unsolicited message in my mail from the David Suzuki Foundation today. His is the 4th such message I’ve gotten in the past few days - other...
It may be Minus 24 degrees….
….but when it comes right down to it, I wouldn’t trade this place for anything. I may dream about warm beaches, but Cathy and I love the Yukon, and any more than a few weeks away just isn’t an option at this point. The photos below ...
My Dogs Know What’s Important
Monty and Kayla know that what’s really important is getting out of the house at least twice a day regardless of the weather. As soon as it gets light and then again about 7:00pm, we make a loop around the property, which takes 10-15 minutes de...
Fall Colours in the Yukon
Sorry, the reds, yellows and oranges you were hoping for dropped onto the ground many weeks ago. The photo below was shot on the way home from Whitehorse at noon today. The colours of Fall are now Black and White. I fired up my SAD (Seasonal Af...
Protecting Carcross Beach - and those who love it
The South Klondike Local Advisory Council (SKLAC) hosted a meeting in Carcross last night, to further assess public support for rezoning part of the beach of Lake Bennett. The rezoning, taking the beach from “Hinterland” to “Hinterl...
This Weird Fallwinter
The weather this past few days has been erratic, to say the least. Thursday was gorgeous, then Friday was full-on Winter, then yesterday was beautiful again. Cathy and I got in one load of firewood each morning of her one-week holiday, so we have qui...
Mother Nature the Drama Queen
During a Yukon summer it’s easy to just sit back and enjoy the benign Nature that surrounds us, and even that is easily overshadowed by the rush of “things to do” that most of us have. This time of year, though, Nature is tough to i...
A Yukon Sunday Drive
Yesterday was a gorgeous day to get out, and it looked like pretty much every Yukoner had the same idea. Our reasonably warm, sunny days are about to end, and traffic was quite heavy on the Alaska Highway - by our standards that means that there were...
Heavy Snow and Satellite TV
Yesterday we just got a few flakes of snow, but last night it came down heavy and wet for a while starting at about 7:00. I had never heard that heavy, wet snow could kill satellite TV reception, but when we totally lost the HD channels and then the ...
