Fitness by firewood
A Yukon retiree, 75, has three readily apparent options for a productive summer fitness program: 1. Fishing, 2. Golf or 3. Firewood.
The weight of Firewood
We averaged wood-buying sites. The approximate weights of a cord of Yukon firewood: 4,250 lbs for green and 4,050 lbs for seasoned.
Cataract Surgery: A modern medical miracle
There are only two things you need to know if you are considering cataract surgery to prevent spending your retirement years like Mr. Magoo
My favourite Johnnie Johns hunting story
A favorite story by Johnnie Johns pf being trapped inside a moose and nearly freezing to death, told often at the Caribou Hotel in Caccross.
The pine marten aka the sheriff of squirrel country
“I can’t believe I just got myself trapped inside a damn squirrel cage.”- Doug Sack’s perception of the pine marten’s thoughts.
The lost camel of an ancient Persian fairy tale
In Persia, there once was a wise king with three sons. He mock-banished the young princes from his kingdom so they could go out and test themselves against the dangers of the real world. Their journey became a fairy tale known as “The Three Princes of Serendip.”
Words are a writer’s tool box
People who write a lot have different perspectives and relationships with words than those who simply read or say them. If the pen is truly mightier than the sword, (as said English author Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1839), a writer’s tools could be favourably compared to the mightiest of weapons if he or she was out …
The ballad of “Buck” Choquette
Buck Choquette spent his last days and hours in Dawson telling Jack London true stories of his long pioneering life in the Northwest. Is it just coincidence, then, that the main character in his most successful novel, The Call of the Wild, is also named Buck?
2019 World Series Primer
Based on their 107 regular season wins, the Astros should meet the Nationals in the 2019 World Series. Yes, the Washington Nationals and Seattle Mariners are the only two MLB franchises currently playing which have never won their league’s pennant and have therefore never played in the World Series. The Nats, which Grandpa refers to …
The Joy of Northern Kleptoparasiticpredation
There are two sides to every story, sometimes more. Entry-level journalism students are taught, ad nauseum, by wizened old editors to strive to present both, or all of these sides, to their readers in order to honour the elusive literary gold standard called “objectivity.” Of course, there is an opposing viewpoint which proclaims that objective …
Saved by The Caribou and wolves
Considering the Caribou RV Park at km 1403 of the Alaska Highway was established in 1974 and your humble correspondent lived in Atlin from 1977 to 1984, I must have driven right by it hundreds of times over the years without giving it a look or even a thought. I knew it was built by …
Interview with the raven
“Our favourite human EVER was Genghis Khan. That man knew how to put on a spread.” Raven Mythology #5 by Joe Ben Raven via Doug Sack Doug Sack: Do you solemnly swear the testimony you are about to give is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you Odin? Joe …
Forgotten Town: Dyea, the town Alaska forgot
Two prominent American tourism publications hit the streets recently. Neither included much of a mention of Dyea, except to list the Dyea Campground in Skagway and note that it is the start of the Chilkoot Trail to the Klondike. Considering your roving RV reporter proclaimed from the top of the Golden Stairs last summer that …
Raven kronks, Leprechaun croaks
I remember my first conversation with Joe Ben Raven like it happened yesterday. It was the winter construction season of 1972-73 up on the Eagle Plains of the Yukon’s half-built Dempster Highway in a borrow pit south of the Oasis in the Wilderness—a hotel which is itself only 35 kilometres south of the Arctic Circle. …
Ink on ink
A tale of two tattoos Raven Mythology #4.5 “It’s not known which came first, the penny or the flag.” Cam Brewster’s World Famous Tattoo Studio on Centennial Drive in Porter Creek, located between a daycare centre and a pawn shop/second-hand store, plays the game by the rules. This includes a $100 deposit, pre-inking interview, a …
Steiner aces the rut fluff to win
March 15, 1986 at the men’s downhill in Whistler, B.C. – The Inside Edge Memoirs #1 By the time the 1986 Molson’s World Cup men’s downhill and Super G, aka The White Circus, rolled into town on March 15, 1986 to close out the 85/86 racing season, I was well-established as the first-ever sports editor …
From Yukon longjohns to Alberta Dungarees
“I had no idea we were opening The Calgary Stampede on the main stage in the Saddledome. That was the game changer for The Dungarees.”—Alex Murdoch The long and colourful history of the Yukon is full of men and women who came from all over the world and found great success up North. The best …
The London Tower ravens
[two_third] You may have noticed the above quotation comes to you without attribution. That’s for good reason. Nobody seems to know who muttered it or even if it was ever uttered at all. The Tower ravens of London are arguably the most famous birds in history. They’re also the most difficult to explain because of …
Ravens and Poe
Very few writers throughout history have bonded with their subjects quite like Edgar Allan Poe and the Yukon’s territorial bird – the Raven
The fastest lady in the Klondike Gold Rush
She was not only the first female river pilot on the Upper Yukon, she was also the fastest. No, her name wasn’t Klondike Kate, the Oregon Mare, Bombay Peggy or the (immortalized by Robert W. Service) “Lady that’s known as Lou.” She and her husband Albert were in the fabrication and construction business in Seattle. …
There is more to Raven mythology than clamshells and Odin
One of my many favourite Bill Reid carvings, Raven and the First Men, is part of a Haida creation myth which is permanently displayed in the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia. It depicts the exact moment, on a remote Pacific beach, when Raven found a clamshell full of tiny human beings desperate …
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Alaska history
From now on, whenever Valentine’s Day pops up out of a snowbank in mid-February like a lost and lonely holiday heart/fart, my thoughts will be of Elizabeth Peratrovich and what she accomplished for all northerners.
ZHOH – The Spirit of the Wolf
Previews are supposed to pique your interest and entice you to buy the book, not tell you how it ends, but there is no harm in quoting the final sentence if it is a good one:“In the distance, snow-covered peaks rose through the whiteness. Far off, somewhere below in the fog, a wolf howled.
Ship of Sorrow: S.S. Princess Sophia
The S.S. Princess Sophia (So-PHY-Ya) under full power in a north-wind whiteout blizzard ran aground on Vanderbilt Reef, halfway to Juneau.
Superbirds (a.k.a. ornithology, a.k.a. birdlore)
This quiet, reserved and thoughtful corner of the year-round Yukon has gone to the birds this week, namely Arctic terns, the all-time migratory champions, not only of the bird kingdom but also the entire non-human animal world, including bugs and butterflies. You won’t believe what you are about to read but, first, you have to …
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To ‘Looks Like a Caribou’ and back – Part 6 of 6
Driving the Dempster Highway to Tuktoyaktuk, N.W.T. (located on Kugmallit Bay of the Beaufort Sea of the Arctic Ocean), is no big deal..
Doomsday camping on Top of the World – Part 5 of 6
Grandpa, if a giant asteroid was on target to collide with Earth and everyone knew the exact day and time of the explosion to blow up the planet, where would you want to go camping for the last night?
The Yukon’s greatest love story
Yukon icons Otto and Kate Partridge lived in the beautiful southern lakes region of the territory.
Old tramways and new ziplines on Windy Arm
Conrad, on Windy Arm, is just the first of a new wave of Yukon campgrounds with eyes to the future.
Yukon gold at the Games of Fundy
At the time of our print deadline for this edition, the 2018 Canada 55+ Games team was shaping up as 143 athletes competing from five Yukon communities.
Kathleen & Kokanee in Kluane – Part 3 of 6
Kathleen Lake, which is the only place in Kluane National Park you can sleep (legally) if you have rubber wheels for your mode of transportation (rather than flying machines, skis, hiking boots or birchbark).
Atlin: Boom town to burnt down … to boom, burn, bust and boom again – Part 2 of 6
Of all the cities, towns and villages in northwestern Canada, Atlin’s journey through the turbulent 20th century was more dramatic than most.
A Kenai kickoff to a new series – Part 1 of 6
Homer, on the west side of the Kenai Peninsula, is the farthest south you can drive and became my favourite place to RV camp in Alaska because of this surprise: it felt like California.
The Yukon’s Lost Centenarian
I was astonished to learn that the Yukon Territory currently is without a card-carrying centenarian, male or female, according to the most recent age data on record which is the 2016 census.
The Yukon’s Magnificent 11 – Part 6 of 6
It almost appears as if one of the great tourism RV destinations, Haines Road & Alaska Highway, happened by design—but it didn’t.
The Ravenmaster: My life with the ravens at the Tower of London
“Christopher Skaife is both a raven master and a master storyteller. Compulsively readable, I devoured the book in a single sitting!”—Lindsey Fitzharris, author of The Butchering So did I! From 4 p.m. to midnight on the very day I found the last hard copy of The Ravenmaster for sale in Whitehorse. I bought it as …
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The Yukon’s Magnificent 11 – Part 5 of 6
The Top of the World Highway is neither on top of the world nor is it a highway, but rivals the Dempster for dramatic scenery while it lasts.
The sordid saga of ‘Shoeless Joe’
Shoeless Joe is the only player in baseball history to win multiple World Series as a pitcher for one team and a home run hitter for another; a distinction that will last forever.
The Yukon’s Magnificent 11 – Part 4 of 6
1949 History of Atlin & Tagish roads “decimated, through inanition, due wholly to the lack of adequate and vital transportation facilities.”
The Yukon’s Magnificent 11 – Part 3 of 6
Sitting at Watson Lake you may wonder if you should take Robert Campbell #4 to the Klondike, afterall, it is shorter. The answer is NO!
The Yukon’s Magnificent 11- Part 2 of 6
The Klondike Highway wasn’t done for tourism reasons. The Silver Trail Highway, on the other hand, is a highway geared towards tourists.
The Yukon’s Magnificent 11 – Part 1 of 6
The Canol Road is easily the nastiest numbered road in the Yukon and why we opened with it. The worst shall be first and the fast shall be last.
Jack ‘n Sack
This is part four of a four-part series. In part three, the writer had been invited to caddy for Jack Nicklaus for the second time in his life, via their mutual friend, Vancouver entrepreneur Caleb Chan.
The Wisdom of Yogi the Berra
Other than Samuel Clemens, who wrote as Mark Twain, few historical Americans are more oft-quoted than former New York Yankees catcher Yogi Berra, who died in 2015 at the age of 90, but will live forever for the things he said while he was alive. His only real competition as the best American malapropist was …
Gertie’s Begins with a Losing Streak
If anyone ever tries to tell you the first legal casino in Canadian history – Dawson City’s fabled Diamond Tooth Gertie’s Gambling Hall – was a raging success from the moment the doors first opened in June, 1972, perhaps you should clip and save this article to correct that historical distortion of the truth. In …
Jack ‘n Sack
Although I can’t absolutely verify the factual accuracy of the following “claim to fame,” if I’m not the only person who had the unique opportunity to caddy for Jack Nicklaus both before he won his first professional major (1962 U.S. Open) and after his last (1986 Masters), I’m certainly one of the very few fortunate …
Memoirs of an Atlin School Marm
Simply stated, the best narrative I’ve read about country lifestyle in the contemporary north and the only one featuring Atlin and the Yukon.
Grandpa’s Baseball Book – Part 4 of 4
It occurred to me while watching the 2016 World Series between the Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians with my grandchildren – their first World Series – that I wasn’t doing a very good job of explaining the game to them because we were all too busy watching the historical action while eating bad food and …
Ten glorious days of ‘PLAY BALL!’
Less than a week after Canada finally celebrates our 150th birthday, the top men’s softball (fastpitch) players in the country will be saddled with facing an angry New Zealand haka performed by disgruntled Black Sox players to begin the next 150 years. The occasion is the 15th issue of the Men’s Softball World Championships to …
Gertie’s First Season
Once upon a time, long ago, a young truck driver in Whitehorse found himself with five days off work to celebrate the May long weekend and decided to finally visit Dawson City for the first time. It was either 1971 or ’72, and he had been listening to his coworkers talk about it all winter. …
Grandpa’s Baseball Book – Part 3 of 4
The kids needed “Baseball 101” It was my duty, as a retired sportswriter, to author it, a kiddie book about baseball(work in progress)
Jack ‘n Sack
I knew on the Saturday morning warm up on the driving range I was in for a unique caddying experience. This was the days of the “shag bag” when caddies would stand out on the range serving as targets for their golfers and often catch their shots in the bag on the fly. Not so …
Grandpa’s Baseball Book – Part 2 of 4
These kids needed “Baseball 101” before their 2nd World Series. It was my duty, as a 70-year-old retired sportswriter, to author it for them.
Jack ‘n Sack
Although I can’t absolutely verify the factual accuracy of the following “claim to fame,” if I’m not the only person who had the unique opportunity to caddy for Jack Nicklaus both before he won his first professional major (1962 U.S. Open) and after his last (1986 Masters), I’m certainly one of the very few fortunate …
Grandpa’s Baseball Book – Part 1 of 4
2016 World Series (Chicago Cubs / Cleveland Indians) – I wasn’t doing a good job of explaining baseball to my grandchildren
Ode to Mosquitos
I love blood-sucking mosquitos In my eyes, ears and nose; On my chips, nachos and tacos, In my hair and between my toes.
Baseball’s Only Perfect Season
As a retired sportswriter who bleeds baseball Red and could steal second base before I was able to walk to first, I was recently deep into the internet researching the history and origins of the game when I stumbled on a fact that had somehow escaped my attention as a young writer: “The Perfect Season.” …
Honeymooners Head to Augusta
When Abbotsford’s Adam Hadwin, 29, defeated American Patrick Cantlay on the final hole of the Valspar Championship in Florida on March 12 to win the first PGA Tour title of his career, his life changed forever when the winning putt fell into the cup. All of a sudden instead of going on his honeymoon to …
Super Bowl LI
By every statistical quantifier known to man or beast, less one, the upstart Atlanta Falcons don’t have much of a chance against the New England Patriots in Sunday’s 51st issue of the NFL’s Super Bowl or “LI” to those who still count like Romans. The lone exception is Atlanta’s offense, which finished atop the league …
Predator and Prey 14,000 Years Ago
Zhoh, the Clan of the Wolf: Fiction of the first humans to inhabit The Yukon. I knew Bob Hayes novel would be physically accurate.
Atlin’s Ian Fest
Ian Tyson, iconic minstrel of life in the West/North. 68yr old hearing an 81yr old singer at Atlin Arts and Music Festival felt young again.
The Ultimate Guide to Yukon Sport
John Firth’s massive Yukon Sport: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, published in November 2014 by Sport Yukon, is a heavy book. It must weigh 14 pounds. If you’re brain isn’t strong enough to read all of it, mine wasn’t, you can throw out your old barbells and dumbbells and incorporate it into a new fitness program. Little …
Techno Challenged
If it’s true there are seven wonders in the natural world, then surely this is the eighth. The world’s most incompetent techno-challenged is boldly composing this on a brand new, state-of-the-art iPod. It’s his first, and is called by its given name: Apple Air Pad 2 — a way-ward present Santa Claus must have left …
Neil Young’s Wild Ride
If there is anyone left in Canada still interested in figuring out how Neil Young’s brain functions, his second memoir Special Deluxe, A Memoir of Life & Cars, is not likely to clear up the fog. Young, 69, is just not wired like the rest of us. He may possess too many talents to be …
Up Ghost River Without a Paddle
When Edmund Metatawabin’s (Ed) residential school memoir, Up Ghost River, jumped off the new-books shelf of the Yukon Public Library and landed in my book bag on top of Bobby Orr and Gordie Howe, I was tempted to blow my whistle and send him to the penalty box for obstruction. I was hunting for some …
Tibetan Peach Pie
It’s not often I give myself an impossible writing assignment but I’m doing so now because I’m intrigued by the challenge. Book reviews often have aim to provide a concise summary and make the reader want to read the book. Not this time. I’m only halfway through Tom Robbins’ non-autobiography called Tibetan Peach Pie, and, …
