Road Tales – The Alaska Highway shootout of 1961
In the 60s, the Alaska Highway, though somewhat improved from its original construction in 1942, was still a winding, narrow, dusty, pot-holed, nasty road that claimed several lives each year
Alaska Highway
Living With Wildlife: Tim Green
Hello Everybody, We invite you to share your photos of Yukon wildlife. Email your high-resolution images with a description of what’s going on and what camera equipment you used to [email protected] Living With Wildlife by Tim Green The eagles of Rabbit’s Foot Canyon perch at the top of the Eagle Cliffs between the entrance to …
Adventure Awaits
Recently I visited Kluane National Park. After a few hours of driving and only a hike through the forest, I was in my element—a world of rock and grand vistas. My friend and I were on Sheep Mountain, a very popular trail, and I can see why it is popular. We came within 100 metres …
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 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.
Hunting in the Yukon – Part 1
An excerpt of Manfred Hoefs’ recently released book Yukon’s Hunting History. Yukon’s history, time scale & events are unique.
Experiencing the Beauty of Canada
Heather Newman graduated from high school in 2007 from Robina State High School on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia. Not exactly in 2009 and definitely not in Whitehorse. All the Whitehorse kids from the class of 2009 seem to be busy this summer; as I haven’t been running into any of them lately. Some …
Hitching a Ride
Growing up, Kathy Jessup was always “the yakky little sister.” In Fort Nelson, where she was raised, she’s still known as “Kathy who likes to talk.” Her family still teases her about finding a way to turn her gift for gab into a career as a professional storyteller. When her current show starts in Canada …
When the Land Has a Character
Bestselling Canadian author Lawrence Hill pursues a lifelong interest in African diaspora narratives. As a part of the research for a book he’s writing about the contribution of African American soldiers to the construction of the Alaska Highway, Hill is travelling the Highway from northern B.C. through the Yukon. His first Yukon stop was in …
Chronicling the Vanishing Alaska Highway Lodge Community
I’m very jealous of what Whitehorse based Lily Gontard and Mark Kelly have managed to pull off with their delightful book, Beyond Mile Zero: The Vanishing Alaska Highway Lodge Community (published last month, Lost Moose, 240 pages, $24.95). They’ve taken an idea that I turned into a measly two or three columns in the Whitehorse …
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Telling the untold stories of the Yukon
The first days in the creation of the play Map of the Land, Map of the Stars took place in the summer of 2015 along the banks of the Yukon River. A group of artists gathered with stories, images, objects, and songs – items that they were drawn to and that were rooted in the …
CAUTION: Bison bison athabascae
The first time I saw this sign, I had to stop and pull over on the side of the road to make sure I had read it correctly. It was early spring in 2012 and I was travelling up the Alaska Highway for the first of what would be uncountable times. The decision to come …
History Offers Timeless Perspectives
Stories are invaluable teachers, says B.C. author Caroline Woodward, they have the ability to “give us whole worlds.” Old stories, too, are relevant artefacts that help us gain perspective on how much, or how little, progress we have made. Fictional stories, the writer continues, are able to relate emotive experiences in a way that nonfiction …
Fata Morgana and other Atmospheric Optics
From “Don’s Descent,” the small hill behind our house, one can look as far as Haines Junction. Mount Decoeli and Mount Archibald loom on the western horizon when skies are clear. In front of Decoeli, I can clearly make out Paint Mountain. You might know Paint Mountain as the rock face towering over Pine Lake, …
A Home Away From Home
Stepping into Johnson’s Crossing Lodge nestled off the Alaska Highway at historic Mile 836 feels more like walking into your mom’s living room than a highway lodge. Vintage tins and rusted relics line the shelves overtop a cozy room with tables and chairs. A table top is scattered with hundreds of puzzle pieces waiting to …
Four Years on the Road and Still Going Strong
We Found Roads is their latest album – and also the personal story of Cie and Karisa Hoover. They are a two-person indie rock band called You Knew Me When, currently singing, playing and camping their way through Alaska and the Yukon. Their road trip is one of growth for their music, their relationship and …
A Big Yellow Truck with a Past
“It’s a 1942 International,” Sid tells me as we are standing by a truck whose yellow paint is slowly chipping away with age. The truck’s original grey colour has been exposed underneath the bright yellow. Its large body and tires tell us it was a truck built for working in rough terrain. “It’s a six …
Banners! Banners!
“They were popular back in the 1960s,” Sid tells me as we stand in one of his many garages. Built attached to his house, his old garage holds tools, machines and different parts of Sid’s antique/vintage collection. Looking up towards the ceiling, vintage banners, t-shirts, and hats are attached to the wooden beams above us. “They’re …
The CutOff Restaurant & Pub: Real food for real Yukoners
The CutOff Restaurant & Pub has really nice customers. On a Sunday night, looking at the crowd that has come in for the ever-changing weekly dinner special, you see a lot of long-time Yukoners. Real Yukoners who dress comfortably and laugh out loud. This is what you get when you open a new restaurant 20 …
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Two Exciting Yukon Lives
“I was ready to live here permanently the day I got here – the land just drew (me) in,” says Velma Hull. The day she is speaking of was 57 years ago, when she and her husband – well-known local handyman and one-time bike shop owner Red Hull – came up the Alaska Highway. Velma …
Reminders of Time Past
A few years ago, my brother found an ancient tool that had migrated upward through the soil in the middle of his wheat field in Southern Alberta. It was a sure sign of human life on the prairies long before Europeans came to “settle” the land. The tool, it turned out, was a unique find. …
An old wooden mantelpiece helps tell the story of the Northwest Staging Route
The airport in Beaver Creek, Yukon is small and if you don’t know what you’re looking for, there’s a good chance you will miss it. Many who know Sid van der Meer may recall him owning and operating a small aircraft in the 1970s. “I used to own a J-3 Cub. It was a ’45 …
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A smoky pinnacle beckons in a hiker’s personal Shangri-La
Yes! This month, Jane Vincent is coming with me on an attempt to climb the pinnacle. It’s a pinnacle I now call Dragon Mountain. Recently, hiking there on my own, setting my own pace, very aware of my surroundings, I was in tune for miracles. The mountain was un-named; a mountain in a range of …
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Honouring the Bounty of Scotland
Up on the Alaska Highway, in the bright boîte called Tonimoes, attached to the SKKY Hotel, a quiet ritual takes place every Tuesday. Informally known as Scotch night, the weekly event “honour[s] the bounty of Scotland with the frugality of a Scot,” according to the Tonimoes website. In other words, you can get a really …
Peterson & Sons from Mile 0 TO 918, Alaska Highway
I have been on an ad hoc personal journey to find my father’s heritage for several years. He passed away when I was only about six-and-a-half years of age. What I know about him I know from my mother and from older siblings from his first and second families. It was the early ‘40s in …
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Mountain elephants and buffalo eyes
It was the Christmas season in 2005 in Whitehorse and my two great-grandsons, Dakota and his younger brother Garrison, were visiting us during their Vancouver school break. Because my late partner, John, and I had a trip planned to travel down the Alaska Highway in the New Year, the boys didn’t have to take the …
Boiling Water
Waking up to a layer of snow on the ground, Sid van der Meer ventures out to his museum. He is getting ready for winter when he will be in sunny Arizona and his museum will be covered in snow. As he walks along the museum’s boardwalk he comes across a unique object. It’s large, …
Fuelling Up
The beginning of September brings snow to Beaver Creek, home of Sid van der Meer’s Bordertown Garage & Museum. On a chilly September morning, van der Meer takes time to remember the past and retell the stories about the building of the Alaska Highway. He wanders through his museum to a room dedicated to the …
Parking Lot Cowboys: off the grid in Whitehorse
rri Johnny Paladin says, “Have you ever been to Montana? Why is the sky so big there?” He’s trying to explain the allure of the Yukon; he keeps interrupting himself to talk about the air and the grandeur of the sky. He compares it to Montana, and makes a circle with his thumb and pointer-finger …
Painter in the Ditch
I’m painting the road. When I tell people that, they figure I’m painting the yellow line some different colour. What I’m actually doing is stopping every 50 kilometres on the drive from Edmonton to Whitehorse and painting a picture of the road and the landscape it’s travelling through. I paint it where it curves right …
Artrepreneur: On the Road with Cass Collins
Cass Collins’ new show at the Chocolate Claim draws from a common Yukon experience: the drive up or down the Alaska Highway, between here and Outside. The show includes images of bison, bighorn sheep and a club sandwich with fries. It’s good to see diner meals juxtaposed with the wildlife. They add a human element …
Wild Encounters Between Road and River
When you drive the Alaska Highway towards Haines Junction you get glimpses of the Takhini River on your right, but it disappears from sight once you cross and it lies on the south side of the road. Being so close to the road, but out of sight makes it a good area to park a …
We Got Us a Convoy
They rolled out of Dawson Creek, B.C. on August 4: 77 historic military vehicles, plus 36 civilian support vehicles, with drivers from the U.S., Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, even the Democratic Republic of Congo. Their mission: a 6,600-km northern odyssey to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Alaska Highway. Their average speed of 56 …
Play Makers: The Prince George curse
Is Prince George nice? It’s the classic question many previous Yukon Selects rookies have asked prior to embarking on the 20-hour road trip. Along with three teammates, I have just piled into a tiny Nissan, bound for Prince George, BC. The three of us who have done the tour before and are familiar with the …
