I guess I feel odd about it because I don't really like thinking about my time over there, it gets me down and I can't think of anything positive to write. The day I left the UK was tough, and during my seven months in Vancouver my anxiety meant that - apart from when I went on organised group trips - I spent most of my time in my room. While I lived in a shared house with nine other people, got along with them and socialised a little, I didn't make any real connections or friends. I had done little research or planning and didn't start looking for a job until I'd done the trips I wanted to do and so many months had passed by then. I didn't go out exploring much at all, and I hate that I wasted so much time in a really cool city and a stunning country, and wasted a large portion of my life savings doing so. I did not make the most of my time there, and don't think I've fully forgiven myself for that yet, even though I couldn't have done any differently at the time.
I don't look back at my time in Canada as an amazing, life-changing experience from which I learned a lot. Another reason why thinking about it gets me down is because I feel I haven't done or achieved very much in my life since coming back - a lot of "should"s. But I know I'm hard on myself. I know that going over there was very brave, and there were a few occasions where I pushed myself out of my comfort zone and did something. And even though I often don't feel like this is the case, or am unable to see how it's the case, I know I've grown quite a bit, such as in confidence.
Enough dwelling on things that get me down. Looking through the photos might cheer me up. The good bits about my time in Canada can be found in the blog I kept, which you can read (or re-read) here: https://lem-canada.blogspot.com/. Unfortunately I was lazy and didn't write about my last few days out there in early February 2014, when I went up north to the Yukon. So maybe I'll write about that now!
Yukon Territory, generally referred to as "the Yukon", is to the north of British Columbia, and I went up there to hopefully see the aurora borealis, go dog-sledding, and experience a real Canadian winter. I stayed in Whitehorse, the territory's capital, located on the Yukon River. I absolutely love the history, it's fascinating. Prior to 1897 it was a very small nameless community based around seasonal fishing camps, but when gold was discovered in the Klondike region to the north, people stampeded to the area and a town quickly sprang up. Around a hundred thousand prospectors set off, many going via the ports on the southwest Alaskan coast then trekking over mountain passes to Whitehorse, from where they could take the Yukon River a few hundred miles further north to the goldfields and the boom town of Dawson City. Only about 30,000 people arrived there, though - many gave up, others died. I do think they were all crazy: the journey was perilous, they had to carry all their own equipment and a year's supply of food, and the Yukon has a sub-arctic climate so, while the short summers are pleasant, winter temperatures average around -20C, the rivers completely freeze over, and much of the ground they had to dig through was permafrost. Just do a Google Image search for "Chilkoot Pass", you'll see some of the photos of the lines of people, looking like ants, making their way up the infamous Golden Staircase. Most ended up being disappointed; a lot of the gold had been dug up by the people who originally found it, and what was left was distributed unevenly. In 1899 gold was found in western Alaska, so many prospectors left the Klondike and the world's last great gold rush was over within just two years of starting. Whitehorse now has a population of around 25,000 people, and Dawson City less than 1500 people.
For the few days I was there I had to hire suitable winter overtrousers, coat, boots, and gloves, to wear on top of normal winter layers - which left me looking like a Michelin Man! During the daytime I could get away with a regular fleece-lined beanie, but when going out at night for the aurora-watching trips, I had to put on one of those trapper hats with the flexible ear flaps covering the ears and cheeks, so I felt even more ridiculous than during the daytime. Definitely needed it, though. I can't begin to describe that level of cold - as I said, minus 20 Celcius. It's sharp, biting, and so dry that it feels better to keep your scarf wrapped around your mouth and nose to try and retain a bit of moisture - but that means that very soon you feel little prickly spiky ice crystals against your face where the scarf, damp from your breath, is freezing. If you choose to keep your mouth and nose exposed then you experience the peculiar sensation of the little hairs inside your nostrils freezing, and sometimes your eyelashes too, and basically any exposed hair. It's instantaneous, the moment you step outside. The proper winter clothes covering the rest of you mean you're comfortable, though, and can get out and about =]
I didn't keep a diary so can't remember most things, the smaller details I usually include in travel posts, but I know what I did. On the first full day I did a guided nature hike. The guide took me and one other person just outside town to the forest, where she talked about the local wildlife and plantlife and hibernation and things. At one point we came to a clearing providing a wonderful view stretching over the frozen river and cliffs and mountains and forest. The silence, the hush that surrounded you in this wilderness, that was awesome too.
On the second day I went on another organised group tour to a wildlife preserve, so it was cool to see the animals - bison, ox, moose (huge), Arctic fox (cute), lynx (gorgeous massive cat with huge padded paws!), etc. I left the best thing for last and did the dog-sledding on the final day. That was great fun! The proper term for it is "mushing". We went out to the dog kennels not far from town, got told a bit about the history and the annual 1000-mile Yukon Quest race and stuff, and eventually got to run our own dog team for a short while! The dogs were harnessed and hitched to the sleds, the group of people were put into pairs, and we set off for a two-hour trip around the area. Each person got an hour sat in the basket of the sled, enjoying the ride, and an hour stood on the back, driving it - which is pretty simple, so not too difficult to get the hang of. The dogs know what they're doing, you don't have to do much. It's a great way to travel and get around.
My three nights in Whitehorse were largely spent, between 10pm and 2am anyway, outdoors, wrapped up in my Michelin Man layers, hoping to see the Northern Lights! It was another organised group tour and we went by minibus to a place away from the lights of town. There was a campfire to sit around, and a hut to go sit inside to get a little warmer and something hot to drink. Some people set up tripods and cameras. I don't think we saw the aurora the first couple of nights, certainly not on the first, but the stars were stunning, and eventually we were lucky. The cameras picked it up before our eyes did. At first it looked like cloud, a faint haze, but gradually it became a bit brighter and took on a slight green hue, and after a little longer you could just about tell that it was ever so slightly and slowly shifting. It was surreal, a bit like your eyes were playing tricks on you. It never looked as it does on photos and TV - clear and bright and vibrant - only the cameras picked that up. But there were a few people in the group who were on an aurora-chasing holiday, going to various places, and they said they'd seen it with their eyes as you see it on TV, so it is possible! Even if it wasn't as spectacular, it's so cool that I've seen the aurora borealis :)
I only got a few hours sleep upon returning to the hotel that third night, as I had to be up super early for my flight back to Vancouver, where I then spent eight hours in the airport before my flight back home for good. I don't know why I didn't leave my case in a storage locker and head back to the city for a few hours, but hey ho, I didn't do a lot of things over there. I really, really want to go back to Canada. Back to Vancouver, Vancouver Island, Whitehorse, the Okanagan, the Rockies, and to places I didn't visit like Dawson City. I wouldn't mind at some point going further east to places like Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories, the east coast Maritime Provinces (particularly Nova Scotia and - home of beloved Anne of Green Gables - Prince Edward Island), and perhaps Montreal, maybe taking the week-long coast-to-coast train across the whole country so I get to see the vast prairies of the central provinces, too. But the west is stunning and I'd rather go back there first, and in a way make up for what I missed the first time around.
...Well that turned out to be longer than I expected, haha, but it has cheered me up - and now you have a little account of my mini-trip to the Yukon, and what I did during my last few days over in Canada in 2014 =]
No comments:
Post a Comment