Muskrat Trapping and Grey Owls

Muskrat trapping and skinning was one of my highlights from Culture Camp. Because of the wind (and being shut in the kitchen tent for three full days) our trapping and snaring time was shortened. I will describe a bit about muskrat trapping and rabbit snaring here.

The view from the muskrat trapping lakes

To trap a muskrat you first need to locate the muskrat push up on the lake you are trapping on. The muskrat push up is where the muskrats keep their food. They keep it open and work very hard to not let it freeze over completely. The trap is set under the muskrat push up, knowing that the muskrat comes there to feed.

The traps are checked the day after they are set. Of the two initial traps we set, we trapped two muskrats. One was dead, but the second was alive. It was writhing around like crazy, and biting at the person removing the trap. I had to look away for the next thing that happened.

Pulling out the trapped muskrat

The muskrats are skinned by first cutting off the legs and skinning it from the bottom up. After the legs are cut off, the muskrat is hung from the ceiling to make the skinning process easier (cutting downwards, using gravity to help). The muskrats were boiled to eat and the skins can be used to make mitts or hats.

Skinned muskrat ready to be boiled, and fur ready to be turned into mitts or a hat

We didn't catch any rabbits in our snares. I did an acrylic painting of a rabbit hoping it would help, but it didn't. While checking traps, however, we did see a grey owl, which was another highlight of Culture Camp. The grey owl was on the look out for rabbits too. I trust that he had better luck than us. We were able to observe him for some time and below are a few photos of him hunting from a tree and flying away.

Grey owl flying away, off to hunt rabbits

Grey owl hunting from atop a tree

I'm really enjoying life in Old Crow. The Yukon has some kind of magic and magnetic appeal that is difficult to describe. My puppy, Ayla is keeping me busy, and she is turning out to be a wonderful ski buddy for my mostly daily skate ski on the river.

I am preparing to go to Dawson City again in a few weeks for a violin residency that will hopefully help me and a friend here start a fiddle program for students to learn how to play the fiddle.

The daylight is coming back faster than I ever could have imagined. It gets light at 6am now, and doesn't get dark until 10pm. It 9pm right now, and it is as light outside as it is in the afternoon. It is amazing how light affects the human body. I find that I don't get tired at the same time at night that I normally do. I also feel much more awake in the mornings. In not too long, it will be light all the time. People tin foil their windows to keep it dark...should be interesting.

Hope you all are well.

Warm Regards from Old Crow,

Haley

Culture Camp

As mentioned, Culture Camp is a 7 day winter camping trip and is a chance for students to learn and practise traditional skills like hunting, trapping, snaring and arts. It was an incredible experience which I feel quite honoured to have been a part of. This post will be a very brief explanation of Culture Camp. The photos were taken after our 3-day shut in (not going further than the kitchen tent or the sleeping tents for 3 days because of intense wind). So these photos don't give a totally accurate explanation of the wind we experienced for 3 days.

Culture Camp set up

The camp itself is much more elaborate than I pictured. There are about 6 permanent tent frames, with non-permanent canvas that just goes over when they are being used. Each tent has a wood stove in it and is equipped with bunks or cots.

Sleeping tents at Culture Camp

The lake itself is a 20 minute skidoo ride from Old Crow and as mentioned, is on White Fish Lake. All our muskrat trapping was done on a lake about a kilometre away (which we walked to) and the rabbit snaring was done on a creek about the same distance away.

Caribou meat

The students do indoor lessons that relate to the curriculum but that also help them learn about and connect to their culture in some way. They also spend a lot of time learning trapping and snaring skills out on the land. The students were very skilled at what they do, and they impressed me continually throughout the week.

Some of the lessons were:

-Skidoo Maintenance
-Dog Care and dogsledding
- Muscrat skinning
-Beading
-How the Gwitch'in used the tthal (caribou fence) to trap and kill caribou
-Food Safe
-Meat drying
-Rabbit Snaring
-Muskrat trapping

The Vuntut Gwitch'in People are known for their beautiful and intricate beading

A few of my highlights from Culture camp was seeing the best Northern lights I have ever witnessed, learning how to set muskrat traps, learning dog care and handling and seeing a beautiful grey owl and observing it for some time.

Recently trapped muskrat

This is a very short overview of Culture Camp, and is meant just to give a brief look at Culture Camp. I will put more detailed posts and more photos in the next few days. Mahsi Cho (big thank you) for reading!

Warm Regards from Old Crow,

Haley

Wind Chill

Wind over the Crow River

 Hello Family and Friends! I got back from Culture Camp this afternoon and had a wonderful week out on the land with my class, some locals, Elders, community members and the 7,8,9 teacher from last year who was coordinating the trip. Culture Camp is an experiential learning project supported by the Vuntut Gwitch'in First Nation and the Yukon Government. It is land-based learning, where students learn traditional skills that directly connect to the curriculum for their grade.

More about Culture Camp in tomorrow's post, but today's post will be about wind chill. These photos were taken last Sunday, the day we were supposed to leave for Culture Camp. The trip was postponed due to a wind chill in the -40s. I went out for a ski and took these photos on the Crow River.

Diamond-like ice

On sunny days and in some places, you can see the river bottom through the ice

Almost skateable ice on the Crow River

Wind chill, or the wind chill factor is the felt air temperature on exposed skin due to wind. It is always lower than the air temperature. The day we were to leave for Culture Camp, the air temperature was only -28, but the wind chill was in the -40s.

My neck warmer has been my saving grace for wind chill, and it is probably one of my most utilized pieces of clothing in Old Crow.

Even the banks of the river are wind swept

I have so much to tell about Culture Camp and all that I learned and experienced there and how incredible it is to see my students learning and practicing traditional skills. That will be my post tomorrow.

Thank you for reading, and hoping you are enjoying the first days of spring wherever you may be.

Warm Regards from Old Crow,

Haley

Dawson City

The Robert Service Cabin

The Yukon might be best known for the Klondike gold rush. And for good reason. The Klondike gold rush was a monumental time period in history and is an epic story of adventure, greed, danger and daring people from the past.

In 1896 gold was discovered in Rabbit Creek (now known as Bonanza Creek). When previously poor men began arriving in California cities by boat with suitcases bursting with gold, news spread quickly and many people began heading north in search of fortune and adventure.

The Yukon River  and Bonanza Creek (setting for the Klondike gold rush) behind us

An estimated 100 000 people were part of the Klondike gold rush. Some took ships from the United States and others made the trek by land. Many didn't survive, perishing on the Chilkoot Pass, the White Pass or on the Yukon River.

Beginning our descent from 'The Dome' hike. The Yukon River and Bonanza Creek in the background.

Dawson City was born and became a booming town of 30 000 people, making it bigger than Vancouver and Victoria. Can you believe that a village of 1500 people was once the largest city north of Seattle and west of Winnipeg? Brothels, gambling halls and restaurants popped up all over. The town has been preserved and strict building codes have managed to keep it looking very authentic and very much like it once did. The entire town is a National Historic Site and Dawson City has been called a "Living Museum.'

A world famous gambling hall that has been around since the gold rush days. Before leaving for Dawson, my Dad send me a photo of himself in 1977 standing in front of this looking like a Yukon Eric Foreman. Pretty awesome.

I walked to Robert Service's cabin with a blues musician I met while in Dawson. We walked around the outside of the cabin, happy to be the only ones (unlike summer when it would have been crawling with tourists). Robert Service is a famous poet, originally from England but who spent his life bouncing around California, Mexico and eventually Canada. He farmed on Vancouver Island, lived in Vancouver and spent the years between 1909 and 1912 living and writing in his cabin in Dawson City. I adore Robert Service's work and he has been called the "Canadian Kipling," (likening him to Rudyard Kipling, another famous poet and writer).

One of the many preserved hills in Dawson. 'The Dome' slide in the background.

I hiked the dome with my wonderful hosts and explored the town as much as I could in my short time there. In my last post I mentioned the off-grid house I visited and (90% local) dinner I had there. The hospitality, kindness and welcoming nature of people in Dawson was incredible.

Ice statue on the Yukon River.

A sense of adventure, excitement and wealth (gold is still being mined) still exists in Dawson today. It is a town that values art, music, adventure and excitement and a town that seems like it would accept almost any type of person. I was sad for my trip to Dawson to end, but happy to head back to Old Crow, where my warm house and my puppy awaited me.

My host in West Dawson's bus that they road tripped in to Newfoundland and back. Yukoners are adventurous folk.

View on my flight back to Old Crow. The way the flights work had me flying from Dawson City to Inuvik (NWT) and then from Inuvik to Old Crow. Stunning views of the land.

In other news, I got frostbite for the first time last night. I neglected to cover my nose enough with my neckwarmer while skiing an 8km loop with my neighbours. Luckily they noticed and I covered it before it got any worse. It didn't go past the early stages and thankfully didn't hurt when it thawed out.

Tomorrow I leave for 8 days and won't be posting during that time. I am going to Culture Camp with my class. Culture Camp is a land-based experiential education learning experience for all students at the school I work at. It is a time for students to learn and practice traditional skills like hunting, trapping, skinning, cooking and arts. They also practice Gwitch'in, their traditional language. We started filling out our Culture Camp manuals yesterday and I will share my two goals below:

1) Learn to skin rabbit and muscat

2) Learn at least 5 common Gwitch'in phrases. So far my knowledege is words, and I would like to learn more phrases.

Thanks for reading my blog. I trust spring has arrived in the places most of you are reading this. Enjoy the return of the light and the warmth and Mahsi Cho (thank you) for reading my blog!

Warm Regards from Old Crow,

Haley

Dog Mushing on the Yukon River

The world seems a lot smaller when you realise that a person you grew up and went to University with has taught at the same remote Yukon school that you have. This friend that I'm talking about is the reason I went to Dawson City for part of my March break from school. I had an amazing visit and everyone in Dawson (and the Yukon for that matter) has been such wonderful hosts to me. For that I'm so thankful. Thanks, Andy Ledue!

My Amazing hosts in Dawson (taken from the Dome)

Dawson City has been called a "living museum" and I would have to agree. I will post more about Dawson and the things I did there, (and a bit about its history) but this post has to be about mushing. I am still on a bit of an adrenaline rush from it and need to describe it.

Mushing dogs on the Yukon River (note the ice lantern on the left)

Before describing the mushing, I will explain how I came to do it. My first night in Dawson I met friends of Andy Ledue, who are an amazing German couple who have lived in the Yukon for ten years. They live in an off-grid cabin that was built in 1901 and that is located in "Sunnydale" or West Dawson. This area is across the river from Dawson City. There is a good chance that Robert Service has been in that house before. Andy, his wonderful girlfriend, an unreal Blues musician from Toronto and myself visited Sunnydale for a night of song writing, Yukon-grown food and incredible off-grid life. My mushing experience was my transportation back from the off-grid house in Sunnydale.

On the Yukon River with Dawson City in the background

Most of the trail was downhill, and we were going faster than I ever thought possible by dogsled. I was sitting in the basket and was so enthralled by the experience (but also wondering if my medical insurance would cover an injury incurred by dog sledding). Mere minutes after wondering this, we have failed to make  a sharp turn after coming off a road onto trail and are in two foot deep snow, and in a big group of willow trees. Nobody was hurt, and it just added to the incredible adventure.

The dogs, eating local Yukon River chum salmon the day before I went mushing

After coming out of the bush and onto the river, the trip was a lot slower because we were on flat ground. The sun was shining and Dawson could be seen in the distance. We passed a few skijourers (people skiing with some help from dogs) and passed a race car track on the ice that some not-as-granola-types of Dawson City have set up. After this mushing madness, I had a similar feeling as I did after trying bungy jumping.

Thanks for reading my blog and more to come about Dawson City in upcoming posts.

Warm Regards from Old Crow,

Haley

Birds of Old Crow

I really like the fence by this cabin up Crow Mountain Road

So I'm twenty-five years old and I like bird watching. Funny maybe, but it's true. I have really liked birds since I was a little kid, but I got especially interested in observing and identifying birds last summer while tree planting. One of my campsites was on a beautiful point of a lake (between Burns Lake and Houston) where we were surrounded by different types of birds. We watched kingfishers swoop down and catch fish from the lake, saw cedar waxwings land in the trees near our tent and watched through binoculars as a group of crows inhabited an incredibly high and dead tree on the opposite side of the lake.

An evening ski with my neighbours turned into a great bird watching trip and so in this post I'll tell a bit about the birds we saw and heard. I didn't get any photographs of these birds and I only want my own photos on my blog, so I apologise for the lack of photos of these Old Crow birds. I'll work on taking some.

Grouse, not ptarmigan

I'll start by mentioning that in my post about hoar frost where I mentioned the bird in the above photo, I was mistaken in what it is. It's a grouse, not a ptarmigan. I saw eleven ptarmigans on my walk yesterday. They are totally white in colour, except for their black beaks and small black eyes. They camouflage into the snow remarkably well and have large, feathered feet so that they float on the snow. In summer they are brown to camouflage into the summer landscape.

The first bird we saw on our afternoon ski was a boreal chickadee. They looked similar to the black-capped chickadees from southern Canada, but have a reddish-brown chest instead of being all black, white and grey. The ones we saw were puffed up and we revelled in the fact that they can survive -40s weather being so small. Their metabolisms must be insanely high in winter.

Walking by the lake near my house

A new bird for me was the white-capped crossbill. We saw a flock of them fly from the spruce trees just off the trail from us. Their bills are apparently especially made for breaking open spruce cones for eating at any time of the year.

Twelve kilometres later, at the bottom of a super fun long downhill part of the trail, we heard a great horned owl. Their majestic and almost eerie calls are a mating call apparently. The loop we skied took much longer than it apparently usually takes, as we were breaking track for most of the trail, sometimes through 3 feet drifts. It was a beautiful ski though, and I was happy to see a few new species of birds and learn more about more common ones.

Where I live

Despite the town's name of Old Crow (named after a respected chief called Crow May I Walk, Deetru' K'avihdik) there are far more ravens around than crows. Every day I see and hear ravens and they are even larger than the ones in Northern BC or Haida Gwaii (and that's big!). The other day I was walking my pup off leash, when a raven came out of nowhere and swooped down inches away from the pup and then swooped back up into the air. I asked my neighbours about this and they explained that ravens aren't birds of prey, but are scavengers and will get food any way they can. We also discussed how ravens are known as 'The Trickster' in some First Nations mythology and that ravens truly are teasers and instigators of trouble. They told me that ravens have been know to fly down and peck the bums of land animals just for fun and to torment them.

Sunset beside the air strip

 Tomorrow I leave Old Crow for  a few days, so my next post won't be until next week. Mahsi Cho (thank you) once again for reading and watch out for those sneaky ravens if you have any in your neighbourhood!

Warm Regards from Old Crow,

Haley

Fly-In Life

Sign near the airport

This is my first time living in a fly-in community. I have passed through fly-in communities during canoe voyages, but never lived in one until now. During a canoe trip on the Albany River, we stopped in Ogoki to pick up food that was mailed to us in cardboard boxes via Canada Post. I have finished canoe trips in Waskaganish, Fort Albany and Attawapiskat which has been in the news a lot recently. I had always wondered what life would be like in a fly-in community and I'm really excited to be finding out during my time in Old Crow.

The first question I had about living in a place accessibly only by plane was the food situation. When I arrived in Old Crow initially, I brought groceries with me from Whitehorse. Then I spent the next week and a half figuring out how to do a food order. Now to get my food I email a grocery store in Whitehorse with the items I would like. They charge it to my credit card (with an extra charge for delivery) and it gets flown in to me. There is also a charge from the airline, dependent on the weight of my order. The boxes are labelled 'frozen' and 'refrigerated.' 

Even massive machinery needs to be flown in

Another interesting thing about living in a fly-in community is that everything (that wasn't made, grown or hunted) in Old Crow needs to be brought in by plane. I was pretty surprised to see this massive machinery parked next to the airport when I first arrived. It was brought in by a Hercules plane and is used to maintain the roads that are in town. I would estimate that in town itself there are no more than 10km of roads to be maintained.

Windswept Porcupine River

Frequently hearing planes is something else I am getting used to. Planes can be heard a few times a day, taking off or landing from the Old Crow air strip. I hear them from the school, my house, or while cross country skiing on the windswept Porcupine River.

Standing on the Porcupine River with Old Crow behind me

Last night I had dinner at my neighbours across the street and they served caribou that she had shot herself. Pretty awesome and tasty, even though I'm usually a vegetarian! I think I will be a vegetarian with the exception for caribou meat. Mahsi Cho (thank you) for reading.

Warm Regards from Old Crow,

Haley

The Richardson Mountains

Mounds of grass under the snow. Anyone know the proper geographical name for these?

Yesterday afternoon I went for a long walk with a few girls from town who I have become friends with. Our walk was a good two hours long and gave an incredible view of the Richardson Mountain range. This post will talk a bit about the Richardson Mountains as well as the trees we walked through for most of the walk.

The Richardson Mountain range

We walked across the Porcupine River and followed a skidoo trail that residents of Old Crow use to get fire wood. Wood heat is the most common way people heat their houses here and wood hauling is a big job in the winter. Although probably arduous work, (yet to get out and try it myself) it seems like most people enjoy wood hauling, as it is a way to get out on the land.

The first point of interest we reached was quite a wide creek. When I asked her how big the creek was in summer, my friend was unsure. She noted that she had never been to this side of the river in summer and spring and didn't think many people would have a reason to cross the river in a month other than the winter ones.

Crow Mountain is part of the Richardson range

The Richardson mountains behind a lake we reached on our walk

The Richardson Mountains are the range visible in the photos. Named after Scottish arctic explorer and naturalist John Richardson, they are some of the most remote and least disturbed areas of North America. They are sometimes considered an extension of the Canadian Rockies, although they are technically a sub-range of the Brooks Range (a mountain range mostly in Alaska). The Richardson Mountains are the range visible from the Dempster Highway, which my roomate tells me I need to drive because I would love it. I think she's probably right. Dempster road trip this summer, anyone?

Black Spruce trees

We walked through stand after stand of black spruce (Pete, please help me out with the trees here if I'm mistaken). My friend thought the short ones closer to the trail were ones that were cut down in past years and are growing back. There were also a few birch trees of some kind and some type of aspen (quaking aspen?).

This photo reminds me of the book title 'Through Black Spruce'

The view of black spruce as far as the eye could see reminded me a lot of Northern Ontario and Northern Quebec. I think (and again Pete, correct me if I'm mistaken :) ) that this is boreal forest. When I arrived in Old Crow I was quite surprised with how many trees there were here. My roomate told me the Mackenzie River delta is the reason trees can grow this far North. I think this is one of the last places there are trees before reaching the Beaufort Sea.

Walking over the Porcupine River after the walk

The Richardson mountains are home to dall sheep, grizzly bears and caribou. The Porcupine caribou herd is 123 000 strong and makes a migration to and from their calving grounds each year. The calving grounds are located in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. This migration is the longest land migration by any animal on Earth.

Anyone who has watched 'Being Caribou' witnessed a Canadian couple travel with the caribou herd for five months trying to raise awareness about the ANWR and the detrimental affects potential oil exploration would have on the caribou. The couple started and ended their trip in Old Crow and braved wolves, grizzly bears and viscious mosquitoes that also follow the caribou. The Porcupine caribou herd will migrate through Old Crow in April or May.

Mahsi Cho (thank you in Gwitch'in) for reading and for all the emails and texts keeping in touch. I hope everyone is well and having a good March so far.

Warm Regards from Old Crow,

Haley

Hoar Frost

Ptarmigan in a hoar frosted tree

Hoar frost is a common occurrence here in Old Crow. Hoar frost is the  solid deposition of water vapour from saturated air.  The ice crystals of ice fog attach themselves onto surfaces that are exposed to the fog, including trees, fences, bushes, hats, neck warmers, eye lashes and dog whiskers. Below are a few visual explanations of hoar frost.

Hoar Frost loves eye lashes

Hoar frosted dogs

Hoar frosted landscape with Crow Mountain in the background

I have been cross country skiing a lot in the recent days. The river is my favourite place to go even though it's often extremely windy. It gives an amazing view of the sky and is one of the most peaceful places I have ever been. My other favourite place to ski and walk is a skidoo trail that goes up behind the small subdivision behind my house. I watched the sunrise from this hill during my first week here. I have posted a few photos of that below. There is something primitively completing about watching the sun rise over the horizon. I sometimes think of what it would be like to be able to attach an emotion to a photograph. I wish I could attach the serene beauty of the moment to these photographs.

Sunrise over Old Crow

Welcome, day!

On a more practical note than sun rises and ice fog, a friend from Port Alberni recently asked about the water and sewage system at the housese here. Water and sewage (at my house anyway) are on closed systems. Water is delivered each day by a water truck. Sewage is taken every few days by a sewage truck. I assume it's the permafrost that prevents sewage systems at each dwelling.

There are only several vehicles in town. Most people's transportation is by skidoo in the winter and quad in the summer months. There are maybe 12 operating trucks/vans/SUVs in town, belonging to locals, the school, the RCMP, the Government and Air North.

Muskrat push up on a lake

The photo above is a muscrat push up. From what I understand, this is the place where muscrats store food. It is a way the Vuntut Gwitch'in find the muscrats to hunt in lakes and rivers. I am going to learn much more about muscrat push-ups when I attend Culture Camp with my class. Culture Camp is a land-based traditional skills program put on by the Vuntut Gwitch'in Government. It is a way for Elders and community members to teach the youth and children traditional skills like hunting, trapping, and the arts. I am so excited for this experience which starts on March 18th. More about muscrat push ups after Culture Camp!

Warm Regards from Old Crow,

Haley