Tombstone Territorial Park - multiday hike to Grizzly, Divide and Talus Lakes

July 18, 2024 by Catherine Forest in Hiking, Yukon, Backpacking

First, please know that this is ideally not a first time backpacking trip. The trail is rugged and unforgiving, especially when wet. It is very challenging in certain parts and the 46 km definitely takes longer than the distance suggests (not many of those are easy miles - or km!). The trail requires full attention from km 2 all the way to Divide Lake. The 6 km section between Divide Lake and Talus Lake is the easiest.

The first day from the trailhead to Grizzly Lake is 11 km, but with 878 m of positive elevation and 444 m of negative one, and most of it on rocks from km 2 onward, it makes for a challenging day, especially when wet.

It was raining for most of the day and with a 30 minutes lunch break, it took us 7 hours.

John filtering water from Grizzly Lake in the morning sun on Day 2.

JF going up Glissade Pass. You can see Grizzly Lake and the white cooking tents on the shore.

When leaving Grizzly Lake you have to get up and over the infamous Glissade Pass. The ranger told us that many people turned around at the top in the last few weeks, too scared to go down. Usually, the snow had melted by now. The sleep incline and the exposure made for a very impressive sight. If it hadn’t been for JF’s confidence, Aïsha’s enthusiasm and John’s support, I very much doubt I would have attempted it.

Be warned that these are no NPS American Rangers. “There’s a little river crossing before Grizzly” means “You could easily fall in without experience or proper river crossing shoes and it’s quite slippery and ice cold.” And “There is still snow on Glissade Pass, just dig your heels” means “You will likely feel like you might slip to your death, crampons are a good idea”.

JF going down Glissade Pass. It was steeper than it looks. It was indeed so steep that people who turned around asked us if we went down facing the mountain, like on a ladder.

Hiking past Divide Lake on our way to Talus.

Our second day of hiking from Grizzly Lake to Talus Lake will likely remain one of the most memorable hiking days of my life.

Our campspot at Talus Lake, overlooking Tombstone Mountain hidden on the far right.

The most popular time to visit is the end of August because of the fall colors, but unfortunately, since there are only 4 tent pads at Talus (the most spectacular spot), they are all booked very quickly by tour companies flying photographers over (and back) by helicopter for 10,000$/person. The ranger we met said it was quite a sight to see. Women in high heels and rolling suitcases, rangers being treated like bell boys… so yeah, unless you want to people watch, I’d book at a different time!

We had the place to ourselves and it was pure bliss.

John went into each of the 3 lakes. It was cramping cold.

Here are some stats for people who are interested:

Trailhead to Grizzly Lake: 11 km 878 m + et 444 m -

Grizzly Lake to Divide Lake: 6 km with Glissade Pass being 1,8 km with 400 m+ et 400 m- (crazy steep!)

Divide to Talus: 6 km 200 m+ 190 m- (the easy part!)

We strongly suggest the following itinerary: 1st night -Grizzly, 2nd night - Talus, 3rd night-Divide, 4th night - Grizzly.

Reserve one night before your trip at the territorial campground 15 km from the trailhead and the last night as well. You do not want to have to drive back 6-7 hours to Whitehorse on that same day.

2 am on July 10th at Grizzly Lake. No need to pack a headlamp!

Also, our packs were very light for 5 days and it made the technical sections more manageable and the rest of the hike more pleasant (without water):

John: 35 lbs (which is great given that the bag itself weighs 7 1/2 lbs!)

JF: 33 lbs

Aïsha: 25 lbs

Cat: 23 lbs

The return from Grizzly Lake to the trailhead on Day 5 was a slog… We were in the thick fog the whole time and it rained non-stop, making for a very slippery terrain.

A winter in the Yukon

April 13, 2023 by Catherine Forest in Yukon

On our way North with the Audi. We packed everything we would need for 6 months!

I’ve been asked by some of you to share how it has felt to be temporarily sedentary after almost 10 years of nomadism.

It wasn’t easy. Especially since it also happened at the same time as the twins moving away to go to University (Aïsha is in Montreal and Mara in Victoria).

I missed what was my normal for so many years: the movement of the road, the togetherness of our days. The spontaneity. And the feeling of aliveness that came with it.

I missed the bus as an extension of myself.

At home at the housesit where we would stay for 6 months near Whitehorse.

I have long wondered why I could not stay in place, what was wrong with me for always craving new adventures to the point that staying put made me feel like a part of myself was missing.

Trying to be sedentary feels like Groundhog Day for me. I feel stuck. I feel dull.

That’s the part where you roll your eyes and think how much I sound like a privileged child.

I get it. I am. And that’s why I hesitated to share this.

We had a week without snow when we arrived and I made the most of it picking rosehips and cranberries.

I could have avoided exposing this not-so-admirable part of myself and tell you that I was meditating on impermanence, loss and love. That I loved the house we were renting, the fireplace, the animals, the trails right at our doorstep. That I was thankful to have more time with friends, opportunities to be more involved in the community, that I loved the silence of winter and the wildness of this place.

And it would all be true.

Wood chopping and stacking for the winter.

For Mathilde’s birthday, we went to Lumel studio and she made a pendant with Stout’s ashes in it.

But the question was: how did it feel? And the answer to that is that I was struggling.

I felt like I was waiting for Spring, like I was biding my time, like a part of my identity was on hold.

There were days where it felt like a soul sadness. And that’s when I confused it with depression.

But it was not.

We walked in the forest behind the house daily with the dogs. There were miles and miles of trails and never a soul on them.

I know many people will read that and think: of course, I would also much prefer a life of travel to the life I have, stuck at home for most of the year. But the truth is that many people have enough of it after a year of full-time travel. It’s not true that it is for everybody.

We are all different and I realize that I do better when I move around more.

For many people, it is exhausting.

We went Christmas tree harvesting. The sun barely got over the mountain at that time of year. It was dark until 11 am…

There were lots of dog snuggles and great time with friends.

Sam Woolfe writes this on his blog:

When you return home, there can also be a kind of reverse culture shock, where your comfort zone is challenged, not by the novelty of a new country, but by the familiarity of home.

So after the initial reunion and catch up with family and friends, you realize your previous way of life has ended, and you must now re-adjust back to going to the same places, seeing the same people and staying in one place.

From the point of view of everyone else, though, complaining about coming back can seem like snobbery, entitlement and avoidance of the ‘real world’ – a curious term that translates into a somewhat depressing situation, of the felt unavoidability of sameness and familiarity.

Some very cold day exploration and hot cider by the fire.

Mara and Aïsha came for 2 weeks during the holiday and it was so good to be all together!

He continues: I cannot help but think about how insane it is that this way of living has become normalised; it is Kafkaesque to the point of causing real and serious anxiety. You have no idea how things got to be set up this way, but you still find yourself inexorably pushed into, and a player in, this strange game called ‘real life’. Everyone does it, so don’t whine about it. But still, the thought is there: How do I get out?

But, to want to avoid this ‘return to reality’ can elicit self-denigration, judging yourself to be lazy, reality-averse, immature, weak – a self-entitled millennial. And you may find yourself having to deal with these judgements from others as well. There are expectations to meet and if you don’t meet them, then you might be considered a drop-out or dysfunctional. Coming ‘back to reality’ is always used in a way to mean that reality is dull and stressful, but it’s just how things are, so you have to deal with it.

(Obviously, post-travel blues are a ‘first-world problem’, so it isn’t an experience that should be catastrophised.)

In February, we had quite the northern light show!

There were moments in my life where staying put felt physically hard, like an ache, or an itch.
Maybe that’s where the expression having itchy feet comes from.

Do you remember the feeling of getting a new coloring book when you were a child? That feeling when you started a new page and completed it. And turned to the next one.

This is what living on the road feels like. A new coloring book page every day.

Hiking to International Falls, between BC and Alaska

August 22, 2022 by Catherine Forest in Alaska, British Columbia, Hiking, Yukon

The International Falls hike starts near the White Pass Summit and is most often in the clouds. We lucked out on a rare bluebird day! The trail starts on the Canadian side of the border and crosses into Alaska, hence its name.

It’s a beautiful hike especially on a sunny day. Be warned that there is a pretty steep descent (with rope assist) at the beginning and a few creek crossing (hiking poles were useful, an extra pair of shoes/socks might be a good idea if the water level is high). You can find all the driving direction and hike info here.

The rest of the trail is an easy gradual climb along the falls and then you can hike as far as you want once you hit the alpine plateau. It’s so beautiful, you just want to keep going, but be mindful that you need to retrace your steps back to the car!

Note: Coming from Whitehorse, you need to cross the Canadian customs (don’t forget your passport or ID), but since the hike starts before the US customs, you don’t need to fill in the ArriveCan documents.

Hiking Ruby Mountain and Monarch Trail, Atlin, BC

August 14, 2022 by Catherine Forest in British Columbia, Camping spots, Hiking, Yukon

Atlin, BC, is a small gold rush town that is only accessible through the Yukon. It’s a 2-hour drive from Whitehorse.

Atlin Lake and the surrounding mountains are stunning and the historic gold rush village complete its charm. I’m not sure why we waited 15 years to come back here, but we are are glad we came on this perfect weekend.

We did two different hikes. The first one (and our favourite) was Ruby Mountain in the Atlin Volcanic Field. You have to drive about 30 min from town to get to the trailhead. If you have a high clearance 4x4 vehicle, you can even drive the first part that is on a mining road (all the info for directions and route finding are well explained here. Make sure to screenshot everything since there is no cell signal in Atlin). The hike starts already in the alpine and there are very few trail markers, so you’ll find having this info on hand useful as you ascend. It’s a short hike to a stunning 360 view with mountains all around as far as the eye can see. We were alone the whole time and even saw Dall sheep! That hike is easily in our top 5.

The trail starts here if you can drive up the mining road (high clearance 4 x 4 needed)

The second day, we did the classic Monarch Trail. The trailhead is only 1 km from the Pine Creek campground. As soon as you start climbing, you get open views of the Atlin Lake and surrounding peaks. You can decide to turn around after about 1.5 km at the second bench before the climb in the forest begins or decide to plow through that steep section without view to get into the alpine for the last 700 meters. The view is beautiful but not as different as you go up. You’ll find the driving directions and trail info here (please note that the name of the road where the trailhead is located is Warm Bay Road NOT Warm Spring Road as indicated).

The camping options are pretty limited, especially with a big bus, but we lucked out on one of of the few sites that are big enough at Pine Creek campground.

There are beautiful walk-in sites in the lower section of the Pine Creek campground.

Note that there is no cell signal anywhere in town. There are limited groceries, but you can get some good BC beer at the Trading Post.

For those who do not follow us on Instagram, Stout passed away on August 2nd. He had a Valley Fever relapsed and even with the medication, his body gave up the fight and he died peacefully in his sleep in the bus. He was six years old. We miss him dearly every day.

Yukon Energy Cycling Championships

June 06, 2019 by Catherine Forest in Yukon, Road biking

Tori, Mathilde and coach Trena racing the Crit on Friday night.

We had all sorts of weather during the Crit and that made for some pretty cool lighting and even a rainbow!

Tori and Mathilde during the Prologue in Whistle Bend on Thursday.

Thomas wearing an aero helmet for the first time. Pride and cuteness overload.

Beautiful wooden medals created by Dave Jackson.

Mathilde helped for a mountain bike race put together by U Kon Echelon and Participaction. She was very proud to give her handmade chocolate to the kids as prizes. They were delighted too, obviously!

The Yukon Energy Road Cycling Championships started on Thursday evening with a race in Whistle Bend, a criterium in Marwell on Friday night, the Southern Lakes Yukon Grandfondo on June 1st — which doubles as a road race in the championships — before concluding with a final time trial race on June 2 on the North Klondike Highway.

Tour de Skagway, AK

May 30, 2019 by Catherine Forest in Alaska, Yukon, Road biking

You know the mountains are big when the bus looks that small.

The head peloton composed for 3 strong men + Mara getting ready to tackle the climb to the summit on the lap race on Saturday.

Trena, Ava, Tori and Mathilde getting fast on the downhill.

11 pm in the Pass. Summer here is truly disorienting. I really struggle to sleep well and enough. Even after so many years of practice, having dark curtains and putting myself in the dark around 9:30 pm (+ using a buff on my eyes + earplugs to not e… — 11 pm in the Pass. Summer here is truly disorienting. I really struggle to sleep well and enough. Even after so many years of practice, having dark curtains and putting myself in the dark around 9:30 pm (+ using a buff on my eyes + earplugs to not ear the birds signing at 3 am…), I still have a restless light sleep. My body is really influenced by light as I have shared many times here and too much light is not better than not enough light for me. I have to cut down on my coffee intake because I truly feel like I’m hyper agitated by all this light. That being said, the midnight sun is something you have to experience at least once in your lifetime.

The start of the hill climb on Sunday morning in the green and lush Coastal forest of Skagway, AK.

Mara and Lukas stuck together for the whole climb and finished super strong hand in hand! I love to see this kind of team spirit!

Westy made it to the summit! That in itself is an accomplishment.

Mathilde was able to finish the hill climb thanks to this awesome young girl who kept encouraging her and stayed with her the whole time. They also got an extra adrenaline boost thanks to a close encounter (4 meters!) with a black bear cub on the si… — Mathilde was able to finish the hill climb thanks to this awesome young girl who kept encouraging her and stayed with her the whole time. They also got an extra adrenaline boost thanks to a close encounter (4 meters!) with a black bear cub on the side of the road

We’re just back from an incredible weekend of racing the Tour de Skagway in the White Pass between Alaska and the Yukon. The weather was perfect, which is rarely the case there, and the riders were strong and ready for a challenge. Because a challenge, it was. On the first day, there was a 20 km Time Trial and a 72 km lap race (24 or 48 km for some), and on the second day, there was the hill climb, which started from Skagway, AK, at sea level all the way to the White Pass summit at 3292 feet. It is rated the second hardest hill climb in Canada!

Tour the Haines Junction + Kluane National Park

May 20, 2019 by Catherine Forest in Yukon, Road biking

Kluane National Park has a special meaning to us: it’s the first place where we had our first real taste of the Yukon when we spent a weekend hiking with our new Yukon friends in July 2003. This is also where the twins were conceived on that same trip… So there is a bit of our family history here.

Every time we drive from Whitehorse to Haines Junction, we are in awe at the incredible landscape that greets us. You just can’t get used to so much beauty. You know, a lot of people who did the trip to Alaska tell us that Kluane National Park was the highlight of their trip. Just so you know, it’s an hour and a half from Whitehorse and it will save you hours of boring drive to get to similar landscapes in AK… From there, you can simply drive 3 more hours and get to Haines, AK, a very cute town with an end of the road feel.

The Tour the Haines was the girls’s first long distance road race. Mara did 100 km, Aïsha did 80 km and Mathilde did 50 km. They all had an awesome race! And you know, with such an incredible backdrop, you can’t help but enjoy the ride!

Whitehorse, Yukon

May 15, 2019 by Catherine Forest in Yukon, Road biking

Our friends’ beautiful backyard that we are so very glad to be able to enjoy while we are in Whitehorse.

I'm so excited to finally have my copy of Go-Van’s book. There are so much great information on there and I'm so glad they highlighted all the places they talk about to make it easy to refer back to the book as needed. And I'm so excited to see my p… — I'm so excited to finally have my copy of Go-Van’s book. There are so much great information on there and I'm so glad they highlighted all the places they talk about to make it easy to refer back to the book as needed. And I'm so excited to see my photos and words in print in a book!!! It is available (in French) in all the librairies in Quebec!

The girls raced their first ever Criterium. What is that you wonder? A criterium, or crit, is a road bike race consisting of several laps around a short closed circuit. The girls are new to road riding and working with the peloton and knowing what t… — The girls raced their first ever Criterium. What is that you wonder? A criterium, or crit, is a road bike race consisting of several laps around a short closed circuit. The girls are new to road riding and working with the peloton and knowing what to do and when to sprint is an art that has to be learned and experienced over and over. Luckily, this great group at U kon Echelon guided them throughout the race and it was the perfect first experience. They left exhilarated and asking when the next race would be. An undeniable success!

Then this happened. I guess that thing I said about this being the best time of year to drive up the Alaska Highway sure came back to bite me in the butt, didn't it?

Final sprint in her first Time Trial on the Alaska Highway. Can’t hide the mountain biker position yet! Much learning to do in this new discipline.

Yukon kids are tough! That water was freezing… The lake had thawed only 6 days before!!

Historically, coming back to Whitehorse is emotionally charged for me, so I had prepared accordingly. I know myself pretty well and made sure I had a plan in place and that I was regularly checking in with myself. So far, it’s been really good and very pleasant to connect with dear friends. It’s hard to keep our schedule from becoming too packed but I am guarding it pretty well so far.

The girls are really enjoying their road biking experience with the local club and are also able to teach the kids from that club some mountain biking technique since some of them will be heading to the Western Canada Summer Games in August, and that the cycling event combines 2 road biking races and 2 mountain biking races. The Yukon is a great place to learn the ropes of road riding: there is very little trafic and the club is small and full of super helpful people. It’s been so positive! Mathilde has fallen in love with road riding here and might be allowed to go to the Western Games even if she is under 14 if she makes the try outs.

Driving up the Alaska Highway, 2019 Edition

May 03, 2019 by Catherine Forest in British Columbia, Yukon, Hot Springs, Mountain biking

After a few days in Langley (a suburb East of Vancouver) where we went to a garage we really like to get the bus ready for the long drive, we stopped in Hope and slept at the Othello Tunnel trailhead for the night (the exact location is in iOverland… — After a few days in Langley (a suburb East of Vancouver) where we went to a garage we really like to get the bus ready for the long drive, we stopped in Hope and slept at the Othello Tunnel trailhead for the night (the exact location is in iOverlander). It’s a section of the Kettle Valley Trail that leads you along this beautiful baby blue river through many tunnels. Unfortunately the tunnels were closed for the winter season.

It was still a short pretty bike ride. And there was a bear on the trail!!

When then started our way North and were rewarded with incredible views. And snow, which felt pretty exotic to me.

Stone sheep on the side of the road (and on the road licking minerals) in the Stone Mountain Park.

Such a spectacular drive! It’s the first time we drive up that early and it truly is the best time of year to do it!

Muncho Lake, usually turquoise, was still frozen.

The Liard Bison herd. There were lots of brand new calves too!

10 o’clock sky after leaving Liard toward Watson Lake.

We saw lots of cariboos since it was still so early in the season.

We slept at the Watson Lake territorial campground boat launch parking lot since the campsites were still covered in snow! You know what struck me the most this time driving up North: the complete utter silence. It's probably because most of the lak… — We slept at the Watson Lake territorial campground boat launch parking lot since the campsites were still covered in snow! You know what struck me the most this time driving up North: the complete utter silence. It's probably because most of the lakes are still frozen here, but it's as near as the Yukon winter silence as I've been in many many years.

And we made it to our friends’ place in Whitehorse! This is their backyard on Kookatsoon Lake, our view from the bus for the next few weeks!

Camping in BC can be pretty expensive, but it is also fairly easy to find free camping spots as long as you are not on the islands or the coast. We used a combination of iOverlander, Park4night and Campendium (where I posted many reviews years ago about many spots in Northern BC) and were able to not pay for a site once after leaving the island. Granted, there were quite a few parking lot and industrial area nights, but as soon as you get North of Prince George, there are many rest areas and pull outs on the side of the roads where you can sleep for free, all the way to the Yukon!

In the garden, in the kitchen and on the road we go!

August 03, 2017 by Catherine Forest in Yukon, Cocktails

Having fun combining my interest and knowledge of mixology and botanicals.

Making rosemary lemon syrup for our cocktails

The Aurora Borealis

1 oz. Lillet Blanc
1 oz. Yukon Aura gin (a gin little Boodle or even The Botanist would have worked well here, anything that is not too crazy on the juniper or spruce)
1 ½ oz. freshly squeezed grapefruit juice
3/4 oz Odd Society Spirits Bittersweet Vermouth
1 bar spoon of homemade wild rose syrup
½ a bar spoon of homemade rosemary syrup
1 spring of rosemary and 1 lemon rind for garnish

Shake all ingredients (except for garnishes) together in an ice-filled cocktail shaker for about 25 seconds, and then strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

The Provençal sour

1 ½ oz Bourbon
¾ oz Benedictine
¾ oz lemon juice
¾ oz homemade wild rose syrup
2 dashes Peychaud’s bitters
2 dashes of homemade lavender-grapefruit bitters
½ an egg white

Dry shake. Add ice and shake again. Top with dried lavender.

Harvesting wild sage along the Yukon River.

As you can see, our last few weeks in the Yukon were spent harvesting, picking food from our friend's greenhouse, cooking and playing with herbs to make cocktail bitters. What are those, do you ask? I remember when I first read about bitters in cocktails... I thought they sounded so fancy and so hipster... Bitters are a maceration of bitter herbs, citrus peels, spices and other ingredients in alcohol that you add to cocktails (often just a few drops) to give them depth. The combination is limitless and I had a lot of fun preparing my own. I have currently many in the cupboard that I will test in a few weeks (lavender grapefruit bitters, orange wild sage and juniper bitters, rhubarb, chamomile and ginger bitters, lemongrass-cardamom bitters and more!). Yes, it is quite addictive! A fun combination of plant knowledge and kitchen/cocktail fun! It's like magic potion making for adults! And now, with berry season, I am also playing with liqueur/cordial making (I currently have haskap liqueur and black currant liqueur macerating). Those cocktails will just get better!!

We're off down the Cassiar-Stewart Highway for the next few days and will reemerge on the other side after 3-4 days without connexion. Just what we need after an exciting summer full of friends and activities.

Mountain biking, hiking and fishing in Carcross, Yukon

July 21, 2017 by Catherine Forest in Camping spots, Yukon, Hiking, Mountain biking

Getting ready to ride on Montana Mountain.

Ending our ride right on the beach by Bennett Lake.

Her first catch! A beautiful 5 lbs lake trout! She got a second one that was a little smaller!

Hiking up Nares Mountain. Steep, but beautiful!

Mountana Mountain is a mountain biking mecca and people come from far away to ride these beautiful trails. Be warned though, that this is not the best place for a beginner rider. The riding is technical and steep in places, but there is plenty to keep the comfortable intermediate busy. For a longer ride, ride Mc Donald Creek or Nares View. For a quick afternoon ride we like to combine Maggie's Run, Sporting Wood, upper Dei Kwan, Sam McGee and AK DNR (then Mossy all the way to the beach on a nice day). Another good combo is Holey Roads, upper Dei Kwan, Lower Wolverine and Fox. Upper Wolverine will delight the more advanced riders, so will Black Bear and Goat. You can shuttle up or ride the nice uptrack (or do a bit of both!). Get more info on the trails here.

There are two places to camp in the area (on top of an ugly pricy RV park): the Carcross campground is right in town, but in a nice wooded area (that's where we like to stay, riding and walking distance from everything, good cell signal, free wood, included in our Yukon camping pass). There is also a new territorial campground 10 minutes out of town called Conrad. It's also treed and more quiet, but there is no cell signal and you need to drive to get anywhere.

There is the famous Carcross desert where every tour bus coming from Skagway (AK) stops, but there are also some beautiful (and hard!) hiking trails that rewards you with beautiful views of the area after only 10-15 minutes of hiking (no need to go all the way to the top, but we highly recommend it!). I especially recommend you hike Nares Mountain, Caribou mountain or Sam McGee (also called Mountain Hero), 2 km passed Conrad Campground. Bring your bear spray and make lots of noise, we have seen bears on these trails every year we came to hike them.

Carcross is a really cute little town with one of the most beautiful (although often very windy) beaches in the Yukon. The new Carcross Commons is a cluster of tiny houses with Tlingit-inspired facades featuring artisans, an amazing coffee shop, a gelato shop, an authentic maple products shop, a bike shop and lots more. There is also a delicious restaurant called The Bistro.

There isn't much in terms of supply in Carcross. A corner store with pricy crappy food, a laundromat at the RV park (and that allowed us to fill our water jugs there) and dump and fill for $10, no propane, so make sure you come prepare and grocery shop in Whitehorse before coming.

By the way, for those interested, I think my love affair with the Fujifilm x-100t is already over. I miss the bokeh of my Nikon 24-70 mm (on the D700). I know I cannot ask this little camera to do it all well (as my friend Michel says, it's not a grand piano, it's a synthesizer, it doesn't do everything, but what it does, it does well). It's a great second camera, but since I cannot afford 2 cameras, I'll go back to my super heavy work horse. Maybe the xt-1 + the 56 mm f 1.2 would be the answer, but I would need at least another lens (23 mm?), which adds up...

Adäka Cultural Festival

July 03, 2017 by Catherine Forest in Yukon

Adäka means “coming into the light” in the Southern Tutchone language. The Festival is a gathering of many First Nations (mostly from the Yukon, but international First Nations are also featured) to celebrate their vibrant cultures. It is NOT a show put on for white people and the vibe is completely different than the wanna-be-politically-inclusive skits we see First Nation performs at official ceremonies. It's a real celebration by First Nations for the First Nations to which everybody is invited to participate. And it truly feels like an honor to be invited to such a wonderful event.

We hear it all the time: First Nations are so proud of their heritage! But to see it in action is very different. I have had the chance to work with children from different Canadian First Nations last summer and this summer and I felt that pride more than ever in the youth. It was heartwarming to see so many young people perform as dancers and drummers. We could feel the strong connexion and the pleasure they had to be together.

There were also 4 traditional boats being built during the festival and we got to talk for a while with a Maori carver from NZ who was working on adornments for a Tlingit dugout canoe. I loved this excerpt about that project called Dań Kwanje ’Á–Nààn: Voices Across the Water.

Our cultures were overtaken by colonization in the centuries following first contact with newcomers. We persevered in reclaiming our lands, autonomy and cultures. Today 11 of 14 Yukon First Nations are self-governing, exploring new pathways to sustainable prosperity.

Resilient and resourceful Elders survived tough times, preserving our languages and cultures. Honouring them we are building four watercraft ~ a moose skin boat, birch bark canoe, dugout canoe and quyaq ~ for Canada’s 150th anniversary. Like the watercraft of earlier days we have arrived at a new destiny – a place of pride and celebration as independent Indigenous peoples. It is in this spirit that we join with other Canadians – young and old, new arrivals and long time settlers, to commemorate Canada’s 150th anniversary of Confederation.

Dań Kwanje ’Á–Nààn: Voices Across the Water carries messages for all of us and for people around the world. We have only to listen, to learn and to share in this time of reconciliation – moving forward together safely into the waters of tomorrow.

The 24 Hours of Light Bike Festival

June 27, 2017 by Catherine Forest in Yukon, Mountain biking

Passing the bâton... or the timing bracelet.

On her last (and 9th) lap, Mara came back just 1:38 after noon and her lap didn't count!

Twenty-four hours is a long time. But a 24 hour bike race under the midnight sun with some good friends? It goes by pretty fast... at least when you race (not so much for the support parents!). There were only 2 junior teams this year, The Mountain Goats (our all-girl team) and School's Out (all boy team made of the brothers, cousins and friends of some of the girls!), so you can imagine that there was no competition at all!! Both teams did incredibly well and showed great sportsmanship. The 6 km junior course was pretty hilly with some technical sections. The adults (solo up to teams of 8 and a family category) had a 12 km course. Some teams came all the way from Texas, Colorado, Ontario and Alaska to participate.

It's such a fun event, especially in a small town like Whitehorse, where most mountain bikers know each other. To spice things up, from midnight to 6 am, if you race your lap naked (and I mean COMPLETELY naked, except riding gear: socks, gloves, helmet and bike shoes), you get an extra lap for your team! Needless to say, it was darn cold by then, hold-your-beer-with-ski-gloves cold! You REALLY do not want to encounter a bear or crash your bike in your Adam suit!

The kids stopped and slept from midnight to 5 am, then it was game on till Sunday noon. At 6 am, Mara came back from her lap with a missing shoe! She had fallen off her bike and lost her (probably not tied properly) shoe in the forest and couldn't find it! JF went back and found it later. Some girls were getting too tired to ride more than one lap on Sunday, and Mara was the last one to go just after 11 am and when she came back from her lap nobody wanted to go again so in a snap decision she went out again with less than 26 minutes to go before noon. She needed to pull a fast lap to make it, but that second lap in a row this late in the race made her miss the cut off by less than 2 minutes. As usual, she finished with a smile. Aïsha won the prize for the fastest lap by a girl on the youth course.

This was the girls first experience of a longer race with a team and they had a blast. Soon they will be hammering down the full course by themselves and won't even need to freeze their bum to ride many laps. To many more fun events like the 24 HOL.

A weekend of camping by Kusawa Lake and paddling the Takhini River

June 20, 2017 by Catherine Forest in Yukon, Canoeing, Camping spots

There was a lot of reading aloud by the fire. This was a great book called Zlata's Diary: A child's life in wartime Sarajevo.

Cooking grilled cheese for 25 on the stove.

“I wanted movement and not a calm course of existence. I wanted excitement and danger and the chance to sacrifice myself for my love.”
― Leo Tolstoy“

We had been stationary for more than a month and I was itching for an adventure. When our friend Edith invited us to join them for a weekend of rafting on the Takhini River, I was over the moon. JF was going to Alaska that weekend to hike/run the Chilkoot Trail in a day (yes, that's the hike we did in 5 days last year, 54 km/33 miles). He did it in 12 hours by the way!! Woot-woot!

The girls and I left in the rain on Friday morning and had a wonderful time just being together in the Westfalia, reading by the fire, cooking and enjoying this magical place that we mostly had to ourselves at that point. By 8 pm, people started arriving and the plans were set for the next day. We woke up to a mere 3 degrees Celcius/37 F) and found out through a friend that had just arrived that there was 4 cm of snow on the ground in Haines Junction, about 40 miles from us and that the famous Haines Junction to Haines Alaska Bike Relay had been canceled because of that... So... we decided to wait for the rain/hail to stop and see if the afternoon would bring us better weather. Bringing a bunch of kids on a freezing river with the risk of falling in in that weather was not very appealing.

We were all crammed in the shelter around the cook stove in search of warmth, but the sky finally opened up and by 2 pm, the sun was back! We blew up the rafts and went on the river. What a wonderful ride it was! We did part of that same run the next day. By 3 pm on Sunday, everybody had left and only our friends Edith and Trevor who had organized the weekend were still there. We had to boost the Westy since it had died and as I got it to run and prepared to back it up when the shift stick stayed in my hand. Literally. And I knew right there that I was in big trouble. We were out in the boonies with no cell reception for 30 miles, at the end of a 25 km dirt road... And JF was on the Chilkoot. I was out of food, almost out of water and out of dog food. Edith gave me some pasta sauce, milk, orange and yogourt and since Mathilde had to be in town the next morning for her canoe camp, she brought her back to town.

A mechanically inclined friend assessed the damage, tried the screwdriver trick (to stick it in the hole and use it as a shift stick, but we decided that it was not safe to drive anyways and put wood blocks around all the wheels so the Westy wouldn't move). The campground was quiet again and the twins and I had another slow night by the fire together, making banana boat with the last few squares of chocolate and mushy bananas. Our campsite neighbor spent the evening burning what seemed like a lifetime of important documents: letters, race numbers, old certificates... He had a few boxes of those with him and looked at each document before putting it in the fire. It felt very ceremonial and we spent a fair bit of time making stories about him.

The night felt long and I was a bit worried about JF. I had no idea how his very long day on the Chilkoot went, if everything was OK, if he was back, if Mathilde had someone with her to help her get ready for camp the next morning, if she was worried too... It's a strange feeling to be far out in the woods with no way of reaching anybody and not way to get out. You have to experience the North to completely understand it. There is just nobody around, no houses, no nothing for miles and miles... As I laid there in the semi-darkness of 2 am, I remembered the first time we left on a road trip to Alaska with the twins when they were only 14 months old (and I was pregnant with Mathilde). Mara had had a croup attack in the middle of the night the day before our departure and the idea of driving for 8 or 9 hours and to be in the complete middle of nowhere with babies felt scary all of a sudden. Nature had always been a safe place for me, but confronted with so much vastness, I felt panicked. What if something happened? What if we needed urgent care? It's just not something you have to think about in the South.

So when we woke up the next day, we had no idea when JF would come... we played board games and read some more, but the rain was back and the day dragged on... We had run out of propane by then, so there was no way of cooking or warming up water for tea. We were cold and decided to nap like a pile of kittens on the bottom bunk of the Westy... and got woken up at around 3:30 pm by JF knocking on the window. Rescue had come! He had borrowed a friend pickup and towed us back to town. I felt very tired all of a sudden. The kind of fatigue that comes with relief. I sure had had my adventure!

Rock climbing, kayaking and mountain biking in the Yukon

June 15, 2017 by Catherine Forest in Yukon

The girls have been helping with school groups coming for a rock climbing day with Equinox Adventures, the company for which I worked last summer. It's been pretty amazing to see them be in charge of students, guiding them on the climbs, teaching them how to belay, etc. They were already used to setting up and pulling down the ropes from last summer, but this year, they have really stepped up their game and are incredibly confident and competent around the students. They honestly blew my mind. I wasn't sure if they were ready for this, but their maturity was obvious and most teachers were very surprised when they found out that the girls were actually the same age or younger than their students! During lunch, the teachers would have conversations with the girls, asking them about their peculiar lifestyle and it was a treat to watch from the sidelines.

One day, Mathilde was guiding a group of 9th graders through a GPTeaming course (a combination of orienteering with a map + GPS and team-building activities), when the group got a little out of hand in the forest. She ran to the front of the group, stopped them and said: I am a staff and you have to listen to me! She said they all stopped in the track and actually listened to her from that point on. If you know her, you can totally imagine her doing that. And you can also see the glint of pleasure in her eyes... On another day, she lit a fire by herself without paper or dry wood. My girl.

Mathilde is doing a regatta ready 2 week long kayak camp this June and will be competing in Regina at the beginning of July. She is pretty excited about that! She is also planning to volunteer at the animal shelter. My baby sure is growing up and it's beautiful to watch.

The 3 girls are also doing the mountain biking camp like in the previous years and are attending orienteering meets. The Yukon has so much to offer for kids... and grown ups too!

Yukon Spring

May 29, 2017 by Catherine Forest in Yukon, Cocktails

Still frozen lakes... this type of ice is called candle ice and the sound it makes when it moves is totally amazing.

That's my favorite summer cocktail. I am pretty proud of that creation that I call the Ubach Especial, since I created it first for my good friend Antonio (from Tucson). Recipe below.

The girls did an orienteering workshop and had a blast. They will be going to the orienteering meets of the club this summer.

Eating bearberry flowers (uva ursi) on a hike. These are a spring delicacy.

There is discomfort for me in staying put. I thrive on new adventures and new places to discover. I know I’ll never outgrow my wanderlust, but I need to learn to do ordinary. I want to. Every time I come back to the Yukon, I struggle with the transition from in-movement to no-movement. It’s like I wait for people to come up with plans, dinners, activities. I feel clumsy in this life of calendars and organized weeks.

There’s lots of shoulds in my head that I am trying to shush right now (you should just appreciate this down time after all the wonderful adventures of this winter, you should be grateful for the lack of busyness this summer, etc.). But balance is necessary in all things. Just like night makes you appreciate day light, slowness makes you appreciate a faster pace... Too much of anything doesn't feel right and I am adjusting and fine tuning this balance as we settle back in for the summer. It's a fine act, but I am slowly finding my groove.

I added a new search by locations/activities tab on Road it up website, so it is easier to find the information you need in the archives of the site. You can also do a search on the Home page with Moab camping or Oregon rock climbing to get more specific results now that I have added tags to the posts (thanks, Audrey, for that suggestion!). Note that I am still going through every old post and tagging it, so it will take a bit to have everything in there.

Ubach Especial

For 1

1 oz Vodka
2 oz fresh grapefruit juice
1 oz simple syrup
1/2 oz fresh lime juice
1/4 oz red vermouth
1/4 oz Campari
1/2 egg white
1 dash of Angostura bitters
Candied grapefruit peel (or plain old grapefruit strip)
2 oz Soda water

Combine the 8 first ingredients in a cocktail shaker without ice. Shake vigorously for 30 seconds, open carefully and add ice. Shake again for 30 sec, then strain into a chilled rocks glass. Top with 2 oz of soda water. Add candied grapefruit peel. Note that you can replace the Vermouth + Campari by 1/2 an oz of Italian Bittersweet Vermouth.

A weekend of riding and eating (and blueberry picking) in Carcross, Yukon

August 23, 2016 by Catherine Forest in Yukon, Mountain biking

Calling the teams for the last day of riding of the season, on Montana Mountain, in Carcross.

Waiting to find out in which team she will be...

Endind a perfect biking day at Benett Lake!

Covering the potatoes with moss to keep them from drying out.

Peach and cranberry cake in the dutch oven

The trick is to have a 3 to 1 ratio of coals (3 on top, 1 at the bottom) and to have the bottom on a trivet or a rack so it is not sitting on the coals.

Apple crisp in the dutch oven. Success!!

Picking blueberries in Fraser, BC (45 min from Carcross towards Alaska).

Early blueberry (aka blue huckleberry or Vaccinium ovalifolium) on the left, dwarf blueberries on the right (Vaccinium caespitosum) — Early blueberry (aka blue huckleberry or *Vaccinium ovalifolium*) on the left, dwarf blueberries on the right (*Vaccinium caespitosum*)

Do you understand why we call huckleberries "black mouth" in French (gueules noires)?? — Do you understand why we call huckleberries "black mouth" in French (*gueules noires*)??

Fall is definetely here. The willow and alder leaves are turning yellow, the fireweed are a rainbow of green to dark red, often on the same plant, and the berries are incredibly abundant!

Riding on Montana Mountain in the fall light is nothing short of magical: the way the light filters through the trembling aspens and the glowing green mossy trails... It feels like such a treat to be part of it all.

As Rachel who lives in the Colorado mountains says it so beautifully:

"Here is a place where weather is an animal that will never be tamed.

Here, being human feels like just the right size, appropriately small amongst the stout spruce and fir trees, and the ancient, storytelling rocks. For a brief, wondrous time you may find your desires shrink into something manageable, a small parcel that you can put in your pocket and examine later.

Here, the flavors of happiness may begin to look different, less about accomplishments and acquisitions, and more about the privilege of walking this beloved earth. You may allow yourself to be schooled by the resident teachers, the living things who seek only what they need. Maybe life need not be so complicated."

Camp is over. What I've learned...

August 15, 2016 by Catherine Forest in Yukon, Canoeing

As Passenger sings I've been living in this month of Sundays, and I forget what Monday morning feels like. Actually, I feel like I've been living a life of Sundays for over 12 years now. Not that I don't work and that I live a lazy life, but I've simply not been on a regular Monday to Friday work schedule for almost 13 years... and I hadn't challenged myself professionnally for over 15!

Being a camp leader/instructor for Equinox Adventure has been challenging and exhausting at times, but also incredibly empowering. I learned that being given a lot of latitude can feel scary and disconcerting at first, but that it can create incredible results. You end up owning the challenge presented to you in a very different way. It became my camp and I could give it my color. And because of that, I felt more involved and wanted to give more.

I learned that I can do some hard and challenging physical work, even if it pushes me outside of my comfort zone, even if it triggers frustration sometimes at being a short woman working in a world of tall strong men. I kept at it and became competent at the things I thought I could not physically do. And I was that role model for my girls.

We lost Java on the first day of camp. That night, I wanted to quit. I thought I could not do it. It was too much at the same time. I gave myself till the end of that first week. And to my surprise, I wanted to keep doing it. It felt good. It felt right.

Don't get me wrong, being a translator and a homeschooler is rewarding work, but facilitating learning in such a tangible way as on a rock climbing cliff for instance, seeing children challenge themselves, push hard, accompanying them as they face their fears and reach the top, gave me great joy. I felt like a made a small difference. I felt needed. It gave me a new and different purpose and it filled me in a way I hadn't experienced before.

This experience gives me a completely different appreciation of my "life of Sundays". It's all about balance, they say. And I might have to agree.

A visit to the Yukon Wildlife Preserve

August 14, 2016 by Catherine Forest in Yukon

Meet JB, a female moose who was rescued when she was only a few days old. Read her story here.

Since she has been bottle fed since her rescue, JB is very interested in humans.

On the last day of Adventure Camp, we were supposed to go canoeing and kayaking on Chadburn Lake, but since the weather was already fall-like and grey, we decided to bring the group to the Yukon Wildlife Preserve and nearby Takhini Hot Springs.

It was great to be there early in the morning for feeding time, since most of the animals were very close and awake. We also got very luck to see many babies! The 3 arctic fox babies stole the show!

The Yukon Wildlife Preserve Operating Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to maintaining the over 700 acre preserve and its animals for the education and enjoyment of all.

A weekend of rock climbing and camping with friends

August 08, 2016 by Catherine Forest in Yukon, Rock climbing, Camping spots

Climbing blindfolded! A great challenge.

The smile on their faces was such an incredible reward!

They built an awesome two-room shelter together

The fireweed have already gone to seed! Fall is almost here.

One of the perks of being a climbing instructor this summer is that I have access to the climbing material we use for the groups. On Saturday, we got together with five other families for a fun day of rock climbing. The kids had a blast and the parents had a good time too! Then, a bunch of us went camping at Marsh Lake together. There was good lemon-lavender Radler from the Yukon Brewery, wild Agaricus mushrooms were sauteed in butter and pepper, meals were assembled from what we could find in our campers. There even was a skinny dip (one kid was heard saying: skinny dipping with your friends sure makes you closer!). The simplicity of spending time with good friends. The magic of it all. It sure fills my heart.

The first 7 pictures were taken by my friend Jason and the following rock climbing pictures were taken by my friend Josée (I was busy belaying!). Thanks guys for immortalizing this fun day!