Wandering around in the snow, with a walk at McIntyre Pond

Posted On February 6, 2021

Things have been pretty quiet as the snow gets deeper and the temperature colder. But the light is starting to feel like Spring, and many people are commenting on how good that feels. My outings have been quite short but it really is lovely, so here’s a look.

My back yard on January 18th, covered with the 2nd-deepest snow ever on the ground on that day.

On January 21st I went into town early – the next two photos were shot at 10:18, which was 21 minutes before sunrise.

My view of the mountain called Golden Horn from my breakfast table, on January 26th at 11:46.

On January 26th I went into town to meet a friend for a photography wander at McIntyre Pond, which is a beaver-created pond on McIntyre Creek on the Yukon University grounds. As soon as I pulled out of my driveway, there was a fox trotting down the road.

I caught up to him/her for a couple of photos. There are a lot of foxes in Whitehorse this year – photos are being posted on social media regularly.

Our subdivision mailboxes on the left, with the Alaska Highway a block ahead and Canyon Mountain (usually called Grey Mountain) on the far side of the Yukon River valley.

By 1:40, we were at McIntyre Creek. There were 3 other vehicles at the trailhead, but we only saw one other person during our walk, right at the start.

Patterns in the creek, with ice, frost, and reflections of the forest.

Patterns in the snow.

The most well-used trail goes across McIntyre Pond, climbs steeply above it, then goes along the ridge, affording this view of the pond.

McIntyre Creek draining out of the pond far below.

The first of two bridges that cross McIntyre Creek. Just 35 minutes into the walk, I was starting to feel that I might have over-estimated my abilities, but the shortest way back to the car was to keep going.

Some wonderful patterns in the creek. I shot a video but didn’t have my tripod and it was so shaky I deleted it.

The forests are all suffering a lot of damage from the snow – I see reports of trees down everywhere, and at least one outbuilding out my way has had the roof collapse.

Looking up McIntyre Creek from the second bridge. Almost back to the car.

A canopy of snowy willow over our heads.

By the time we got back to the car, I was done, but I had been wonderful to get out.

The next night was the full moon – the Wolf Moon – and when I got up at 02:30 it was so beautiful I took a few photos. The first one is from the back deck.

For the next photo, I put a coat on over my pyjamas, because it was -36°C (-33°F), and went way out the driveway to get a photo of the house.

It’s now February 6th. As I finish writing this at 06:30, it’s -25°C (-13°F), about 5 degrees C colder than average, so not bad. That’s about my limit for the hot tub, but it looks like it might be a lovely dawn so a good place to start another day.

I’m staying very busy online with history stuff, both in my Yukon History and Abandoned Places group on Facebook, and on ExploreNorth. Yesterday, I made a Zoom presentation to the Whitehorse Rotary Club about what I do, and though I was pretty nervous about it – this was the first I’d done since my injury – it went well and my hour with the group passed quickly.

With the Canadian government having announced a couple, of days ago that no cruise ships will be allowed until February 2022, the Alaska cruise season is dead unless the U.S. government waives the requirement for ships to stop in a Canadian port. It’s impossible to say when the Yukon border might open again, so we’ve cancelled our planned trip to Antarctica and expect to be staying close to home for another year. The Yukon, though, has been covid-free for 3 weeks now, and is a pretty fine place to be stuck.