Spring – or just Getting Ready for Summer?
We have funny seasons in the southern Yukon. Spring and Fall are so brief and indistinct that it’s easy to just say that we have 2 seasons, Summer and Winter. It’s late Winter now, but it feels like Summer will be here shortly. Scattered pussy-willows can be seen along the roads, but the crocuses (possibly the most eagerly-awaited of our wildflowers) are still hiding from the below-freezing nights. Trumpeter and Tundra swans are already leaving Marsh Lake, Lake Bennett, Fox Lake and the other few stretches of open water in the Whitehorse area, headed for their nesting areas in the interior and far north of the Yukon, NWT and Alaska.
Not only the swans are on the move. One of the reasons I love this time of year is that many of our neighbours can be seen along the roads. Last week, I got very close to caribou, mule deer and a wolf along the South Klondike Highway between Whitehorse and Carcross (the caribou photo was taken last week). Any day now, black and grizzly bears will be out alongside the roads, eating the first green vegetation to get their digestive systems back in order after a long winter. A sow grizzly and her cub(s) of the year used to spend 2-3 weeks at a mineral spring a couple of hundred yards from my bedroom window, but a project to clear a firebreak ended that, as it removed her cover. I truly miss them this time of year – they were always good neighbours to me, though one of the cubs from previous years became a danger in the village (charging people at the daycare) and had to be shot last summer.
Tourism is an important part of the economy of both the Yukon and Alaska, and the pace of preparations for the summer is rapidly picking up day by day. In Skagway in particular, the sounds of saws and hammers echo through the still-dusty streets as new buildings go up to house those with ideas on how to separate some cruise ship passengers from their pokes of gold (that sounds like the days of Soapy Smith – this is completely legal separation, though!). As in every previous summer, one of the toughest aspects of running a business is finding enough help. Countless ads are running across North America to get young people up here, but there’s always a shortage. If you ever want a working holiday, there are a lot of business people here who would like to make you an offer. Check out the job boards at http://www.explorenorth.com/jobs-ak.html [now gone] and http://employmentyukon.ca/
Another unmistakable sign of Spring is the start of Garage Sales. Cathy and I are having one at our Whitehorse house tomorrow, and I have a lot of work still to do to get ready, so I had better quit typing and start sorting!
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