Snowshoes and Exploding Ptarmigan!

After my film screening at The Old Fire Hall and my stint at a B&B in downtown Whitehorse, I leapt at an offer to be billetted by locals on the outskirts of town. Katie Hayhurst and Dennis Kuch - retired Parks Planner and Interpreter, live an elegant lifestyle off-the-grid at Fish Lake, 20 minutes outside of Whitehorse. Comfort (including heated floors!) is facilitated by wind and solar power as well as wood and propane. The first day offered perfect conditions for snowshoeing with minus 10 (compared to minus 35-40 the days before) and 2 1/2 feet of white powdery snow. While I had done lots of skiing in my life, this was my first go on snowshoes and, after a month on the train, my body craved the exercise. All-in-all, it went well except for a couple of spectacular nosedives which were good for the laughs. The beautiful Subalpine terrain - with its Spruce, Pine, Poplar and Willow trees - is also home to a variety of creatures (besides Katie and Dennis). We saw many tracks along our path including: Arctic Hare, Mouse, Red Squirrel, Fox, Coyote, Wolf, possibly Lynx and the famous-yet-illusive Willow Ptarmigan whose tracks just seemed to end. The tricky technique - of exploding from a roosting position - is a good anti-predator move, for sure. Above: intact and calm - not exploding - Willow Ptarmigan.
Back home, a bird feeder - outside the livingroom window - provides a mutually-beneficial arrangement for birds and birders alike. Visitors included: Pine Grosbeak, Hoary Redpoll, Whisky Jack, Black-capped Chickadee and Hairy Woodpecker. Katie and Dennis don't feed other creatures and choose not to own a cat or dog in order to attract wildlife throughout the year.

After pushing the muscles where they hadn't been for some time, I was happy to 'Do in Rome'. Katie and Dennis taught me the fine art of saunaing which made for the best sauna experience of my life: sit in sauna until you're good and hot, step outside and either douse yourself with warm water or plop yourself in the snow! (I did both but only one photo is fit to post.) Repeat 3 times - with the last visit to a birch-scented sauna - and you're done. Kick-back with a warm cognac and your new best friends!
(Coming up: Part 2 of 'Quinn in the Yukon' where she goes snowmobiling into a pristine watershed and manages to take two more spectacular nosedives off the back of the snowmobile.)