Big summer plans!

Part of living in the subartic is spending all your winter dreaming up big summer plans to squeeze into a couple months of our good weather. And then spend the summer dreaming up winter plans.

This winter being no different, we’re planning many adventures for this summer. Knowing that writing down goals make them easier to stick to, let me share some of our ideas!

First up, we have many ideas about things we want to see and experience on the water. So …… we bought a boat. Not even kidding. It is an inflatable boat, with a 40 HP motor. The boat folds up and looks something like this when inflated:

2023 Summer Adventure goals:

• finally getting to Fort Selkirk. Accessible only by water or air, Fort Selkirk is a historical trading post site/town along the Yukon River that was used from the mid-1800’s until the mid 1900’s. There are buildings still there and so much history to explore.
• travelling by river to Dawson City. Possibly from Pelly Crossing. Maybe someday from Whitehorse.
• hiking the Chilkoot Trail. That is part of the historical walking path from Dyea up over the White Pass to Lake Bennett that was used during the Klondike Gold Rush. It’s 53 kilometres, full of artifacts. We’re thinking of doing it in 4 nights/5 days so we have plenty of time to explore. This is pending an announcement that we can cross the US/Can border on the trail this summer (it’s been closed on the trail for a few years due to Covid). Also the trail had significant damage from washouts last fall, so fingers crossed!
• hiking the Ridge Road trail from Dawson City. This one was postponed from last fall. It’s about 33km one way so we’ll do an overnight hike, likely early in the season as soon as the snow and mud dries up.
• another trip on our quads. Our weekend trip to Keno and exploring the old mines on our quads was a highlight of 2022. And our ride to Matson in 2020. Where to this year? Just our regular day trips exploring cabins, old equipment, and old trails around Dawson or another overnighter?
• back to Alaska! Seward is our favourite place to go, Valdez a close second. Having a boat now will open up all new opportunities for us!
• Dempster – We’re taking our friends up to Eagle Plains overnight. They’ve never been and we can all fit in Jeff’s truck, so we’ll show them all our favourite Dempster spots.
• camping – every night in our camper is a good night. Where to go this summer? Not nailed down, but likely we’ll be going anywhere we can use our boat.
• my solo adventures in my Xterra? These are best not planned in advance and they can happen spontaneously as needed.

Is anyone planning to come and visit this summer? You should know that you don’t come often enough so we sold our guest room bed and are in the process of converting it to a home gym. That doesn’t mean you can’t stay here! We’ve got cots and an air mattress, but know in advance, the queen size bed is gone.