Whitehorse

14 October 2007

Last Thursday I left Keno driving to Whitehorse

It had been snowing at camp fairly consistently for about a week

and the road conditions were not well known.

There was packed snow cover for over half the distance and the road cleared south of Carmacks

and 5 hours later was back in the outside world

where there are people and cars and buildings along the streets.

I have a few days office work here

but yesterday made a day trip to Atlin, BC

about 180 km south of here, to see the town that Lynne and I tried to grubstake a piece of land in in the 1970's.

History might have been very different if that had been succesful !

It was overcast and there had been some rain with temperatures about 4C -

a cold wind was coming of the lake

and being past the tourist season

there was not much happening

and half of the town seemed to be for sale

but despite the beautiful location, I am not tempted now.

Today has dawned clear and fine and frosty and I have some work to do in my hotel room

- but have been invited out for breakfast out at a cabin on a nearby lake

so wil go now to check that out

catch you later

I will be in Vancouver for a few days
then back in NZ October 21

8 September

Keno

and starting to pack up my office space

four more days left in camp

it has continued snowing lightly for the past few days and this was the view out my office window

the temperatures are staying below zero during the day and the only exercise is the walk to the cookshack

the roads have become a little slippery

and the drillers are starting to battle with frozen water lines

unfortunately it has been cloudy for the past week with no chance of more northern light displays

i have a couple of days in Whitehorse

and with luck the weekend to explore into northern British Columbia if the weather permits

then a couple more in Vancouver to wrap up

before heading for the beach

30 September 2007

Keno

again

The promised northern lights display last night was short but dramatic

shimmering curtains of green and pink light

jumping and arcing across the sky

but alas the moon was bright and dulled the effect

and

I had some camera frustrations

that came about because of the complicated digital settings

that are hard to arrange below freezing, in the dark,

with gloves on, not to mention the problem to focus my eyeballs on all this stuff

so photos another day

but not today as it is cloudy and grey

so as a filler

here are a few shots from the past days in the field

as the streams freeze up and the snow comes to cover the lichens