Right now it’s a one-man (woman) operation for the most part and in the past, my friends have very graciously donated their time by creating content (thanks guys!).

But it would be great to add to our list of contributors! And even better – we want to PAY them!  The funding will mostly go towards paying writers and those passionate about adventure to do what they do best!

These folks are needed to get to the wide variety of adventure-related stories out there in the Yukon. They’re the ones out exploring, skiing, hiking, and all that great stuff.  We need to hear from them!

We want to expand to all areas of the Yukon and maybe even further!  We want to get into podcasting and creating more videos and exciting content.

With this helpful start, we hope to gain some momentum and keep paying writers by making future dollars by offering advertising on this site.

Anything you can do to help is much appreciated! You can donate as little or as much as you want.

We are offering some “perks” for your contributions, so check it out!

And THANK YOU!!!

King Peak (photo by Juho Risku)

At times, taking the “road less traveled” applies to summiting mountains.

Mount Logan is the lesser known mountain in North America – the big daddy on this continent is Alaska’s Denali and is not surprisingly, a more popular mountain to climb.

The St. Elias Mountains lie atop the largest non-polar ice field in the world. The 127-mile-long, six-mile-wide Bagley Icefield and the Bering Glacier span 2,007 square miles and are protected by Kluane and Wrangell-St. Elias national parks of Canada and the United States.

According to Scott Stewart, Resource Management and Public Safety Specialist for Kluane National Park – Denali sees about 1200 climbers per year while about 60-100 on average tackle Mount Logan.

Denali

Denali, or Mount McKinley tops out at 6, 194m (20, 320 ft). Mount Logan is the second highest mountain in North America at 5, 959m (19, 551 ft).

The average success rate is about 25%.

In its history, an estimated 32,000 climbers have attempted Denali with about a 50% success rate. 100 have died including 5 in 2012.

Stewart notes that

It is very common for the weather to be poor for a week or more.  Climbers often have to wait to get in or get out.  This year has seen very few high pressure weather systems than normal, so weather both in the Yukon and across the icefields has been poorer.  In recent years, there has been more stable air in April, and some parties are having better weather climbing at this time.

Jon Waterman has summited Logan and sums up the mountain nicely. In Adventure Journal’s “Great Mountains of the World” series, he says:

Among the great mountain massifs of the world, none span a larger surface area or elicit more adrenaline from climbers and skiers than Canada’s highest peak, Mt. Logan. Summiting this seldom-climbed beast is a rite of passage unlike anything granted amid the mamba lines on its slightly higher cousin, Denali. It’s shorter, yes. But because of its remoteness and fierce storms, Logan has seen fewer climbers in its entire human history than one year’s traffic on Denali. Logan cannot be seen from any road, it is seldom glimpsed from passing airliners because of the frequent blankets of storm clouds, and expeditions to it feel more Himalayan than Alaskan.

Packing (Photo: Juho Risku)

Yukoners know how special and remote this mountain is. Other than a small, barely noticeable pull-out on the Alaska Highway, chances of seeing this Yukon gem are rare.

That’s one reason YAM wanted to get up close and personal with those who were going to at least see it and be on it this year, and possibly even summit it.

This spring, we talked to three Finns who were in Whitehorse packing madly for their trip up the tallest mountain in Canada.

They had a goal: to become the first Finns to summit Canada’s tallest mountain.

YAM sat down with them before they headed out on their big adventure to see why they chose Mt. Logan to climb and what brought each of them here.

Each of them came to this climb with different backgrounds and levels of experience.

Juho Risku (Photo: www.climbingextreme.com)

Juho Risku is a technical ice climber who is admittedly the “least experienced of the group” – he has never climbed over 5,000 metres and was a bit apprehensive in doing so for the first time.

However, his enthusiasm for the upcoming trip was evident as I met the three for a pint at the Gold Rush Inn.

Risku is self-employed and became interested in ice climbing about 10 years ago. He has always loved winter, cold and skiing – three assets that help him out on his summit bid. His experience is more technical in nature.

Kenneth pre-trip (Photo: Juho Risku)

Kenneth Nordstrom is the oldest member of the group and has years of significant mountaineering experiences under his belt – one of which took him to Kathmandu in an attempt to climb Shishapangma (14^th highest mountain in the world) weeks before he arrived in the Yukon.

Unfortunately, news that his mother-in-law was ill brought him back early from the expedition.

Nordstrom is soft spoken, easy-natured and modest.  He grew up in Helsinki, and his fascination with adventure began at an early age – with him heading to the local tourist centre to ogle the ski maps.  That was all the motivation he needed to buy his own pair of massive wooden skis at 10 years old.

From then on, he headed to the Alps for the first time when he was 18, hit his first 5,000m peak in 1980 and was instrumental in the creation of the Finnish Alpine Club.

Juho Sarkila (photo: Juho Risku)

Juho Särkilä  is a lawyer who works in the field of international crisis management and civil protection.  He also has multiple 5,000m + climbs under his belt.  Some notable climbs include: Kilimanjaro (Africa’s highest mountain), Mount Elbrus (Russia’s highest mountain)Mt. Kenya (Afric’s 2nd highest), Mt. Stanley, Cotopaxi (2nd highest mtn in Ecuador), Chimborazo, Aconcagua(highest mtn in Andes) and a few others.

He says of Logan

I have been considering Mt. Logan and the whole Logan massif for some time but postponed the project due to solo expeditions and lower altitude ski tours

One of the keys to their success is going to be helping each other out and working as a team. Also joining them on the Logan expedition are two Canadian climbers, who have previous experience on the mountain.

Waiting (Photo: Juho Risku)

The group headed out to Silver City and waited to fly out.  The weather did not cooperate, which was not a huge surprise. What did surprise the team was how long they had to wait.  And wait…

They did have a chance to explore the area a bit, heading up Sheep Mountain for a climb and some spectacular views.

Sheep Mountain (Photo: Juho Risku)

They found a few ways to kill time…

They headed to the community of Destruction Bay to give a a talk to local students.

After spending over a week in Silver City, the weather finally allowed the group to fly out to Mount Logan.

Following their SPOT tracking system multiple times/day, the group stayed in one spot more than they moved. The nasty weather kept coming back to derail their summit bids.

Planned Route

Progress

Juho Risku became ill with a throat infection early on, which triggered altitude sickness. Despite taking medication to counteract the effects, he had to be evacuated off the mountain early.

Skiing couliers (Photo: Juho Särkilä)

Risku noted, after the fact, that:

It was overall a difficult year, least flight days (in / out) in 40 years + challenging weather.

Group attempting Logan (Photo: Juho Särkilä)

In hindsight, he notes that jumping on the medication earlier would have been a good idea and is something he would do differently next time.

The team continued on but remained unsuccessful.  They then had to wait over a week on the mountain just to be flown out.

Despite not making the summit, the group is not deterred, instead they were making plans for next year before this trip even ended.

We hope to see these fine folks back in the Territory and hope they have a successful summit bit next year!

We will keep you posted!

Thanks to the group for meeting to talk about their trip beforehand and touching base with us after they returned home. Visit Juho Risku’s website for more amazing Logan photos.

The YRQ is known as the “World’s Longest Annual Canoe & Kayak Race” and is a 715km (444 miles) exhausting, mind-bending, hallucination-inducing and potentially hypothermic wilderness journey down the Yukon river from Whitehorse to Dawson City.

The race is truly mentally and physically challenging. Which may explain why it is so popular and attracts folks from all over the world.

According to the Yukon River Quest website, there were 69 teams registered for the 14^th annual race. Of these, 12 countries are represented. Out of the 200 reigistrants, paddlers hail from Austria, Australia, Belgium, Latvia, South Africa to name a few.

This “wilderness adventure” as the YQR calls it, is known as the “Race to the Midnight Sun.” Except for two mandatory rest stops, paddlers race around the clock as it never gets dark.

YAM was on site at the start and couldn’t help but notice one, let’s say, “seasoned” gentleman who was starting the race with the help of his equally “seasoned” wife.  He stood out in the frenzy of frantic, rushed paddlers around him as he was one of the last paddlers at their boat.

Racers start off running from the start line, but depending on how competitive they are, the speed seems to vary. Some run like their life depends on it, others laugh and bounce down the trail, others merely walk – proving they are there more for the adventure than the “race”.

The Austrian

This gentleman arrived at his boat later than others, he slowly put on his gear and packed a few more items (boats are usually all ready to go beforehand) and slowly stepped into his boat and paddled away.

This was 71 year old Heinz Rodinger, or perhaps he prefers to go by his official team name -  The Austrian.

According to his wife (who’s accent was so strong I didn’t catch her first name, apologies to her!), this is his 12^th time doing the YQR.  He had finished it 8 out of the 12 times.

I asked her why he keeps coming back year after year to the Yukon to compete in this gruelling race.

Her reply: a mere shrug of her shoulders. She really seeemed to have no clue, but that didn’t seem to stop her from supporting his yearly habit by joining him in the Yukon.  She follows the race to Dawson and supports her husband along the way.

She tells me he puts on 6000km of paddling every year.  And then she shakes her head again.

I was rooting for Heinz to knock another YRQ finish off, but this wasn’t his year. Unfortunately he had to scratch at Carmacks. I don’t doubt he’ll be back again next year though.

The Australian team “Down Under Dogs” won this years race, in a time of 41hrs, 51 mins (unofficial). Though the team managed to dump their boat more times than is normal for winners, they still managed to hang on to arrive in Dawson City first.

The YRQ notes two other records that were broken this year:

In addition to Skirting Disaster breaking the women’s voyageur record in 42:50, The Fascinators from Whitehorse broke the womens’ tandem kayak record in 47:04. Both records were shattered. The old women’s VC record was 50:59 by the False Ck Women in 2006; the old K2 women’s record was 51:48 by the Oxford Hopefuls in 2009.

Check out our whole photo album from the race start on Facebook!

It’s no wonder, the 36 year old overly-exuberant Scotsman had never set foot in Canada before.

Previous kayaking experience? Sure… a whopping total of three times, one of which Wilks described as a “near death experience” 15 years prior to his solo trip.

So what posessed Wilks to seek out this journey in the summer of 2011?

I always wanted to go to Alaska but flying or driving seemed to be cheating so when I found out about the inside passage the idea was born in about January of that year.

I connected with Wilks as he was more than eager to share his 2.5 hour (yes, you read that right, 2.5hrs!) Youtube video of the trip.  He posted almost daily logs on how the trip was going and shared his experiences.

The video gives the viewer great insight into what a trip up the coast would be like. From the wonderful people he  met along the way, to the scenery and the exuberance he showed when catching a fish is entertaining and informative.

Wilks is like a school kid in that everything he experienced seemed to genuinely EXCITE and amaze him.

In the 2.5 months he was on the trip – in dreary weather which locals had said was the worst in decades – Wilks seemed to have a constant “oh well, this is what Mother Nature dealt me” attitude. 

He never seemed to be bothered by the weather, the lack of food, the loneliness or the abundance of mussels and oysters and later, the volume of salmon he consumed. In fact his only complaint was:

I didn’t get sick of the oysters and mussels but when I started eating a lot of salmon they did give me the runs!

I was curious to get to the reasoning behind Wilks attempting this remote trip on his own.  Was that his plan from the start? Or was it that no one in their right mind would go with him? Perhaps he was TOO eager and his friends were apprehensive as the lack of experience was evident.

And a lack of experience can be extremely costly in this environment, especially taking it on as a solo trip.

As it turned out, Wilks had a plan from the start:

…the plan was always to go alone, something about being alone in the wilderness appealed to me. I refused the advice of friends to take a “spot” device or radio as again it seemed like cheating. I had seen a documentary about a Scotsman trying to live in the wilderness a few years back and he ended up crying a lot and hitting a button to get rescued about a month into it! that was not going to be me!

Talking to Wilks, one senses immediately that his overly enthusiastic attitude fuels his motivation.

Despite his enthusiasm, there were moments of loneliness and self-doubt that took over. In these moments, he avoided stopping over in campsites and ‘civilization’ for fear of being ridiculed for his lack of experience.

I ask Wilks about the possibility of running into a bear and what his attitude was towards them. For someone who has grown up in an area where bears are not native, it can be an intimidating and scary thought to run into one. I’ve known people who are terrifed of the possibility and even avoid trips because of potential bear encounters.

Wilks claims to have done a bit of “bear research” before the trip and seemed to have the basics down on not startling bears, not getting between a mother and cub, etc.  Regardless, he did get a surprise visit late one night.

As I slept I turned over in the hammock and scared a bear just to the side of the hammock within 2 meters. It crashed through the woods like Usain Bolt! I just went back to sleep as I decided it wouldn’t come back which it didn’t, packed up the next morning and set off.

Many people would have panicked or  at the very least, not been able to sleep for the rest of the night. But this calm attitude seems to be typical of Wilks.

After his trip had concluded, Wilks met a fellow paddler who was 2 weeks behind him on his own trip and visited this same island with the bear – he documented the grizzly activity with a photo.

Wilks’ ability to “be able to think clearly under pressure” no doubt helped him in that moment, and on this trip in general.

Despite the constant dreary weather that locals had told him was the worst in decades – he remained positive and upbeat.  There is rarely a moment of sunshine on the full video he posted.

I ask him if he’s normally a positive person.  He replies:

Yes i think so but i would say the harder something gets the happier I get… don’t ask how that works because I couldn’t tell you!

I asked him if he ever got down during the trip and if so, what did he do to pull himself out of it and he explains one moment where the locals helped pull him through with a small, but significant gesture:

Only once was it a bit much when I was coming through the Grenville Channel. It had rained heavy for 7 days and this night my tarp collapsed in the night and a lot of my stuff got wet, I was miserable! But that day kayaking, 3 sail boats went by me going the other way who I had met at Namu and they all shouted and encouraged me on with the last one throwing me a beer! That was the end of being miserable!!

The plan to make it to Alaska did not pan out as expected for Wilks. Upon landing in Ketchikan, he was told by US Customs that he needed a “pleasure craft” visa, to the tune of $600. For a guy who barely spent that much on his whole 2.5 month trip, it was asking a bit much.  Not only that, all boaters must report to Customs as soon as they dock, something Wilks was unaware of and neglected to do until the next day.

When he found out the fine for not doing so was $5000, he had a few tense hours while trying to get it all straightened out.  In the end, he got away without having to pay the fine as there was no sign at the dock he landed at.  US Customs gave Wilks some time to get out of the USA and he did some sight-seeing as he paddled his way back to Canada.

Although the trip didn’t turn out exactly as Wilks had planned, was it still worth it? Was he sick of kayaking and did he ever want to look at another kayak?

the last three weeks on the water was tough and I didn’t want to ever see a kayak again. But when I edited the video i got to remember all the good bits and every now and again when i’m walking along something will trigger a memory of the trip and a smile will come on my face!

With these types of adventures, I’m always interested in how people came out of it. Did they learn anything about themselves? Did they come out of the personal challenge with new skills or more confidence in themselves? It seems Wilks experienced it all:

yeah the trip has changed me, I’m now worse than before – I now believe I could do anything!

And what is next for Wilks? Plenty I bet.

There is a lot more Adventure in me just don’t know what it is yet, But just like the kayak trip I’m sure it will find me!

Well, good luck to you Danny! We hope to see you in the Yukon – perhaps paddling the Yukon River to the Bering Sea next!

Here’s a 4-minute teaser video of Danny’s trip. The accompanying music is appropriate for not only the lyrics, but the Canadian-ness” of it all – “Maybe Tomorrow” by Terry Bush (the theme to the Littlest Hobo!).

Maybe tomorrow, I’ll want to settle down,
Until tomorrow, I’ll just keep moving on.

Down this road, that never seems to end,
Where new adventure, lies just around the bend.

So if you want to join me for a while
Just grab your hat, come travel light – that’s hobo style.

 

To view the full trip video: visit Wilks on Youtube

This little adventure took place in mid-April out on the Yukon river.  It was a good workout as it was late afternoon and the snow was a bit slushy.  Better to go early in the morning for trips like this when the snow is still hard-packed and it’s a little cooler.

Herschel is about 9 months old and just learning to skijor. In fact, this was his first attempt.  We took two “old” (but still very young at heart!) dogs, Jack & Harris to teach him the ropes. It’s often much easier to train a pup like this. They take cues from the other dogs much easier than they do from us humans.

We first tried Herschel alone, having him “chase” the other two dogs. That instinct comes in handy when teaching a dog to pull. The excitement of the chase makes him forget he’s actually pulling you! Some dogs might stop or slow down until they figure out that the thing pulling them back is normal and ok.  Trying to get “in synch” with your skiing and the dogs pulling – so you’re not jarring him – helps.

Since Herschel got along with the other dogs and was looking a bit hesitant, we hooked him up with Jack.

It’s all about them having FUN at this age (well, and all the time really).  This really made a difference as he was running right beside his new buddy and he just had to follow along, and keep up!

Here’s a short video after we got things all figured out.  It was a successful training run for Herschel and a blast for us humans as well.

And after the snow melts, then what you ask?  We trade in skis for wheels… stay tuned!

After the U-Haul jacknifed in the middle of the highway, on a HILL (made it out of that ok), we were stuck overnighting at a gas station in the SUV. In December! What fun!

The trip took twice as long as it would have if we took the Alaska highway, but that was 12 years ago and the information wasn’t out there as it is these days. And summer roads are a different, much more… pleasant experience.

So! Here begins our first in a series of  “The AK highway” travel stories. We’re going to focus on the Muncho Lake area in this post.

My parents are becoming pros at driving the highway. They come up from Calgary every couple of years and have found the best spots along the route to stay and visit and sight-see. Let’s take a look at some of those places and their suggestions for others hitting the Alaska highway!

They have traveled the route in an truck/camper and in an SUV, so they’ve sought out campsites that are RV-friendly and stayed in hotels as well.

The one place they’ve returned to every time and raved about is Toad River Lodge, located on the southern edge of Muncho Lake.  They described the campground as a “quaint, beautiful campground on a little river” and liked it so much they went back a few times. It’s not a 5-star hotel, but if you are expecting one of those on this route… well, you better head in another direction! It was comfortable, reasonable and clean – three must-haves on an Alaska highway journey.

Another highlight of an Alaska highway trip are the encouters with bison along the highway.  You also better not be in a rush on the Alaska highway, sometimes the universe has other plans – like telling you to stop and enjoy the view!

Just ask these folks who owns the road (the commentary and “appropriate Neil Young music” is especially entertaining!)

Spring in the Yukon is an amazing time of year.  The joy and happiness on Yukoners faces – in reaction to the growing daylight and warmth – is something I can’t get enough of.  It also seems, that no matter how long you’ve been here, it is always a surprise to us when the daylight increases. It’s always a freakishly joyous time of year.

Let’s just say that with sunrise at 6:21 am and sunset at 9:10 pm, our days are getting loooong!

We’ve had an exceptional spring so far. It’s been warm, snow is rapidly melting and people are starting to make summer plans.

But! There are still lots of spring activities to do – like skiing at higher elevations, where the snow is not slushy like it is down lower right now.  This is the reason you may see many Yukoners rockin’ the face-only tans in March & April.

So, sit back, enjoy the ride – get out there and enjoy this time of year.  YAM is back and here’s what we are working on:

• Spring skijoring & pup skijor training
• RV’ing it up the Alaska Highway
• Avalanche Awareness and backcountry skiing
• More girly peeing gadgets (can’t get enough of these, they are necessary when adventuring!)
• If YOU have a story you’d like to share, let us know! You can be visiting, a local, just passing through, anything. We’d LOVE to hear from you and would love even more to share your stories with everyone.

In the meantime, enjoy one of our popular spring activities – visiting Swan Haven and observing the first of the migrating birds into the Yukon. This area is one of the first to have open water in the spring and it is a critical stopover for migrating birds on the long migration to northern nesting grounds.

The Interpretive Centre is open April 1 – April 30. There is also indoor and outdoor interpretive panels, daily swan counts, activities and a superb viewing platform.

Some of you, outside of the Yukon, may be wondering what we do here on New Years Eve.  Well, it can range as much as NY festivities do anywhere else, but there can also be a certain “northerly” angle to some NY celebrations.

Some common NY celebrations in the Yukon:

• dogsledding at the stroke of midnight
• bonfire parties complete with fireworks (everyone up here seemed to have fireworks this year!)
• skating & pond hockey parties
• tobogganing
• skiing (cross-country, downhill, backcountry)

And…. skijoring! This is what we did this year and we have some videos & photos to show just how much fun it was.

There are LOADS of great, groomed public trails around Whitehorse, and we found these about 20 mins outside of town.  Well packed, WIDE trails make for great skijoring trails.   A bunch of us headed out with 9 dogs, 3 sets of skis and one dogsled. It was about -16C, perfect for skijoring with light layers on  – you warm up quite a bit while skijoring.  It’s a fun, fantastic workout.

Here we are getting ready, with a mass of lines and dogs and people tripping over each other in a fairly confined space, but luckily the dogs are old pros at this.  It didn’t take long for us to get going.  And even though they’ve done this a million times, the whining, screeching dogs were certainly happy once we got going!

Ever wonder what it’s like to skijor?

Pooh Bear and Woody and I are off! These two little happy creatures are a joy to skijor with.  Even though I’ve tried, I just can’t go back to cross country skiing without dogs, it just seems to slow and boring now. Having a couple of 50lb dogs help out makes for a faster and potentially wild and crazy experience. Depending on trails, you can have a wee bit of fun – we had some good downhill sections here. The dogs ran full out and I had to snowplow to keep from running into them. The trail was windy and full of bumps as well. I took some air off of some of those downhill bumps and the dogs kept pulling.

Time for a bit of a break!  They know the dogsled team is up ahead and were not big fans of just “taking a break” – there was a team to catch.  If you ever want to try your dog skijoring for the first time, the best way to do it is to have them CHASE something.  Anything – other dogs, loose dogs, a skidoo, etc. It works wonders and most dogs just have that innate need to chase (and pull while they’re at it).

Here you can see the workout they’re giving me as we go slightly uphill… and the dog team is up ahead if you look closely. Sorry for the somewhat sideways video, but it’s hard to hold a camera while your hands are strapped into ski poles! I REALLY need a helmet-cam.

And that’s how we roll on New Year’s Eve in the Yukon!!! What a great way to finish off the year, with good friends and dogs.

All the best to YAM readers in 2012!

The breeder we purchased him from named all the puppies by colour to sort out which ones had already been sold. Even before we saw Mr. Green and his littermates my wife was certain of two things: we were getting a male Bouvier and he was to be called chosen the name “Aklak”.  The name Aklak translated means Grizzly or Brown bear to the Inuvialuit.  Soon after we took Aklak home with us we left Calgary for Desert Hot Spring, California. By necessity he quickly became a veteran traveler, and to this day whenever he hears the word “Jeep” his attention is instantly piqued.

We lived in Southern California for just over one year, before we chose to return to Canada. The California desert is no place for a northern breed, but while down there, we kept his coat very short.

True to the breed, Aklak is loyal, protective of his family and a steady guardian. My job requires me to be away from my home for frequent extended periods and these outings are made easier because I know Aklak is there. Whenever I leave and am away he changes and becomes extra protective and Heather loves it because it makes her feel safe. His intimidating size and a loud deep bark is more than enough to keep unwelcome visitors away, and I know that if need be Aklak would do what a guardian does. He has, on more than one occasion, even frightened me as I approached the front door.

In true Yukon style Aklak is a working dog, after all, Bouviers are a working breed. When he was younger he would skijor and we even entered a few Copper Haul Twister pet dog races.

Unfortunately we found out early that he will pull with everything he has for as long as he can – which was usually less than the 5 km race loop. Recreational skijoring was just not a good fit for his heavy build so we began to look for other actives we could get him involved in. In 2005 we saw a friend’s dog compete in the Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous One Dog Freight Pull and we knew right away that Aklak would love it… and he did.  

He was a natural at it, and the following year Aklak was entered in the freight pull.  He entered a total of four times from 2006 - 2009. It was in 2009, which was to be his last year in the competition, in which he came out on top. We’ve always let him show us if he wanted to work and if it ever looked like he was not up for it we would simply not enter him anymore.

That is what happened the winter of 2010. His usual method of training for the freight pull was nightly wood hauling workouts, but last winter Aklak had lost something.  He was still excited and ready to pull but his body could not do what it once did. He had lost none of his drive, but physically he had slowed down considerably.  Aklak, being the way he is, would have certainly pushed himself to injury, so Heather and I made the decision to retire him and not enter him in any more freight pull competitions.  Hauling wood keeps him active and he still gets excited every time he does it.

Aklak is now ten and we allow him all the comforts an older working dog deserves, he sleeps on our bed and/or on the couch.  This is a difficult time for me because every once in a while I still see the younger dog in him, but it never lasts. H e runs out of energy fast and needs more and more time to recover.

I never knew how a dog could become such a large part of my life. I find myself wondering how long will he be around for?  Has he had a good life with us? Of course I know he has, and I know he will not be around forever… even though I want him to be.

He is not yet gone these thoughts continue, and I can not help how sad I get when I think of him being gone. I am not ready to replace him, nor do I think I could.  He is my first dog I want to be there with him at the end, unfortunately my type of work keeps me away from home for extended periods. I worry that one day when I return home I won’t be greeted by his distinct bark… only a strange silence telling me he is no longer there.

Although Aklak was not born here…. he is a truly a Yukon Dog.