Travels With Miranda

Coming north for a summer? Buy a sleep mask!

Night is slowly returning to the north, sneaking in through smoke and adding just a drop of darkness at a time to the day. I’ve needed to turn on a light to read in bed for about a week now and I’ve finally been able to put away the sleep mask I bought in Whitehorse.

I think that a sleep mask is a must-have item for anyone visiting the north who cannot sleep when there is light out. I bought mine at Walmart, figuring that it would be easier to get used to wearing the mask than to try to jury-rig curtains at my cousin’s. The mask was also useful on the Chilkoot seeing as it never really gets dark in a tent.

Unlike some people, I didn’t go crazy trying to darken my home this summer, just blocking off the overcab area, but leaving the rest of the rig as is. The mask was more than sufficient to block out light and I noticed that my sleep improved considerably. It didn’t take long for me to get used to wearing it.

Now that I know I like using a sleep mask, I’m going to look for a better model made of a breathable fabric. A nylon mask on a hot night did not stay on long. 🙂

I’m going to miss the sun, but it’s good to see the moon and stars again.

Echoes of ’98: Hiking the Chilkoot Trail in the 21st century is the author’s pictorial ode to the fabled route to the Klondike gold fields.

Featuring more than 100 rich colour photographs in 150 pages, the book is about the Chilkoot Trail today while establishing it in its historical context. Adventurers wishing to hike the trail will find information on how to do so, including a suggested packing list.

Echoes of ’98 is on sale now for $2.95.

Thank you to Amber Goodwin for the design of the book’s cover.

Be sure to check out my lens about hiking the Chilkoot Trail.

This dry, hot summer has been a forest fire nightmare. There are currently major fires burning outside every major community in the Yukon, with fires near Watson Lake being critical, and many more throughout Alaska and British Columbia where several communities are on evacuation alert. The last few days, the weather forecast in Dawson has been represented by a fire, indicating smokey conditions. I don’t have a very good olfactory sense, but I’ve been able to smell the smoke for two days now. Today, it was particularly cloying as it’s also damp out.

This is what things have looked like for several days now. Don’t mistake it for fog, this smoke is thick, grey, and tastes like ash.

We had a good dose of rain overnight, taking us from hot and dry to cold and damp in just twelve hours, but it will take a lot more to end the wildfires.

European tourists I spoke to yesterday were flabbergasted that we don’t put the fires out. I replied that forest fires are a natural phenomenon often sparked by lighting more than by human hand. It’s cost prohibitive to put out fires in the wilderness and not ecologically sound to do so. Some plants need the high heat of wildfires for germination. Wildfire suppression causes more damage in the long run than letting nature run its course.