Paddler-season

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Paddler season is upon us. From now until it gets cold, the town will be occasionally visited by tourists on the river.

I, personally, discovered this when I was guarding at the RCMP station the other night. At about 3am, still fully bright outside, three late-20s-ish dudes start waving at me from outside through the window. Turns out they were three Swiss guys who had literally just floated into town on their kayaks and were wondering where they could camp.

I told them I wasn’t a cop, but to just pitch their tents on the grass out the front of the RCMP station and that I’d take the heat if it was a problem when the cops woke up. It wasn’t.

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Swiss campers’ tent, with view of local school and police truck!

They’d been on the river for almost a month already. Reminded me of the trip I did on the Yukon and so we swapped river-travel stories for a while before I let them go to sleep.

I also heard a rumor that recently a group of six hardcore chicks came into town. They’re heading *up stream* up the Bear River, across Bear Lake, and then following Coppermine River out to the arctic. Hardcore. Here’s their website if you want to learn more about their trip: http://www.6northof60.org/

Dump life

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Now that summer’s well and truly here, life is returning to the dump. Wolves sift through the trash alongside the crows, and occasionally a bear will wander in and have a snack too.

Apparently there’s actually several bears who visit the dump, and they fight for territory. I’ve only seen one though, when I went on my bike to scavenge for supplies.

The dump bear. Like, seven pixels of him.
The dump bear. Like, seven pixels of him.

Unfortunately, not even my phone camera’s photo resolution can compensate for the cowardly limits of how close I’m willing to get to a bear on my bike.

River puke

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Remember the giant icebergs that were left behind as the river level fell several meters?

Here’s me climbing up one a few weeks ago:

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Pre-puke. The detritus is still hidden in its icy belly.

They’ve melted now and left behind their innards. River puke. The mess of trees that gets picked up, ensconced in ice for the winter and then vomited on shore when summer comes.

River Puke
River Puke