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March 5, 2007
March generally brings hints of spring to the North - with the sun often warming the temperature to near thawing. However, winter often keeps a couple of tricks up its sleeve, and pulled one out in the last week or two. The temperature has dipped to below -40 again. The exhaust from the furnaces in Watson Lake's Northern Lights Center rises straight up into the ice fog created by the extreme cold. The Canada Winter Games in Whitehorse have also been challenged by this latest spell of winter as breathing super-cold air can cause injuries to the games' athletes, so much caution is needed when outdoors in winter's last blast.
March 12, 2007
Gold is not the only valuable mineral found in the Cassiar Mountains which surround Holloway Bar. Jade in various forms is found throughout the region, and the colours can range from a deep, dark shade to a very light green. The lighter coloured jade is much in demand so is generally worth more, although I personally prefer the darker jade. Jade, although fairly abundant, is often hard to find as its natural form often just looks like any other rock or boulder laying on the ground. However, once it's cut with a special jade saw (jade is a very hard, brittle rock and will probably crack if you try to break a piece off!), it's very easy to tell it's not just "another rock".
March 19, 2007
Gold miners aren't the only ones who try to get to their summer grounds early. These swans were spotted late last week swimming in the slush on Lakelse Lake, just south of Terrace. Each year about this time, the swans return to the lake on their journey north for the summer, but often run into lingering winter conditions. This year the slush didn't present any real problems for the swans as they were able to push their way through it. Their timing was good, though - there was still a fair bit of ice in the lake last week, but it's now gone, having been blown around and broken up by the weekend winds.
March 26, 2007
The Watson Lake Airport (known as 'YQH' to pilots) was built during WWII as part of the Northwest Staging Route. Strategically located midway between Fort Nelson and Whitehorse, it was an important refuelling stop and still serves that purpose well today. Fighters such as P-39 Aircobras and P-40 Warhawks as well as larger bombers such as the Lincoln were common sights here. You can still find the remnants of at least one Aircobra fighter and Lincoln bomber that crashed in the lake itself; the Canadian military was called here in the 1970's to deal with some unexploded bombs from the Aircobra.
