Ok after we finished photographing bison at Kluane, we headed back to Whitehorse to start preparing for our trip into camp, near Atlin, BC. It took 2 full days of shopping and from I soon found out, Whitehorse has less than ideal grocery shopping. The big store which shall remain nameless is nicknamed the stupid store... there is a reason for it. I went there for 2 days and bought thousands of dollars worth of groceries - filled up their gigantic carts, and guess what - they won't open up an extra till for you to go through to do these big orders and they won't help you find boxes - they just tell you to go to the bakery and there should be some there. Well the boxes in the bakery are sometimes very large which is great for packing up baking goods, but have you ever had to fill one of those boxes with baking goods, cans and frozen meats? Not so ideal. And then when you get back to the till, they of course complete your order before you have packaged all your items in these large boxes which you can barely lift back into your cart... and do they wait for you to finish? Nope, they just start ringing through the next person and then you are in that person's way. I also found out if you ask an employee if they have something, it takes them about 10 minutes to find someone to ask, just to tell you no. I did at one point find the item I was looking for... so don't ask anyone, as you're better off to look for yourself. They have a big sign in their store telling you their customer service is so great... I can't believe they are allowed to keep it there. They should be ashamed. Ok done with that vent.
I did have other good shopping experiences in Whitehorse... for one a couple bakeries - 'Baked' is where I went each morning and got my latte and a yummy baked good, and then the 'Alpine Bakery' with all their great artisan breads.
After the shopping was complete, and it was scary... did I plan for enough food? Did I get everything I needed? You don't want to get too much food where the fresh stuff rots or there is not enough room in the fridges/freezer... or not enough food where your guests are wanting. I was going to get fresh items in every week from Atlin so I tried not to worry too much.
The day we flew into camp, from Discovery Helicopters/Atlin, was a beautiful day... and it flew me right to paradise. After landing at paradise, I saw all the work that needed to be done and set to it. It took awhile to get familiar in what was hiding in all the totes and boxes. I did bring some supplies on my own that I didn't want to live without, a couple small knives, my measuring spoons, and some great cookbooks and recipes.
It took about 3 days to unpack, clean and organize... just in time for our guests, and my other cook and awesome dishwasher, Rowan! We spent the next couple of weeks feeding fishermen, one fisherwoman, and ourselves. We learned to make artisan breads from a book I had purchased and they were a hit each day. Doesn't everyone love to be served fresh bread with their meals each day?
Our day began around 5:30am each morning... pulling ourselves out of our tents and making our way to the kitchen, put on the coffee, brush teeth, maybe brush hair (hats were useful)... and by 7am each morning we would serve breakfast. By 9:30 we would start cooking lunch.. and by about 8-10pm we'd be done! I think once we were done at 7:30.
During this time, the fishermen would once in awhile see a grizzly bear, Foamie (nick named for a story about foamies) had 2 new cubs, and others here and there would appear for those venturing out in the wee hours to go fishing - remember up north it's daylight for most of the 24 hours, but I had yet to see one and couldn't wait. One evening after cleaning up, I packed up my laptop/camera/alarm clock (a handful) and headed back to my tent just on the edge of camp... on the way I stopped out along the river to look around and wondered when I'd get to see my first grizzly bear out here - well if wishes would only come this easily, but I looked upriver about 2 feet and here came a big brown grizzly heading downstream and was going to run into me in about 30 seconds. I slowly backed up a little, having huge heart palpatations and watched her walk on by. After she went passed, I ran to the cookhouse where everyone else was chatting and burst in with my news. At first they did not understand me as I was so excited and rambling on but when they realized, they looked out and Phil said it was Mrs. Brown... don't know how she got that name, but just glad she visited and went on her way. I slept a little uneasily in my tent on the edge of the camp that night. Needless to say, be careful what you wish for!
There were only about 14 of us in total during the 'fishing season' and it was a good number to cook for... kinda like Thanksgiving every day. Many of the days were very hot and unbearable in the kitchen and add to that some hot flashes of the other kind, I had some tense moments where I thought I was going to have to dive into the river. Those hot flashes always seem to come along right when you're trying to serve dinner... brutal. These weeks flew by and when the last fishing people left, it was so quiet. I decided to stay in for the 2 week break to relax and watch any bears that came through, and hopefully get a picture or two. My partner flew in as well... unfortunately not too much bear action but a beautiful holiday at a private resort. At this time as well we got to move into cabins as nobody stays in tents during bear viewing season! Bears like to push on things that have any give... and tents fit right into that category.
The bear that visited our camp regularly during this break was named Sunshine, a beautiful golden coat she had! She is a 7 year old female and is what they call a subadult. She came and went and she pleased - surprising Rowan and I early in the mornings sometimes as we sat and had our coffee on the deck. During bear season, Rowan and I would get up at 5:30 and enjoy our coffee on our own with the bears - it was the best part of the day! At this time of the day, there was what I called the "Parade of Boys" - all the big boys would show up - spaced apart nicely as they went up river for the day. The old guys walk slowly and methodically, not wasting any energy playing around like the younger bears. My favourite big bear was named Ozzie - it took him a long time before my arrival at camp for him to become ok with walking up past the viewing platform (our deck). His first early morning visit happened with a guest, Philip and we were sitting having coffee when he just appeared right in front of us - I think both of our mouths dropped open as we looked at each other. He was big. He had a few battle scars from the years. He stopped and looked at us, and kept going up river fishing. It was magical.
I did have other good shopping experiences in Whitehorse... for one a couple bakeries - 'Baked' is where I went each morning and got my latte and a yummy baked good, and then the 'Alpine Bakery' with all their great artisan breads.
After the shopping was complete, and it was scary... did I plan for enough food? Did I get everything I needed? You don't want to get too much food where the fresh stuff rots or there is not enough room in the fridges/freezer... or not enough food where your guests are wanting. I was going to get fresh items in every week from Atlin so I tried not to worry too much.
The day we flew into camp, from Discovery Helicopters/Atlin, was a beautiful day... and it flew me right to paradise. After landing at paradise, I saw all the work that needed to be done and set to it. It took awhile to get familiar in what was hiding in all the totes and boxes. I did bring some supplies on my own that I didn't want to live without, a couple small knives, my measuring spoons, and some great cookbooks and recipes.
It took about 3 days to unpack, clean and organize... just in time for our guests, and my other cook and awesome dishwasher, Rowan! We spent the next couple of weeks feeding fishermen, one fisherwoman, and ourselves. We learned to make artisan breads from a book I had purchased and they were a hit each day. Doesn't everyone love to be served fresh bread with their meals each day?
Our day began around 5:30am each morning... pulling ourselves out of our tents and making our way to the kitchen, put on the coffee, brush teeth, maybe brush hair (hats were useful)... and by 7am each morning we would serve breakfast. By 9:30 we would start cooking lunch.. and by about 8-10pm we'd be done! I think once we were done at 7:30.
During this time, the fishermen would once in awhile see a grizzly bear, Foamie (nick named for a story about foamies) had 2 new cubs, and others here and there would appear for those venturing out in the wee hours to go fishing - remember up north it's daylight for most of the 24 hours, but I had yet to see one and couldn't wait. One evening after cleaning up, I packed up my laptop/camera/alarm clock (a handful) and headed back to my tent just on the edge of camp... on the way I stopped out along the river to look around and wondered when I'd get to see my first grizzly bear out here - well if wishes would only come this easily, but I looked upriver about 2 feet and here came a big brown grizzly heading downstream and was going to run into me in about 30 seconds. I slowly backed up a little, having huge heart palpatations and watched her walk on by. After she went passed, I ran to the cookhouse where everyone else was chatting and burst in with my news. At first they did not understand me as I was so excited and rambling on but when they realized, they looked out and Phil said it was Mrs. Brown... don't know how she got that name, but just glad she visited and went on her way. I slept a little uneasily in my tent on the edge of the camp that night. Needless to say, be careful what you wish for!
There were only about 14 of us in total during the 'fishing season' and it was a good number to cook for... kinda like Thanksgiving every day. Many of the days were very hot and unbearable in the kitchen and add to that some hot flashes of the other kind, I had some tense moments where I thought I was going to have to dive into the river. Those hot flashes always seem to come along right when you're trying to serve dinner... brutal. These weeks flew by and when the last fishing people left, it was so quiet. I decided to stay in for the 2 week break to relax and watch any bears that came through, and hopefully get a picture or two. My partner flew in as well... unfortunately not too much bear action but a beautiful holiday at a private resort. At this time as well we got to move into cabins as nobody stays in tents during bear viewing season! Bears like to push on things that have any give... and tents fit right into that category.
The bear that visited our camp regularly during this break was named Sunshine, a beautiful golden coat she had! She is a 7 year old female and is what they call a subadult. She came and went and she pleased - surprising Rowan and I early in the mornings sometimes as we sat and had our coffee on the deck. During bear season, Rowan and I would get up at 5:30 and enjoy our coffee on our own with the bears - it was the best part of the day! At this time of the day, there was what I called the "Parade of Boys" - all the big boys would show up - spaced apart nicely as they went up river for the day. The old guys walk slowly and methodically, not wasting any energy playing around like the younger bears. My favourite big bear was named Ozzie - it took him a long time before my arrival at camp for him to become ok with walking up past the viewing platform (our deck). His first early morning visit happened with a guest, Philip and we were sitting having coffee when he just appeared right in front of us - I think both of our mouths dropped open as we looked at each other. He was big. He had a few battle scars from the years. He stopped and looked at us, and kept going up river fishing. It was magical.
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| Sunshine having breakfast in front of the viewing platform. |
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| Rowan and I goofing around, tired of doing dishes... lol! |
