Summer 2024

Warning this blog is un edited, un filtered and completely raw. Sorry there was absolutely zero proof reading or planing.... enjoy!

 Hello All, 

I am going to try and start where I left off, I think I am having trouble remembering exactly where I ended the last blog. And throughout the whole summer I was working like a d a w g. ahhh, I was flying back from ottawa to Vancouver. Luckily enough Mica had some time to show around the sea to sky for some epic (not so epic) low water paddling.  

 

Kayaks n stuff by the elaho/squamish river.

Other then the elaho I also got to paddle a section of the Cheakamus where I was reminded not to run into rocks...  And I also got to paddle a little run in Squamish called the manquam. 

I gotta say I like to cram a lot of stuff into my day but hanging out with mica I definilty chilled out more then usual.

Drying gear plus breakfast

Othen then boating I also got put to work on the farm and drank some beer!

Mica was a beast and drove me to Vancouver where I met up with my sister and uncle. 

My uncle is awesome and always cooks amazing food!

Soltice and logan drove all the way from kamloops and brought a bike for me to go biking.

When I got back to whitehorse Yukon it was grind time. I needed to make some cash to finance some traveling and my school.

I also flew first class to Vancouver wich was nuts, get those areoplan points. 

I was expticiting to guide this summer but I actually ended up working for Yukon Energy through a scholarship thing. I was pretty unsure on how my summer would turn out after persuing such a different type of employment. I was happy that I was still working on rivers. Most of my work involved fish passage through the whitehorse dam. Other then that I helped some consultants and companies perform surveys or studies to help with the water relicising for the whitehorse and Aishihiak hydro plant. I think the first cool work I did for Yukon energy was help EDI with a duck (waterfowl ) survey. I learned to appreciate ducks and birds more but I mostly just liked working with big boats and in remote locations. 

 

Left is on the small boat looking at the big boat used to move the small boat

right is me jealous of not owning binoculars (I bought some later)

Some grayling at the most upper reaches of the survey

 some bison

So this survey was in may, so was may long weekend. I have a photo from Dyea ALaska neaer skagway, classic may long weekend.

My summer and some highlights but honestly most of it was kinda working 9-5 (I worked 730 - 4) and then biking or boating after work, but you don't take photos of that cause it's not that epic...

Some days I even to both

getting some fresh tires

Also during may I went to beerfest to help serve, first time, pretty sick

2 beers from blacking out

Sorry that this blog is not very fluid, I'm just trying to piece together my summer. 

After beers fest mica actually came to check out the Yukon. It was awesome to show her the tatshenshini river where I work. But You really need more then a weekend to visit the Yukon.

Jake and dani joined us. Sorry there's no photos of the rapids. I just have a iphone.

then I caught Isaac and his girlfriend quickly before the flew into the Nahani. And it was my birdthay.

Sick birthday barbeque. 

So after that little weekend it was back to work. But not for too long at the end of June I was guiding the tat/alsek. A legendary raft expedition and this time I was the lead guide. Which was kinda cool I guess. 

Before I went out for my trip I did a bit of work for eco fish research for Yukon energy. We where sending little tags to get some measurements on the turbines and took some velocity column velocity measurements before the intakes. It was nice to be working outside and near the river. Lots of problem solving to which is a bonus. 

Expensive basically sonar boat holding science thing (ADCP) left

And finally an excuse to use my fancy life jacket to belay something that is not a person.

Some sick workstations upstream to let em loose, plus using the company e bike as a station. 

ok also before I left on my raft trip I signed up for my winter classes.

Basically I am trying to become a computer wizard by taking two modeling classes, and I have a sustainability engineering economics class, which is basically just all buzzwords. Then my other ones are kinda boring but looks like a chill semester.

It was honestly kinda tuff preping for this trip because I had to get ready while I was also working my normal job, luckily I put both my parents to work. i made my dad help me shop and prep for the trip and my mom made indian food for one of the dinners on the trip. 

indian food at alsek lake plus dad helping with prep

the rest of the photos are basically are all food, I went pretty hard. And it's more interesting then big ice blocks anyways.

The piece de resistance was probably this roast, it was sick. It was awesome because a client who teaches camp cooking classes helped me make it!

And you cant forget desert, made some brownies for it too.

Another baller meal was greek/kebab night. My dad whipped up a meranaide before I left an the meat was stewing for almost a week! (in the merinade)

finished that sucker with apple pie

The final meal was some sockey salmon we trade cocacoola for, its pretty sick to get something that fresh after 10 days. 

its raw rn

I do love cooking but I mainly do it for the views. Here are some from the flight, its ok.

Grand pacific glacier and confluence of tat alsek, cant really see the alsek though, that's melt creek.

Also I got geeky and got a sat image before I left in the lake, to determine where I was going to paddle into (you don't want to smash into the ice bergs, it's kinda important)

sat image from sentinal of alsek lake, 

grey is river, blue is like, white is ice, we had to go in the back door (far left)

so after the flight the river trip is pretty over, cause you're flying. 

But I when I got back of course it was back to work, from work. I think this is when we where trying to get the fish ladder up to snuff for the run. They installed a fish screen at the entrance and where playing with the flows. I helped a bit with the flows and helped more with monitoring by helping set up and adjust some underwater cameras. I was also supposed to remove some concrete from the fish ladder exit but that took too long for one summer. hopefully it ll get done. 

upper camera used to counting

lower one wich needed lots of adjusting, and has so many bubbles

chinook salmon in the ladder viewing area 

the camera before submersion.

I also helped a bit looking at the fish in schawtka, it was a great excuse to not be at a desk

fish
from schawtka lake (above the dam I work on)

Crazy electro fisher contraption to look at the fishes.

Dont know when this was but mom got me sushi and I crushed it

Another random photo of a night out

tour of ashihial hydro plant its crazy and over 300 feet underground and provides most of winter energy for the south of yukon. 

Also a little family paddle

my hummus skills getting put to work, thanks for the training isey.

ok ok, so now I think I am in july. And in july me and angus went and indulged in some music and some biking in dawson city, home of the gold rush! we were camping on old tailings and yeah. good time. 

Geting back from a friends camp on the ferry on the bikes, and its already light out

shredding the pump track

loading up the bikes

Ok after dawson one cool work event thing a head was salmon day, pretty sweet I was volunteering this event that appreciates and celebrates salmon as their population declines kinda. I was happy to eat salmon, not the ones in the yukon rivers, ones from the taku river

dennis chopping, me cooking. 

ok ok next cool thing was not a work thing but a personal thing. I slapped together a kayak trip down the primrose river. It included some lake paddling a brutal portage, and some whitewater paddling. 

 

During a tushi prep run I kinda gave my boat a little damage :(

prepping, maps are purely for aesthetic, we did not even bring them

loading up to bring to plane

first camp after getting dropped off

before rose lake

The falls, definitely not paddling that

mid portage brutality

last bit of the canyon, the rest was to big for a lad like me, but it might of been worth it to not have to portage

in some white water ish before kusawa

a camp

almost at kusawa lake

end of the trip

So the primrose left me pretty haggered, I was super tired, bug bitten and sun burnt, basically from here on out I was burned out until the end of the summer. But there was still money to be made and trails to bike. 

cool ashihiak fish survey with raft, I think my future job could look a little like this, but the rapids gotta be bigger. 

some random biking photos. 

So I am basically at the end of my summer. The last little push before I started traveling was guiding another tat trip for bc parks. I went on this trip to finally get to fly in a helicopter. 

Guides plus helicopter

long aligning the rafts and such

getting the gear after a net dropped

cooking on the boat!?, they would never let me do this during a commercial trip

some sockey in the upper middle part of the tat

hike up to melt creek to look at some rapids.

As soon as I got back from the trip it was a burn and turn. A toews classic. 

Just dried the gear, packed it up and shipped it to Montreal and I went to catch my flight outta here!

This semester off is going to be a blast.

Im starting by visiting my sister then off the vietnam for some caves and motorbikes then indo for some diving and beach time, nepal for some whitewater then tanzania for some wildlife. 

Something super sad this summer was that our dog, mostly my moms dog passed away this summer. I was super unexpected and sucked. But mona was one of the best dogs ever. 

here is a photo of us when I was little