23.-26.03. - Haines Junction, Yukon

Our host parents were supposed to come back from their vacation (short trip) on Thursday, March 23rd, but they spontaneously decided to return on the evening of the 24th instead. We had planned to have a lazy day on Thursday, as the previous days had been quite exhausting and we wanted to give our legs some rest. However, we ended up deciding to take a short trip to Kathleen Lake to hike the Rock Glacier Trail. This trail is only 3 km long (round trip) and is therefore well suited for a short walk. The name is fitting, as you are actually walking on a glacier made of rocks that is still in motion, as it is still being fed from the top. There were some elevation gains on the 1.5 km long hike, and we got a bit out of breath. Interestingly, the trail is designed in such a way that it ends in the lower third of the glacier. We wanted to go all the way up and struggled through deep snow (more than knee-deep) to reach the highest point of the glacier, which was quite strenuous. So much for a lazy day... When we finally arrived, there was a small but quite steep mountain that I immediately climbed. The view from up there was amazing! Unfortunately, I couldn't capture it in pictures because I left my phone behind (I was afraid it would get wet crawling through the deep snow).

Our lazy day turned out to be Friday, the 24th. We took care of the animals and the different heaters and put our feet up. We also visited the local 'Free Store' for the second time. It's a store where anyone can bring things they no longer need, and others can take them for free. Sometimes you can find really nice things there. Our host family got their espresso machine and TV there. In the evening, the host family came back from their vacation with a full car, and we helped them unload.

On Saturday (March 25th), we were not responsible for the horses for the first time in a week. Margaret (10) fed them. She also took care of the animals on Sunday. Now the pasture is once again (as the horses are used to) full of horse manure. We found this quite annoying personally, as we had been cleaning up the droppings and keeping the pasture clean every day. We used our free time to go cross-country skiing. However, the day was not well chosen as it had thawed a few days before, but the temperatures had now dropped well below zero degrees (-12°C), resulting in an icy track and poor conditions. Nevertheless, we didn't let that stop us and still walked a few kilometers.

Today, Sunday, we walked some hiking trails around the house where we live. After lunch, we had part of the Auriol Trail on our agenda. It is 15 km long (round trip) and leads through forests at the foot of Auriol Peak (about 2000 m high). We settled for about 8 km and were on the trail for a total of about 2.5 hours. The summit itself is not climbable because of the current conditions (avalanche danger).

In addition, in the last 2 days, we have become 'northern lights hunters'. The conditions are relatively good according to various websites, and we wanted to try our luck. Since northern lights do not always shine but are sometimes more and sometimes less visible at night (and sometimes not at all), the process is as follows: you go to bed around 11:00 pm and set an alarm for one hour later. Then you get out of bed, throw on something warm, and go outside in the cold. No lights. So you go back to bed and set the next alarm for 1:00 am. Then you repeat the same process: get dressed, go outside and look. Still nothing. This game continues until about 3:00 am, and I managed to take a somewhat good photo, but the lights were not very visible. The forecast for the second day was even better than the first. When I let the dogs out around 11:15 pm, I saw that something was already happening in the sky. We then got in the car and drove to a location where we could see towards the north relatively well. After the lights were very visible in the first 15 minutes, we couldn't see anything afterwards. We waited for about 1.5 hours at -20°C to see the lights again, but it didn't happen. But at least we made a start.