I had the privilege to experience what it is to work on a ranch a few years ago and have been chasing that particular feeling ever since. So in the winter of 2023, I finally landed a job as a wrangler in Canada, got the visa process going, got my flight tickets and off I went. Only for it to last a few weeks and come to the realisation that the place was not what I was looking for and that I did not fit in at all. So was this the end of my story ???
No, maybe I was not chasing a place to be at but a feeling and that … I want back somehow and I will find it. The ranch gave me a week to pack my bags, which meant I had a week before I was kicked out and on the street in a foreign country with nowhere to go. As luck had it, a lot of people here were working through the workaway program and advised me to make a profile and find “hosts” to stay with. Next thing I knew, I was off on my way to a new destination with new people. Getting picked up by a stranger who was a friend of a person I got to know via the internet, think my mom was about to kill me when I told her about this. Anyway, I survived, and the people turned out great.
I had a blast working these two short weeks with these people on their little hobby ranch. And here I also started to make more plans on where to go next. The Yukon. It’s a place that has been in my mind since as long as I can remember, so why not go there next?
Over dinner one day I talked to these people about my plans and the idea of flying into Whitehorse to continue my travels up north. Well, long story short, they more or less called me crazy for going up north by plane, and now I have a car. A little Jeep Patriot. At first I was a bit skeptical if this purchase was a good idea and was not going to get me bankrupt. But so far it got me places and is holding up pretty good.
So next up, I drove north over the Stewart-Cassiar Highway. And what a drive it was. I took me about four days to cover the distance, of course you can do this much faster but I wanted to see everything and enjoy my time alone. There is nothing better than sleeping in a car on a mattress that’s way to thin and a sleeping bag that’s not fit for the cold temperatures on a back road or in a gravel pit right next to the highway. It was magnificent.
Oh, and if you ever decide to travel to or through the Yukon. There is one important rule about driving around in this place. If you come across a gasstation stop and fill your tank no matter how much you still have left. Did I break this rule? Yes, yes I did and oh boy between Nugget City and Teslin I nearly had to push the damn thing into the next town. So yeah, stop and get gas.
Also did you know the Yukon has a desert? I didn’t, but there is. Carcross desert is what the place is called, actually a small dune formation but ignore that fact. It does look like a dessert and it is a funny little place to walk around. Anyway, after this I more or less drove straight up to a small town called Mayo, dodging caribou on a suicide mission every now and then. If you ever want to feel like you are living on the edge of the world, Mayo is the place to be.
