October 2, 2024 • 23 mins
Have you ever realized mid-challenge that you're not cut out for it? Amy Kenny, editor of Yukon, North of Ordinary magazine, shares her experience in the Yukon River Quest. We also hear about producer Mark Koepke's "bat tenants," and highlight the athletic endeavours of Dall's sheep and mountain goats through the photography of Sonny Parker, who has turned his passion for documenting wildlife into a compelling tool for conservation storytelling.
Also mentioned in episode: Bats with big appetites.
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Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Give me that greasy intro.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
From Yukon North of Ordinary magazine.
This is Yukon North of Ordinary, the podcast Sharing stories
about life in Northern Canada,from offbeat to extraordinary to
extraordinary.
Welcome to the Fall Series.
(00:51):
I'm your host, karen McCall.
In our opening segment youheard a telltale sound of summer
the start line of Yukon RiverQuest.
This long-distance paddlingrace has a Le Mans-style start,
which means the paddlers run ashort distance from the start
line in Rotary Park in downtownWhitehorse to their vessel, that
being a canoe, kayak, voyageurboat or even a stand-up
(01:13):
paddleboard.
From there, it's nothing butsweat and tears until they reach
Dawson City, 700 kilometersdownstream.
That event and summer feelslike a lifetime ago now that the
fall equinox is behind us.
But more than two months afterthe conclusion of Yukon River
Quest, some people whoparticipated in the
long-distance race are likelystill feeling the effects.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
This year I'm going to paddle the Yukon River Quest.
I'm going to train by just likesitting on the couch watching
Netflix, I think.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
I know Amy Kenney, our esteemed editor of Yukon
North of Ordinary magazine,might even still be having
nightmares about the event.
In our summer series openerco-producer Mark Kepke talked to
Amy as she was wrapping up hertraining efforts for the race.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
It's good.
My paddling partner bought likea brand new, very fancy,
state-of-the-art like racingcanoe, which I feel is perhaps
too advanced for our skill leveland our attitudes going into
this.
But we were both a little bitnervous that this thing was
going to be impossible to paddleand so just getting it on the
water and getting in and notfalling out of it.
(02:23):
We're feeling a lot betterabout things going forward.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Today an update on how that went, and much more.
Mark caught up with Amy justbefore she left on a big trip to
Scotland.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
So you're heading out of town.
We're going to Scotland foralmost a month, so I had like it
feels like three months of workjammed into the last month and
my brain is mush.
It's just for fun.
We'll always have a pen andpaper and a recording device
with me, so we'll see what cropsup, but right now I'm planning
(02:57):
on not even taking my laptopwith me, so I'm trying to stay
as far away from work aspossible.
So it's all hiking and runningand drinking whiskey, god no
Zero hiking, because hiking isjust the slow, boring version of
running.
But there will be lots ofrunning and lots of scotch, I
think.
Speaker 4 (03:12):
You have an itinerary , you know where you're going.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
Oh yeah, do we have an itinerary?
My boyfriend has every singlebooking reservation, whatever,
printed out in a physical binderthat he is bringing with him.
Even dinners are planned,that's horrible.
No, it's amazing, I don't haveto think about anything or worry
about anything, that's prettyawesome it's going to be great.
Speaker 4 (03:40):
Last time I talked to you, you were still in the
throes of training for the YukonRiver Quest.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
How did that turn out ?
Like joy, misery split is stilla solid 70-30, where I'm having
a ton of fun 70% of the timeand questioning life choices
only 30.
But with RiverQuest I wasmiserable for 96% of the time
and happy for 4%, and the 4% wasexclusively during the time.
(04:20):
Like two hours from pullinginto CarMax when my partner
texted me that the race had beencanceled and I was so overjoyed
to hear that we were not goingto have to decide whether or not
to get back in the boat andcontinue on to Dawson.
It was like seeing the face ofGod in the sky.
I've never been that happy inmy life.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
Did you have to tamp that enthusiasm down?
Because I imagine you weresurrounded by a lot of people
who are really disappointed andbummed out.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Oh no, no, no, no.
We were dead last.
So I started like I juststarted singing and like power
paddling my partner was kind ofin a haze behind me like my
paddling partner.
I couldn't tell what hisfeelings on it were, but we were
in dead last and I had such aboost of energy that we like
bombed ahead and passed thesecond last place team.
(05:13):
And I should have tamped itdown actually, because when we
passed them they were twoBritish guys and I was like good
news boys, the race is canceled, we're done when we get to
CarMax.
And they were kind of dejectedto hear that because like they
had flown from England for therace.
But I think they were deep downinside kind of happy, also
because they look as miserableas I had felt before I found out
(05:35):
.
The race was canceled, is it?
Speaker 4 (05:37):
type zero fun or is it moved into like type two fun?
Speaker 3 (05:40):
Oh, I'll never do that again.
I'm glad that I did it and Ilearned a lot of things about
myself and paddling, and one ofthe things that I learned is
that I only like paddling ifit's whitewater and super fast
and fun, or if we're camping,where you're just like paddling
to a campsite.
You hang out, you eat things,you sleep, you paddle to the
(06:00):
next campsite.
That's my jam.
Marathon paddle racing is notfor me.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Wow, that was quite the review from Amy.
Before we get any angry emailsfrom RiverQuest, I will say that
my friend Carmen has done therace I don't know maybe half a
dozen times, and she keeps goingback for more, so there are
some people who love it, or atleast who have a love-hate
relationship with the race.
Whichever way you look at it,though, it has been a tough few
(06:28):
years for the race.
There was a COVID cancellationone year, then another year the
race was canceled because ofhigh water, and then this year
it was fires that abruptlyshortened the race from a
700-kilometer slog to a mere300-kilometer slog Still long.
While Mark was catching up withAmy, he also asked what's in
the fall issue of the magazine,which is already on shelves,
(06:49):
coffee tables and maybe even thebackside of some toilets.
Speaker 4 (06:59):
All right, let's talk about the current issue.
Who's in the Yukonquestionnaire?
Speaker 3 (07:06):
It is Emily Farrell, noted producer of many music
festivals and arts events allover the territory.
Actually, she's been doing thatfor a long time and she
answered the questionnaire thisissue.
Speaker 4 (07:19):
Now in the last podcast series I believe we ran
your Yukon questionnaire.
Last podcast series, I believewe ran your Yukon questionnaire.
If you get any feedback orblowback from your responses to
that from friends public, Idon't think so.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
I have one friend who always gives me grief about
calling it the Yukon because heinsists that it's this age-old
thing between Yukoners.
The fight is at Yukon or theYukon, and in my opinion, the
fight is between Yukoners andthis one friend in particular,
because he's the only person Iknow who calls it Yukon or the
Yukon, and in my opinion, thefight is between Yukoners and
this one friend in particular,because he's the only person I
know who calls it Yukon.
Everyone says the Yukon, so Igot blowback from him but it's
(07:52):
meaningless.
Speaker 4 (07:53):
Yes, so what else is in the issue?
Speaker 3 (07:56):
You want more.
Speaker 4 (07:57):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
Oh, let me see Ba ba, ba ba.
There's a photo essay from theOffbeat Collective photos of
Kluane Park and region that ismade up of photographers from
the Yukon and photographers fromoutside the Yukon.
So it's, yeah, different,different people's perspectives
(08:20):
on Kluane.
Manis Hopkins wrote a profileof Gavin McKenna, um, the hockey
player from the Yukon.
There is, um, an illustratedlike DIY FYI column about winter
camping essentials what aresome good things to take and why
?
Uh, what else do we have?
Uh, let's see.
Emily Huffs wrote a for theYukon adventure section.
(08:43):
She wrote a story about agirl's back country trip along
Slim's East, which most people Ifeel like when they head out
there to hike towardsObservation Mountain, they take
Slim's West because it's waybetter signed and has legit
campsites and East is kind oflike a choose your own adventure
style hike.
So she wrote about that stylehike.
(09:09):
So she wrote about that.
I wrote a story about the YukonObservatory, which is amazing,
just about the kind ofprogramming they have there and
the telescopes they have and thedegree to which you can nerd
out super hard on planets andscience and, well, aliens I
tried to get them to nerd outwith me about but they're a
little bit too logical for that,so they weren't as into
discussing the possibility ofalien visitations to the Yukon
(09:33):
as I would have hoped, but stilla good place to go and hang out
and have a look at the sky inthe winter.
Speaker 4 (09:40):
What do we have in terms of features, aside from
the photo essay?
Speaker 3 (09:45):
One of the big features in the story is about
little brown bats.
Trina Moyles wrote that and wehad a story a few years ago
about little brown bats.
That was more science I mean,there is science in this one,
but it was more strictlyscience-based.
And this one is about people inthe Yukon living with bats and
(10:06):
why and how they find their wayinto houses and kind of how we
can coexist with them.
So it's an interesting storyand useful if you have a bat or
bats in your house.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
I read that article on a recent flight back from
Vancouver and it hit reallyclose to home because I was
battling bats.
This May it was the end of athree-year battle to get bats
out of my cabin at Marsh Lake.
So I read that article with alot of interest.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
A battle, if you will .
Speaker 4 (10:35):
I can't remember what the actual article was called,
but on the front it was referredto as bat tenants, which I
assume was a play on bad tenants.
And I can tell you that that'saccurate.
I was not happily coexistingwith these bats in my roof.
There's nothing like going tobed and you hear the scratching
and squeaking and wingfluttering of over a hundred
(10:57):
bats, I would estimate.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
Oh, that's creepy.
Speaker 4 (10:59):
Seemingly five or six feet above my head in the
ceiling.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
Yeah, even just from the perspective of, like every
night you go to bed thinking amI going to get bit?
And I know they're not allrabid or whatever.
But they tell you, like if youwake up and there's a bat in the
room, that you should go gettested in case it bit you in the
night.
So it can be stressful.
Speaker 4 (11:19):
Well, fortunately, I was never worried about them
actually being in the cabin.
There was no sign of them everinside the cabin.
They were just up in the roof,in the insulation and that, and
it was mostly just the sound.
And then, of course, theconcern about, like bat guano
just accumulating over years andyears and years, and I was
actually really interested toread that article because she
(11:40):
refers to you know how bats canget in an opening the size of a
dime, because I was operatingunder the assumption that they
could get in a space the size ofa quarter.
So maybe the bats that I'mdealing with were maybe a little
lazier than the bats so far, sogood.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
Oh good, Fingers crossed.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
As you'll learn if you read the article written by
Trina Moyles, there are safeways to evict bats that have
positive outcomes for the batsand the people.
Stop that Bats get a bad rap.
But Yukon bats don't bitepeople unless you're handling
them, which you shouldn't be,and they don't drink blood.
(12:16):
There are bats that do that andthey're called vampire bats and
they live in South America, butthey're mostly after cows and
horses and pigs rather thanpeople.
In any case, bats are superinteresting, which is why we
have a podcast episode aboutthese peculiar flying mammals.
It's called Bats with BigAppetites.
It's not our sexiest episode itdidn't get the most downloads,
(12:37):
but I re-listened to it theother day and it's really good.
I relearned a lot.
You can check that out it'slinked in our show notes and
learn all about how manymosquitoes these wonderful
creatures can eat in one meal,and much more.
Now back to Amy and Mark.
Speaker 4 (12:59):
All right, got anything to add?
Speaker 3 (13:19):
We have got a burning question in here.
As I was on the mountainopposite, I swear he bombed down
the hill in about nine secondsLike it was faster than Olympic
gold medalists sprint the 100meter and I have never been able
to understand, like how they dothat.
So, yeah, I talked to somebodywith YG, a biologist there, to
(13:41):
kind of explain why and how theycan move around the mountains
like that.
Speaker 4 (13:48):
Well, have a great time.
Happy travels.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
Oh, I should say this Sonny Parker, who did the photo
for the Burning Question storyabout sheep and mountain goats
and how they climb the way theydo.
Sonny was just named theCanadian Wildlife Photographer
of the Year by Canadian Geograph.
So that's cool.
His photo is amazing.
Cheers, amy.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
Go easy on the scotch .
Sonny's wildlife photography isamazing and I was thrilled to
hear about his CanadianGeographic nod.
It also gave me a great excuseto catch up with him.
As we say, a photo is worth athousand words, and that's about
how many we gave Sonny to tellus about his work and himself.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Yeah, so I received some exciting and big news
towards the end of August,driving back from Dawson with my
partner after just finishingpaddling the Wynn River actually
and quick stop on the side ofthe road and check my emails and
you know, scrolling through theemails after being out of touch
for two weeks is kind ofannoying and then one email is
(14:51):
from canadian geographic and Iactually kind of forgot that I
had even entered this contest uma few weeks prior.
So I was like, oh, I bettercheck that out.
And then, buried in the subjectline it was kind of like a
congratulations, you are the2024 wildlife photographer of
the year grand prize winner.
So I was.
I don't think I reallyregistered it as I was reading
(15:12):
it.
It's kind of hard to describe.
It felt kind of just surreal, Iguess, overall.
And then, uh, yeah, as it kindof set in, I guess, yeah,
obviously super, super excitedand surprised and, um, even to
be honest, right now it kind ofsounds weird saying it but uh,
yeah, it was, uh, yeah, a prettycool moment and really kind of
helped help justify to myselfkind of the extra money, time
(15:35):
and effort that I've put intophotography over the last few
years.
My name's uh, sonny parker.
Uh, born and raised in Yukon,happy to call Haynes Junction
and kind of the Kalani area myhome now.
(15:58):
I've always liked exploring theoutdoors and been kind of
interested in like wildlife andwilderness and how people use
the land, and so I guessphotography became a natural
means to just kind ofdocumenting cool things that I
was seeing when I was out onadventures with friends.
And then I guess it kind ofslowly morphed into going from
like documenting things toviewing things in kind of a more
artistic mindset and justtrying to figure out ways that I
(16:20):
could use a camera to kind oftell little stories or show
people really unique moments aswe all know, like a photo is
worth a thousand words andeveryone to kind of tell little
stories or show people reallyunique moments.
As we all know, like a photo isworth a thousand words and
everyone can kind of interpretit differently.
So having a camera along withme just became kind of a unique
way to tell stories and reallyhelp people relate to what I
thought was, yeah, some reallycool moments.
(16:41):
So I guess in the past fewyears I've really started
putting more time and effortinto photography.
I guess I started about you know10 years ago or so, taking
single photos kind of out ofcontext, you know, like wildlife
here and there and northernlights here and there, but they
(17:02):
were never really connected orpart of a bigger story or idea.
So I've always been kind oflooking to find out ways on how
I can kind of take the next stepin my photography career.
I guess the most logical stepwas just trying to move towards
like storytelling, so using aseries of photos and spending
(17:25):
maybe a year or two on a longerterm project to really convey,
you know, a story through aseries of images.
And I'm still kind of figuringout how that process works.
But it's been fun and it'sreally given me a new motivation
to take a deeper dive, I guess.
And so I guess through that Ireally wanted to try to bridge
(17:46):
kind of science and storytelling, because I think there's a lot
of really cool things happeningin the scientific world that
either aren't accessible oraren't described or shown in a
very like appetizing way, Iguess, to the general public.
So if photography can kind ofbe that bridge between science
and storytelling and conveyingimportant messages about
(18:08):
conservation to the generalpublic, I think that's where my
current passion lies.
So I have a shot in the fallissue of Yukon Orthodontics
Magazine that kind of shows twodog sheep.
They're almost kind of runningstraight down a sheer cliff face
which, yeah, if you can imaginethat it seems almost like
(18:32):
they're going to plummet totheir certain death.
But they have kind of thisunique ability to stand and run
safely and quickly across thesesheer cliffs.
I thought it was kind of a coolphoto because it's these two
kind of white sheep on a kind ofa a brown gold backdrop which
(18:53):
is just a straight sheer rockface and and you're not really
sure where, where one of thesheep it's kind of mid-air,
mid-jump and it's kind ofbounding towards the edge of the
frame and it kind of leadsviewers to to wonder kind of
what's it going to do or whereis it going to end up.
Luckily the the road was, youknow it's still probably a good
20 meters below the edge of thephoto, but it took a a few kind
(19:16):
of quick hops and bounds off oflittle pieces of rock before it
ended up on the edge of the roadshoulder.
Actually I took this photo atthe bottom of a techo doll or
sheep mountain, as many uconnerswill know it, um, kind of on
the edge of kalani lake there,which is, yeah, one of the best
spots, I think, in the yuk,yukon and maybe even in the
world really to have really goodviewing opportunities of dull
(19:39):
sheep.
I'm still plugging away on kindof a bigger term dull sheep
project and trying to tell thestory about kind of the
challenges they face related toclimate change, industrial
development and all the otherthings that they deal with
across the range.
They're kind of a specialspecies because really, if sheep
are healthy, it's kind of agood indicator that the
(20:01):
ecosystem that they're in, whichis kind of mountain, alpine
ecosystems, are also healthy too.
So they're one of the speciesthat can kind of tell us that
story of the greater ecosystem.
So I want to try to tell usingsheep as, like the characters
kind of tell a bit of a storyabout you know, what they mean
to the landscape and the peopleand hopefully get people
(20:23):
inspired and get them caring.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
That's Yukon photographer Sunny Parker.
Check out Sunny's photo ofdolls sheep scaling a sheer
cliff face on the North ofOrdinary Media Facebook and
Instagram pages.
To check out Sonny's other work, which I highly recommend, go
to sonnyparkerphotocom or findhim on social media.
Sonny Parker Photography.
That's Sonny.
As in S-O-N-N-Y, not as in thebright orb in the sky in the sky
(20:57):
.
Speaking of photographers, wehave a couple more episodes to
drop this series.
We're going to have the YukonQuestionnaire with another
prolific Yukon wildlifephotographer, peter Mather.
There's a lot of good nuggetsin his answers.
What is your favorite Yukonbrand?
Speaker 1 (21:11):
Um Yukon.
Are they a competitor?
Speaker 2 (21:15):
We'll also drop an Extraordinary Arts episode.
Speaker 5 (21:18):
The August Rival is the alias I perform under this
new album.
Hillsides took about a year torecord.
I would say start to finish.
It does feel good to have thisrelease coming up, but it's
maybe the least enjoyable partof it.
(21:39):
It's so subjective.
Some people are going to likeit, some people are going to
dislike it.
And I enjoy doing it and Ithink that's something that's
different with age too.
Is that the satisfactions andthe doing?
Yeah, I just enjoy doing it.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
So it's kind of a nice place to be and we might
even revisit Mark's whole batconundrum, you know, just in
time for Halloween.
Stop that.
We'll have a full rollout foryou in November.
Talk to you soon.
We'll have a full rollout foryou in November.
Talk to you soon.
That's it for another episodeof Yukon North of Ordinary.
(22:22):
I'm your host, karen McCall.
This podcast is produced byMark Kepke and me for North of
Ordinary Media.
Our theme music is Slipin' byMajor Funk.
If you like what you hear,please subscribe and give us a
rating.
Check out our website,northofordinarycom, where you'll
(22:45):
find stories from our magazine.
Speaker 4 (22:53):
You can also subscribe to the magazine and
buy some swag.
Thanks for listening.
We'll be back soon, so I needyou to give me a couple of stop,
that's.
You need to just say it kind ofjust like that, as if you're
scolding a child that keepsinterrupting you while you're,
you know, trying to have a grownup conversation or something.
I need it for editing.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
Stop that, stop that, stop that, stop that.
I think they all sound the same.
I was imagining my boyfriendannoying me because I don't have
any kids.
Give me that greasy intro.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
From Yukon North of Ordinary magazine.
This is Yukon North of Ordinary, the podcast Sharing stories
about life in Northern Canada,from offbeat to extraordinary to
extraordinary.
Welcome to the Fall Series.
(00:51):
I'm your host, karen McCall.
In our opening segment youheard a telltale sound of summer
the start line of Yukon RiverQuest.
This long-distance paddlingrace has a Le Mans-style start,
which means the paddlers run ashort distance from the start
line in Rotary Park in downtownWhitehorse to their vessel, that
being a canoe, kayak, voyageurboat or even a stand-up
(01:13):
paddleboard.
From there, it's nothing butsweat and tears until they reach
Dawson City, 700 kilometersdownstream.
That event and summer feelslike a lifetime ago now that the
fall equinox is behind us.
But more than two months afterthe conclusion of Yukon River
Quest, some people whoparticipated in the
long-distance race are likelystill feeling the effects.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
This year I'm going to paddle the Yukon River Quest.
I'm going to train by just likesitting on the couch watching
Netflix, I think.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
I know Amy Kenney, our esteemed editor of Yukon
North of Ordinary magazine,might even still be having
nightmares about the event.
In our summer series openerco-producer Mark Kepke talked to
Amy as she was wrapping up hertraining efforts for the race.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
It's good.
My paddling partner bought likea brand new, very fancy,
state-of-the-art like racingcanoe, which I feel is perhaps
too advanced for our skill leveland our attitudes going into
this.
But we were both a little bitnervous that this thing was
going to be impossible to paddleand so just getting it on the
water and getting in and notfalling out of it.
(02:23):
We're feeling a lot betterabout things going forward.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Today an update on how that went, and much more.
Mark caught up with Amy justbefore she left on a big trip to
Scotland.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
So you're heading out of town.
We're going to Scotland foralmost a month, so I had like it
feels like three months of workjammed into the last month and
my brain is mush.
It's just for fun.
We'll always have a pen andpaper and a recording device
with me, so we'll see what cropsup, but right now I'm planning
(02:57):
on not even taking my laptopwith me, so I'm trying to stay
as far away from work aspossible.
So it's all hiking and runningand drinking whiskey, god no
Zero hiking, because hiking isjust the slow, boring version of
running.
But there will be lots ofrunning and lots of scotch, I
think.
Speaker 4 (03:12):
You have an itinerary , you know where you're going.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
Oh yeah, do we have an itinerary?
My boyfriend has every singlebooking reservation, whatever,
printed out in a physical binderthat he is bringing with him.
Even dinners are planned,that's horrible.
No, it's amazing, I don't haveto think about anything or worry
about anything, that's prettyawesome it's going to be great.
Speaker 4 (03:40):
Last time I talked to you, you were still in the
throes of training for the YukonRiver Quest.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
How did that turn out ?
Like joy, misery split is stilla solid 70-30, where I'm having
a ton of fun 70% of the timeand questioning life choices
only 30.
But with RiverQuest I wasmiserable for 96% of the time
and happy for 4%, and the 4% wasexclusively during the time.
(04:20):
Like two hours from pullinginto CarMax when my partner
texted me that the race had beencanceled and I was so overjoyed
to hear that we were not goingto have to decide whether or not
to get back in the boat andcontinue on to Dawson.
It was like seeing the face ofGod in the sky.
I've never been that happy inmy life.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
Did you have to tamp that enthusiasm down?
Because I imagine you weresurrounded by a lot of people
who are really disappointed andbummed out.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Oh no, no, no, no.
We were dead last.
So I started like I juststarted singing and like power
paddling my partner was kind ofin a haze behind me like my
paddling partner.
I couldn't tell what hisfeelings on it were, but we were
in dead last and I had such aboost of energy that we like
bombed ahead and passed thesecond last place team.
(05:13):
And I should have tamped itdown actually, because when we
passed them they were twoBritish guys and I was like good
news boys, the race is canceled, we're done when we get to
CarMax.
And they were kind of dejectedto hear that because like they
had flown from England for therace.
But I think they were deep downinside kind of happy, also
because they look as miserableas I had felt before I found out
(05:35):
.
The race was canceled, is it?
Speaker 4 (05:37):
type zero fun or is it moved into like type two fun?
Speaker 3 (05:40):
Oh, I'll never do that again.
I'm glad that I did it and Ilearned a lot of things about
myself and paddling, and one ofthe things that I learned is
that I only like paddling ifit's whitewater and super fast
and fun, or if we're camping,where you're just like paddling
to a campsite.
You hang out, you eat things,you sleep, you paddle to the
(06:00):
next campsite.
That's my jam.
Marathon paddle racing is notfor me.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Wow, that was quite the review from Amy.
Before we get any angry emailsfrom RiverQuest, I will say that
my friend Carmen has done therace I don't know maybe half a
dozen times, and she keeps goingback for more, so there are
some people who love it, or atleast who have a love-hate
relationship with the race.
Whichever way you look at it,though, it has been a tough few
(06:28):
years for the race.
There was a COVID cancellationone year, then another year the
race was canceled because ofhigh water, and then this year
it was fires that abruptlyshortened the race from a
700-kilometer slog to a mere300-kilometer slog Still long.
While Mark was catching up withAmy, he also asked what's in
the fall issue of the magazine,which is already on shelves,
(06:49):
coffee tables and maybe even thebackside of some toilets.
Speaker 4 (06:59):
All right, let's talk about the current issue.
Who's in the Yukonquestionnaire?
Speaker 3 (07:06):
It is Emily Farrell, noted producer of many music
festivals and arts events allover the territory.
Actually, she's been doing thatfor a long time and she
answered the questionnaire thisissue.
Speaker 4 (07:19):
Now in the last podcast series I believe we ran
your Yukon questionnaire.
Last podcast series, I believewe ran your Yukon questionnaire.
If you get any feedback orblowback from your responses to
that from friends public, Idon't think so.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
I have one friend who always gives me grief about
calling it the Yukon because heinsists that it's this age-old
thing between Yukoners.
The fight is at Yukon or theYukon, and in my opinion, the
fight is between Yukoners andthis one friend in particular,
because he's the only person Iknow who calls it Yukon or the
Yukon, and in my opinion, thefight is between Yukoners and
this one friend in particular,because he's the only person I
know who calls it Yukon.
Everyone says the Yukon, so Igot blowback from him but it's
(07:52):
meaningless.
Speaker 4 (07:53):
Yes, so what else is in the issue?
Speaker 3 (07:56):
You want more.
Speaker 4 (07:57):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
Oh, let me see Ba ba, ba ba.
There's a photo essay from theOffbeat Collective photos of
Kluane Park and region that ismade up of photographers from
the Yukon and photographers fromoutside the Yukon.
So it's, yeah, different,different people's perspectives
(08:20):
on Kluane.
Manis Hopkins wrote a profileof Gavin McKenna, um, the hockey
player from the Yukon.
There is, um, an illustratedlike DIY FYI column about winter
camping essentials what aresome good things to take and why
?
Uh, what else do we have?
Uh, let's see.
Emily Huffs wrote a for theYukon adventure section.
(08:43):
She wrote a story about agirl's back country trip along
Slim's East, which most people Ifeel like when they head out
there to hike towardsObservation Mountain, they take
Slim's West because it's waybetter signed and has legit
campsites and East is kind oflike a choose your own adventure
style hike.
So she wrote about that stylehike.
(09:09):
So she wrote about that.
I wrote a story about the YukonObservatory, which is amazing,
just about the kind ofprogramming they have there and
the telescopes they have and thedegree to which you can nerd
out super hard on planets andscience and, well, aliens I
tried to get them to nerd outwith me about but they're a
little bit too logical for that,so they weren't as into
discussing the possibility ofalien visitations to the Yukon
(09:33):
as I would have hoped, but stilla good place to go and hang out
and have a look at the sky inthe winter.
Speaker 4 (09:40):
What do we have in terms of features, aside from
the photo essay?
Speaker 3 (09:45):
One of the big features in the story is about
little brown bats.
Trina Moyles wrote that and wehad a story a few years ago
about little brown bats.
That was more science I mean,there is science in this one,
but it was more strictlyscience-based.
And this one is about people inthe Yukon living with bats and
(10:06):
why and how they find their wayinto houses and kind of how we
can coexist with them.
So it's an interesting storyand useful if you have a bat or
bats in your house.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
I read that article on a recent flight back from
Vancouver and it hit reallyclose to home because I was
battling bats.
This May it was the end of athree-year battle to get bats
out of my cabin at Marsh Lake.
So I read that article with alot of interest.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
A battle, if you will .
Speaker 4 (10:35):
I can't remember what the actual article was called,
but on the front it was referredto as bat tenants, which I
assume was a play on bad tenants.
And I can tell you that that'saccurate.
I was not happily coexistingwith these bats in my roof.
There's nothing like going tobed and you hear the scratching
and squeaking and wingfluttering of over a hundred
(10:57):
bats, I would estimate.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
Oh, that's creepy.
Speaker 4 (10:59):
Seemingly five or six feet above my head in the
ceiling.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
Yeah, even just from the perspective of, like every
night you go to bed thinking amI going to get bit?
And I know they're not allrabid or whatever.
But they tell you, like if youwake up and there's a bat in the
room, that you should go gettested in case it bit you in the
night.
So it can be stressful.
Speaker 4 (11:19):
Well, fortunately, I was never worried about them
actually being in the cabin.
There was no sign of them everinside the cabin.
They were just up in the roof,in the insulation and that, and
it was mostly just the sound.
And then, of course, theconcern about, like bat guano
just accumulating over years andyears and years, and I was
actually really interested toread that article because she
(11:40):
refers to you know how bats canget in an opening the size of a
dime, because I was operatingunder the assumption that they
could get in a space the size ofa quarter.
So maybe the bats that I'mdealing with were maybe a little
lazier than the bats so far, sogood.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
Oh good, Fingers crossed.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
As you'll learn if you read the article written by
Trina Moyles, there are safeways to evict bats that have
positive outcomes for the batsand the people.
Stop that Bats get a bad rap.
But Yukon bats don't bitepeople unless you're handling
them, which you shouldn't be,and they don't drink blood.
(12:16):
There are bats that do that andthey're called vampire bats and
they live in South America, butthey're mostly after cows and
horses and pigs rather thanpeople.
In any case, bats are superinteresting, which is why we
have a podcast episode aboutthese peculiar flying mammals.
It's called Bats with BigAppetites.
It's not our sexiest episode itdidn't get the most downloads,
(12:37):
but I re-listened to it theother day and it's really good.
I relearned a lot.
You can check that out it'slinked in our show notes and
learn all about how manymosquitoes these wonderful
creatures can eat in one meal,and much more.
Now back to Amy and Mark.
Speaker 4 (12:59):
All right, got anything to add?
Speaker 3 (13:19):
We have got a burning question in here.
As I was on the mountainopposite, I swear he bombed down
the hill in about nine secondsLike it was faster than Olympic
gold medalists sprint the 100meter and I have never been able
to understand, like how they dothat.
So, yeah, I talked to somebodywith YG, a biologist there, to
(13:41):
kind of explain why and how theycan move around the mountains
like that.
Speaker 4 (13:48):
Well, have a great time.
Happy travels.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
Oh, I should say this Sonny Parker, who did the photo
for the Burning Question storyabout sheep and mountain goats
and how they climb the way theydo.
Sonny was just named theCanadian Wildlife Photographer
of the Year by Canadian Geograph.
So that's cool.
His photo is amazing.
Cheers, amy.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
Go easy on the scotch .
Sonny's wildlife photography isamazing and I was thrilled to
hear about his CanadianGeographic nod.
It also gave me a great excuseto catch up with him.
As we say, a photo is worth athousand words, and that's about
how many we gave Sonny to tellus about his work and himself.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Yeah, so I received some exciting and big news
towards the end of August,driving back from Dawson with my
partner after just finishingpaddling the Wynn River actually
and quick stop on the side ofthe road and check my emails and
you know, scrolling through theemails after being out of touch
for two weeks is kind ofannoying and then one email is
(14:51):
from canadian geographic and Iactually kind of forgot that I
had even entered this contest uma few weeks prior.
So I was like, oh, I bettercheck that out.
And then, buried in the subjectline it was kind of like a
congratulations, you are the2024 wildlife photographer of
the year grand prize winner.
So I was.
I don't think I reallyregistered it as I was reading
(15:12):
it.
It's kind of hard to describe.
It felt kind of just surreal, Iguess, overall.
And then, uh, yeah, as it kindof set in, I guess, yeah,
obviously super, super excitedand surprised and, um, even to
be honest, right now it kind ofsounds weird saying it but uh,
yeah, it was, uh, yeah, a prettycool moment and really kind of
helped help justify to myselfkind of the extra money, time
(15:35):
and effort that I've put intophotography over the last few
years.
My name's uh, sonny parker.
Uh, born and raised in Yukon,happy to call Haynes Junction
and kind of the Kalani area myhome now.
(15:58):
I've always liked exploring theoutdoors and been kind of
interested in like wildlife andwilderness and how people use
the land, and so I guessphotography became a natural
means to just kind ofdocumenting cool things that I
was seeing when I was out onadventures with friends.
And then I guess it kind ofslowly morphed into going from
like documenting things toviewing things in kind of a more
artistic mindset and justtrying to figure out ways that I
(16:20):
could use a camera to kind oftell little stories or show
people really unique moments aswe all know, like a photo is
worth a thousand words andeveryone to kind of tell little
stories or show people reallyunique moments.
As we all know, like a photo isworth a thousand words and
everyone can kind of interpretit differently.
So having a camera along withme just became kind of a unique
way to tell stories and reallyhelp people relate to what I
thought was, yeah, some reallycool moments.
(16:41):
So I guess in the past fewyears I've really started
putting more time and effortinto photography.
I guess I started about you know10 years ago or so, taking
single photos kind of out ofcontext, you know, like wildlife
here and there and northernlights here and there, but they
(17:02):
were never really connected orpart of a bigger story or idea.
So I've always been kind oflooking to find out ways on how
I can kind of take the next stepin my photography career.
I guess the most logical stepwas just trying to move towards
like storytelling, so using aseries of photos and spending
(17:25):
maybe a year or two on a longerterm project to really convey,
you know, a story through aseries of images.
And I'm still kind of figuringout how that process works.
But it's been fun and it'sreally given me a new motivation
to take a deeper dive, I guess.
And so I guess through that Ireally wanted to try to bridge
(17:46):
kind of science and storytelling, because I think there's a lot
of really cool things happeningin the scientific world that
either aren't accessible oraren't described or shown in a
very like appetizing way, Iguess, to the general public.
So if photography can kind ofbe that bridge between science
and storytelling and conveyingimportant messages about
(18:08):
conservation to the generalpublic, I think that's where my
current passion lies.
So I have a shot in the fallissue of Yukon Orthodontics
Magazine that kind of shows twodog sheep.
They're almost kind of runningstraight down a sheer cliff face
which, yeah, if you can imaginethat it seems almost like
(18:32):
they're going to plummet totheir certain death.
But they have kind of thisunique ability to stand and run
safely and quickly across thesesheer cliffs.
I thought it was kind of a coolphoto because it's these two
kind of white sheep on a kind ofa a brown gold backdrop which
(18:53):
is just a straight sheer rockface and and you're not really
sure where, where one of thesheep it's kind of mid-air,
mid-jump and it's kind ofbounding towards the edge of the
frame and it kind of leadsviewers to to wonder kind of
what's it going to do or whereis it going to end up.
Luckily the the road was, youknow it's still probably a good
20 meters below the edge of thephoto, but it took a a few kind
(19:16):
of quick hops and bounds off oflittle pieces of rock before it
ended up on the edge of the roadshoulder.
Actually I took this photo atthe bottom of a techo doll or
sheep mountain, as many uconnerswill know it, um, kind of on
the edge of kalani lake there,which is, yeah, one of the best
spots, I think, in the yuk,yukon and maybe even in the
world really to have really goodviewing opportunities of dull
(19:39):
sheep.
I'm still plugging away on kindof a bigger term dull sheep
project and trying to tell thestory about kind of the
challenges they face related toclimate change, industrial
development and all the otherthings that they deal with
across the range.
They're kind of a specialspecies because really, if sheep
are healthy, it's kind of agood indicator that the
(20:01):
ecosystem that they're in, whichis kind of mountain, alpine
ecosystems, are also healthy too.
So they're one of the speciesthat can kind of tell us that
story of the greater ecosystem.
So I want to try to tell usingsheep as, like the characters
kind of tell a bit of a storyabout you know, what they mean
to the landscape and the peopleand hopefully get people
(20:23):
inspired and get them caring.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
That's Yukon photographer Sunny Parker.
Check out Sunny's photo ofdolls sheep scaling a sheer
cliff face on the North ofOrdinary Media Facebook and
Instagram pages.
To check out Sonny's other work, which I highly recommend, go
to sonnyparkerphotocom or findhim on social media.
Sonny Parker Photography.
That's Sonny.
As in S-O-N-N-Y, not as in thebright orb in the sky in the sky
(20:57):
.
Speaking of photographers, wehave a couple more episodes to
drop this series.
We're going to have the YukonQuestionnaire with another
prolific Yukon wildlifephotographer, peter Mather.
There's a lot of good nuggetsin his answers.
What is your favorite Yukonbrand?
Speaker 1 (21:11):
Um Yukon.
Are they a competitor?
Speaker 2 (21:15):
We'll also drop an Extraordinary Arts episode.
Speaker 5 (21:18):
The August Rival is the alias I perform under this
new album.
Hillsides took about a year torecord.
I would say start to finish.
It does feel good to have thisrelease coming up, but it's
maybe the least enjoyable partof it.
(21:39):
It's so subjective.
Some people are going to likeit, some people are going to
dislike it.
And I enjoy doing it and Ithink that's something that's
different with age too.
Is that the satisfactions andthe doing?
Yeah, I just enjoy doing it.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
So it's kind of a nice place to be and we might
even revisit Mark's whole batconundrum, you know, just in
time for Halloween.
Stop that.
We'll have a full rollout foryou in November.
Talk to you soon.
We'll have a full rollout foryou in November.
Talk to you soon.
That's it for another episodeof Yukon North of Ordinary.
(22:22):
I'm your host, karen McCall.
This podcast is produced byMark Kepke and me for North of
Ordinary Media.
Our theme music is Slipin' byMajor Funk.
If you like what you hear,please subscribe and give us a
rating.
Check out our website,northofordinarycom, where you'll
(22:45):
find stories from our magazine.
Speaker 4 (22:53):
You can also subscribe to the magazine and
buy some swag.
Thanks for listening.
We'll be back soon, so I needyou to give me a couple of stop,
that's.
You need to just say it kind ofjust like that, as if you're
scolding a child that keepsinterrupting you while you're,
you know, trying to have a grownup conversation or something.
I need it for editing.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
Stop that, stop that, stop that, stop that.
I think they all sound the same.
I was imagining my boyfriendannoying me because I don't have
any kids.
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