
Wildlife
The great green shark hunt
Can British Columbia’s spiny dogfish make the grade as the world’s first “sustainable” shark fishery?
- 3319 words
- 14 minutes
This article is over 5 years old and may contain outdated information.
People & Culture
I noticed the smell immediately. After climbing into my tent the thick odour was awful!
“My tent stinks like a dog house!” I moaned, disgusted. “It absolutely reeks!”
But no dog had crossed my tent’s threshold. No canine pup had curled up on my new sleeping bag for days.
Then it struck me. I was the rotten and rotting mutt. It smelled as if I were practically composting! My last shower had been in Carmack, YT, six days before. Six days of hard river paddling, including one day where I had covered an incredible 124 kilometres. The effect had deposited a thick coat of sweat, layered bug repellant, and more sweat on my back, neck, legs and arms.
The next morning I aired out my tent and sleeping bag, and even changed my shirt. I didn’t strip off and wash because the Yukon’s mosquitoes would have fallen on my exposed flesh like a teenage mob hitting a weekend BBQ. Only bones and gristle would have been left behind to bleach in the 22-hour summer daylight.
“I’ll get my shower in Dawson City in two days,” I consoled myself while sitting comfortably in my tent, which still smelled like a kennel. “I only hope they let me in town without insisting I first burn all my clothes.
(Author’s note: I snuck into Dawson on Sunday night without incident. The second part of my epic canoe trip will continue after resupplying — and several showers!)
Allen Macartney is completing a solo trip on the Yukon River to retrace the route of prospectors in the days of the Klondike gold rush. Read more of his blog posts and learn about his Royal Canadian Geographical Society-funded expedition.
Are you passionate about Canadian geography?
You can support Canadian Geographic in 3 ways:
Wildlife
Can British Columbia’s spiny dogfish make the grade as the world’s first “sustainable” shark fishery?
People & Culture
The story of how a critically endangered Indigenous language can be saved
People & Culture
Inside the 500-kilometre dogsled race across the High Arctic with the qimuksiqtiit who are sharing their knowledge with the next generation
Places
In Banff National Park, Alberta, as in protected areas across the country, managers find it difficult to balance the desire of people to experience wilderness with an imperative to conserve it