Joey

Joey was telling me about dog sleds and a team of sled dogs while he was filling up the jeep. A truck loaded with sleds and dogs had stopped at the gas station the day before. Pretty cool. It was a working dog sled - not for racing or show, and was headed up the highway to Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories. Some sort of expedition. The whole time that he was telling me about it, there was a woman standing nearby. She had been walking her dog. She kept making comments. I think that she had seen the truck. So there she stood, dressed like a fur ball while this tiny dog in a knit coat kept running out on one of those extension leash things - like it should have a reel. Somehow the contrast between this woman and her dog and trying to imagine the musher and his working dogs was too much and I had to keep apologizing to Joey because I was laughing inappropriately.

After he filled up the jeep we went inside and since there were no other customers I asked him about his time in the Yukon. Now it's important to understand that the gas station in Kitwanga is really the center of the community and Joey is the acting manager. In the past I'm told that the train station was the center of activity. But it was torn down a number of years ago. Then the curling rink was, but it is closed now. Has been for quite awhile. Blew a compressor according to one person. Now the center of things seems to be Dollops Gas Station. It was named Dollops by Eric Doll, the owner – operator, in a fit of wry humor. Eric is in Vancouver getting radiation treatment for prostate cancer and is reported to be doing very well. Meanwhile Joey is the de facto station manager and in addition to the duties of running a small business and being the only employee, he makes the coffee for the twice-daily gathering of local guys and provides some of the best one-liners to go with the coffee.

Joey (Kirsch) is 46, was born on Haida Gwaii (the Queen Charlotte Islands) and "moved a lot." He lived in the Yukon for ten years and has never lived further south than Telkwa. Telkwa is just down the road from Smithers which is only about an hour south-east of Kitwanga. He has now lived 24 years in Kitwanga and worked a variety of jobs. Curiously, his first real job was when he was in the seventh grade - pumping gas at Dollops Gas Station. Two years ago he married Irene, who can be found keeping books at Terry's or working the cash register at the general store or straightening out accounts at Dollops.

Because of his central role in the community, Joey is also a great source of information. Some of it true. O.K., most of it. Joey is the one who recently told me about the cougar and wolf sightings around Kitwanga, and the fact that many of the local folks are concerned for their bite-sized pets.

One of the most important things about Joey is the fact that after some ten years of serious struggles with alcohol – the time in the Yukon was the worst - he quit and has now had 12 years of sobriety. This makes Joey one of those remarkable people that it’s an honor to know.

... Bob
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Tracking

Today turned out to be a bright, sunny day so in the afternoon we decided to go for a walk and see if we could find evidence of the wolf and moose that we had seen yesterday. It had been relatively warm yesterday but was now several degrees below freezing so we really weren't sure what we would find.

First we found the distinct tracks of the moose where it had crossed the meadow in front of the cabin. Then out on the edge of the road we found wolf tracks. Big guy, at least 5 inches across on the fore paws. Most probably the wolf we had seen last year that Morningstar photographed, and the one we caught a quick glimpse of yesterday. We followed the mixed prints west along the backroad and eventually found where each had come out of the woods and finally gone their separate ways back into the woods.

Then we passed the spot in the road where a beaver and the road maintenance crew have been going head to head. Last fall the beaver dammed a culvert that runs under the backroad, creating a nice little lake that covered a good portion of the road. The road crew came along and cleared out the culvert. The beaver rebuilt his dam… water covered the road again. The road crew came back – put a metal grate across the culvert. Even better for the beaver. This continued until we left on a two-month road trip across the country, so we had no idea of what we would find today. Well, it looks like the beaver is winning the battle. He is on the other side of the road now and there is evidence of his recent work – fresh chips, and pointy stumps. In the spring when the snow melts, I’ll bet water will once again cover the road.

On the way back we decided to look in on our own beavers at the pond adjacent to the cabin. We didn’t see any activity, but we did discover more wolf tracks, crossing the ice near the beaver lodge and continuing into the woods directly behind our cabin. Now we have a better idea about what has been holding Yu-Ling's attention at the back window these last few nights.

... Bob Weimer

Moose Track

Wolf tracking Moose...