While living out in Mendenhall has many blessings, one of the biggest is our neighbours…
Next time you’re up for a nice drive, head north on the Alcan and you might be lucky enough to see our neighbours!
Pam and I first moved out to Mendenhall in 2011. I had previously lived out here in 2001-2002, and I talked her into going for a ride to ‘check it out’. We lived the first winter out here in a warm and cozy, but dry, cabin.
The next spring we moved into what is now our home. Technically, through a fluke of being in the right place at the right time, we moved into what’s now our rental house. We’ve been here ever since — with the exception of a short trip out on a company transfer to Winnipeg — but that’s another story.
We hear it all the time … ‘that’s way too far’ … ‘I could never live out there’ … ‘how do you manage through the winter?’ The truth is that most days it takes less time to get to the Mayo cut-off than from the cut-off to city hall! Our commutes down south were regularly 1 – 1 1/2 hours. It was two hours to get anywhere in Vancouver when I used to live there.
The drive is amazing. The mountains look different every day, and we get to see the neighbours on the regular.
We’ve been watching the wild horse herd for … well, this year is our 14th year. We’ve seen more than 15 new foals born into the herd. Some of those foals we’ve watched turn into mums, dads and grandparents. We’ve also witnessed the natural loss of some of these magnificent creatures.
There’s some confusion about whether these are actually wild horses or feral horses. Many of our friends, especially from Champagne-Aishihik First Nation (CAFN), believe these to be the descendants of Alex VanBibber‘s horses. If that’s the case, it would indeed make them feral. Other folks seem to believe that they are actual wild Yukon horses.
It doesn’t matter to us, we just love seeing them, marvelling at their ability to survive the winters and fawning over them in the spring when we see the new foals.
We’ve stopped at the side of the road, rolled down the window and talked to them. They do seem to sense when someone is being kind. We’ve watched them bathing and splashing — playing in the big puddles in the ditch in the springtime.
Whenever we see them close to the road we always slow right down, turn on our 4-ways and force any other traffic to slow right down as well. We’ve seen hundreds of tourists stopped on the side of the road taking photographs. They really are our neighbours and we do care about them very much.
Then we have ‘The Ladies,’ our resident elk herd. There are some very big boys in the herd as well. As with the horses, we’ve been watching this herd for 14 years and have seen dozens of new calves born into the herd.
They are always so graceful and peaceful. Sometimes the highway and ditches are teeming with them: too many for us to even try to count. We watch the way the older males gather their ‘harem’ during the rut and force the younger males to stay away. The younger ones often end up with a few ‘ladies’ following them around in smaller groups.
The picture that I added was not photoshopped or edited in any way. I was just on my way home one afternoon in the winter and that was the scene I saw. The light was very flat. It’s a cell phone picture, so mind the quality. Many people have told me that it looks like a Christmas card.
It was just another great fluke of being in the right place at the right time. If you look closely you can see dozens stretching all the way up the hill.
A few years ago we had the grizzly momma bear who raised her cub around the same area. All of this happens between Mendenhall and the Takhini River Bridge. We have only ever seen the elk on the other side of the bridge once and that was when the river was frozen.
The little youngster we nicknamed ‘Scarface’. We were on our way to work one morning and saw the two of them rooting for tubers. The cub started getting into Mum’s tubers, so she gave him a good swat on the nose that resulted in a pretty decent-sized permanent lump. A quick lesson in ‘Stay away from Mum’s food — go find your own!’
Another morning we were on our way to work and happened upon the two of them. We were fortunate to have the camera with us and it was that golden hour of light early in the day. We watched them forage in the ditch, then saunter across the road. I was lucky to get this amazing picture which we have since had printed and framed, and which now hangs on our living room wall.
On our way to the Junction we often see bison and bears, and occasionally we get visits from deer in our yard. We’d get a lot more if our dog didn’t feel the need to bark like a fool every time he sees them.
One morning I was making coffee and happened to look out the window. It was early fall — just barely starting to get light and very foggy. I grabbed Pam and we quietly went out on the deck in our housecoats with our coffees.
Right in our yard was the big buck deer and about seven females — no more than 20 yards away from us. Nonchalantly munching away, oblivious to us standing and quietly admiring them. It was an ethereal moment.
While we have many blessings to be thankful for in our lives, our neighbours are one of the biggest. Being able to see them on a regular basis and watch their families grow is something that we hold very near and dear.
I believe that all of our ‘human’ neighbours feel the same way. It just helps us all to be a little kinder and cognizant of the wildlife who share the land with us.
Next time you’re up for a nice drive, head north on the Alcan and you might be lucky enough to see our neighbours!
