
I’m not sure what time it is but I know I’ll sleep like a baby tonight. Let’s rewind a few hours. I walked out of town towards the airport and saw a small road to the Transport Museum. Smaller road = less traffic = less noise. Walking on that road, I noticed a big building on my right. It looked like a shopping center but without any name or catchy colours, no advertising. Curiosity took over and I went to check it out. It turns out to be a Sport Center. And a mighty recent one, built in 2007. I first picked up a local newspaper and sat down at a table and quietly read it to find out more about Whitehorse. A little later, when I finished reading it, I decided to explore the building. I bought a sandwich and watched a hockey game, my first hockey game. I loved it. The players move with such fluidity on the ice, change direction and stop so quickly, I was mesmerized. I had the chance to see many tricks I had never paid attention to while watching the game on TV. Anyway, I just found my new HQ. This Sport Center is just perfect, with everything I need, toilets, food, water, tables and seats, even entertainment for free.
After my horrible adventure yesterday I almost felt like giving up and coming back early. But as soon as I came back to town I missed the woods. I guess the fact the it was sunny and I could sit down and dry all my cloth and shoes helped. And now, I have found a refuge, slightly out of town, open from 6am to 9 or 10pm. But that’s not all.
I am now writing from the porch of Sarah’s chalet, where I am planning to have a restful night. I will sleep outside if the weather is kind, otherwise I’ll go inside and start a fire in the stone. The chalet is in the middle of a maze of cross country trails which I doubt will be very frequented. Life’s great. I have prepared some wood for the night, just in case.
The moon shines in the sky, no need for a light to see around. The stars are only half hidden by the slow moving clouds. I’ll look at them until I fall asleep.
Hours later I wake up, it’s still dark, to early in the morning not to sleep, but I’m cold. I go inside the chalet and start a fire in the old stove. The hut will soon enough be filled by the heat and I’ll get warm, hot even. Again, I fall asleep. But the heat won’t last long. The stove isn’t hermetic and consumes the wood too quickly. It’s cold again so I go back inside my sleeping bag.
And finally, as I wake, the sun is up, a new day is starting. I prepare more wood and start a new fire to warm up and dry the rest of my cloth. As I’m about to go back in my sleeping bag, I see something through the not entirely closed door. My first reflex is to grab the axe. But it’s too small to be a bear. A cub maybe? No, not likely. Still, I stay quiet and slowly move towards the door and check outside. I can’t see anything for a while and suddenly, behind the hut, I see it: a beautiful red fox. He’s sniffing around, probably looking for food. I noticed wooden sticks used to grill marshmallows yesterday, he probably smelled them. He’s about 10 meters away from me. He gives me a quick look and, I suppose not considering me dangerous, goes back to sniffing the sticks. He comes closer and gives me another look, longer this time, as if asking for permission to come closer. I don’t move an inch and he comes closer, he walks so close to me that I could touch him. Definitely used to see humans.
Back in the hut, it will get really hot, so I stop adding wood and wait for the fire to die before walking my way to the next hut, a few kilometres away. I’ve counted three. I might spend a few days here, to try all of them.