Wild Swimmer Yukon
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wildswimmeryukon.bsky.social
Wild Swimmer Yukon
@wildswimmeryukon.bsky.social
240 followers 360 following 440 posts
Sophia - love the lakes and waters of the Yukon. Swimmer, biathlon official, dog lover, Yukoner. She/her
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wildswimmeryukon.bsky.social
Happy birthday!!
Two dogs lie in the sunshine on a beach towel, camping gear behind them. The dog in the front is a white terrier with a black nose, squinting in the sun. The one behind her is a tan coloured short haired dog with a curly tail.
November 16, 2025 at 3:25 PM
wildswimmeryukon.bsky.social
Thankful for the forest’s harvest.
Rough Grouse lies on the counter. Eyes closed in death. Beautiful brown, beige and white feathers. Small beak, closed and tinged with red.
October 11, 2025 at 7:03 PM
wildswimmeryukon.bsky.social
A Fishing Tale - lake to table.
4 photos in a collage. Top Left is of a pike in the water before we got her into the boat. Top Right is the pike, lure in her mouth, lying on the bottom of the boat, dead. Bottom Left, is the pike ready to go in the oven, lying on tin foil with garden green onions, butter and lemon wedges. Last photo, bottom right, is the skeletal remains of the pike. Delicious. Thank you Little Atlin Lake.
September 1, 2025 at 3:52 AM
wildswimmeryukon.bsky.social
Eyes are dilated for the bi-annual eye check up and it is very bright out right now.
A blue eye looks into the camera, pupil large. Skin around the eye shows it’s age
July 30, 2025 at 4:15 PM
wildswimmeryukon.bsky.social
Every year my pals and I swim in 6 lakes in 24 hours along the Atlin road. Sometimes only 500m, others up to 2000m, temperature ranging from 12-20c. Best weekend of the summer.
A collage photo of 6 lakes in southern Yukon/northern BC - Little Atlin, Snafu, Tarfu, Como, Palmer, and Atlin. Each lake is slightly different, but also so similar - wild, no one else around, blue skies with clouds of all kinds. The bottom right photo is of Atlin Lake, a huge lake which can be bitterly cold and windy, but was happily bitterly cold and calm this year. Photo is of our 10pm sunset dip and you can see 3 swimmers wading in at the boat launch.
July 20, 2025 at 10:56 PM
wildswimmeryukon.bsky.social
Spider with a green round body, looks like a pea, and green legs, sits on a birch leaf, spinning threads. She is about the size of a pea. Sweet.
June 30, 2025 at 3:05 AM
wildswimmeryukon.bsky.social
3k hike in the drizzle to see the mountains above town and tiny alpine flowers. Home by noon and ready to nap.
Panorama photo of the Yukon mountains behind Whitehorse. A rocky flat area of alpine plants in the foreground with a child in purple running away from the camera. The sky has low hanging clouds in shades of grey. There is a small lake in the valley below, called Bonneyville Lake.
June 28, 2025 at 8:00 PM
wildswimmeryukon.bsky.social
Happy summer solstice! (To the Northern Hemisphere). Whizzing round the sun again.
A graphic from weatherunderground that shows a pie graph with 85% coloured yellow (representing 19:09 hours of daylight) and 15% blue (nearly 5 hours of “night”). The thing is, it is still not dark, but dim. The birds start chirping at 3 am. You don’t need a flashlight. There are no stars.
June 20, 2025 at 11:17 PM
wildswimmeryukon.bsky.social
Curly tail of a little dog poking out from under the couch where he hides from the thunder.
June 16, 2025 at 11:30 PM
wildswimmeryukon.bsky.social
Pickleball tournament at school to end the year. What I lacked in skills (which was a lot) I made up in humour and enthusiasm (also a lot). Resting my ankle now. Shouldn’t have worn Birkenstocks.

(I made this Venn Diagram before a student-teacher softball game)
I made this Venn diagram for aging sportsters. Three big circles: Age, Pride, and Stubbornness. Where Age and Stubbornness overlap, you get Disappointment. Where Stubbornness and Pride overlap, there is Humiliation. Where Pride and Age overlap, there is Exhaustion. In the middle of all three is Injury.
June 14, 2025 at 3:25 AM
wildswimmeryukon.bsky.social
Pope John Gull (III)
A sea gull sits on top of the tiled roof of the Sistine Chapel waiting, like all of us, for the smoke to tell us what is going on. A chimney pipe with a cap on top stands in the foreground of the photo.
May 7, 2025 at 9:48 PM
wildswimmeryukon.bsky.social
Thanks to Tom Cox @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social for sending this book alllll the way to the Yukon. Spring reading for long days. Thanks Tom!
A book, newly arrived from the UK all the way to the Yukon, sits on my lap, all fresh and shiny and never been opened. The evening sky is still light, the sun won’t set til after 10 now. A dog dozes on a Poang chair from IKEA, draped with a mustard yellow thrift store knitted blanket. A fish tank sits in the corner on a bookshelf. Peace on a spring evening.
May 5, 2025 at 4:41 AM
wildswimmeryukon.bsky.social
Gracie and Jasper
Two dogs sit in the kitchen being good dogs. The one on the left is Gracie. She’s a terrier of sorts, white and scruffy looking. She’s got some corgi in her, by the looks of her feet. She wears a black bandana round her neck. The on the right is Jasper. We say he is a whippet-pug cross because his tail is curled like a pig or a pug.
March 29, 2025 at 6:09 AM
wildswimmeryukon.bsky.social
I have been a bad sourdough mother lately - with only the two of us now it is hard to make and eat a loaf of bread each week so I got lazy for a few months. Spent the week making bread, crackers, and now English muffins with the discard. I have now set a reminder to wake it up weekly.
A three photo collage of the sourdough English muffins I made today. Top is the soft white dough muffins rising on trays coated with cornmeal. The bottom left photo is them baking in the cast iron skillet on the stove. The third photo is of the finished product. A bit dark because controlling the temperature takes time with cast iron. And I am impatient.
March 21, 2025 at 7:14 PM
wildswimmeryukon.bsky.social
This sort of day today. I love this territory.
A large mountain stands in the center of the photo. It is called King’s Throne, and looms over Mät'atäna Män (Kathleen Lake) in the Kluane National Park, on the traditional territory of the Champagne Aishihik people, in the Yukon. The lake is frozen, covered with snow, and snowmobile tracks stretch into the distance. The sky is blue with clouds blocking out most of the sunshine, but it glows golden right above the mountain.
March 16, 2025 at 2:44 AM
wildswimmeryukon.bsky.social
Springtime Sundog sun dog
A dog sits looking out the window. He is backlit by the sun streaming in the house - that perfect moment when the sun rises through the trees is captured, looking like a cross or floodlight illuminating the living room. It is winter-spring: cold days, hot sun and we sit barefoot on the cold stone patio watching the seasons turn. The buds are softening and the days grow longer. It’s the magic time where life begins again.
March 15, 2025 at 1:16 AM
wildswimmeryukon.bsky.social
“Peter Rabbit’s Natural Foods Cookbook” by Arnold Dobrin. A well used copy with Peter rabbit on the cover eating a carrot in the garden with a Robin on the shovel handle.
March 12, 2025 at 4:52 PM
wildswimmeryukon.bsky.social
Why when you google provincial parks in Canada do they say “state” park as well?
Screen shot of a google search of Conkle Lake Provincial Park. Under the 5 star (well 4.7) review is says “state park”. Two images of the lake and park.
February 24, 2025 at 3:38 AM
wildswimmeryukon.bsky.social
I was so lucky and got the staff room fork today at lunch.
Two people (only can see their arms and plates) are eating lunch at a horribly coloured dusty rose table. One is eating rice out of a glass container and using a large measuring spoon. The other is is using a serving fork to eat chicken curried rice, while reading his phone and has a can of bubly in front of him. Our staff room is bereft of forks or teaspoons
February 20, 2025 at 7:27 PM
wildswimmeryukon.bsky.social
Sticker on a printer that says “Face down, bottom in” so that folks put the paper in the correct way.
February 18, 2025 at 2:40 PM
wildswimmeryukon.bsky.social
Here’s a photo of the fridge where I am staying. There’s a bin marked “karma” at the bottom. Not sure if it is meant in a loving way or as a threat.
A photo of an open fridge there are plastic bins on every shelf. Each bin is assigned to a room, so some bins are emptier than others. There is soy milk and roasted chicken, a whole cabbage and Tupperware containers with leftovers. The bottom shelf however, is stuffed there is oat milk, a dozen eggs, jam, vegetables, more Tupperware containers, juice, half eaten bags of food….On the door it tells you that the shelf is labeled “karma“. Not sure if it is a promise or a threat.
February 13, 2025 at 3:38 PM
wildswimmeryukon.bsky.social
Me.
A paragraph from a mystery novel, “Deep House” by Tom King. “Thumps looked at his plate. He liked to keep everything even. Just enough toast to go with the remaining egg. Enough sausage so the egg wouldn’t be lonely. There was nothing worse than whining up with one thing or the other alone on the plate.”
February 11, 2025 at 2:36 AM
wildswimmeryukon.bsky.social
I am taking a week off work (LWOP) to volunteer at the Invictus Games 2025. I spent my own money to fly down, rent a car, get a hotel room, go to the opening ceremony…and it is absolutely worth it. Volunteers make shit happen. Go volunteer - the world is better for it.
Sitting high in the nosebleeds waiting for the opening ceremonies to start. Yellow centrepiece and stage sit way down in the centre of the stadium. The seats are mostly empty but people are trickling in.
February 8, 2025 at 8:48 PM
wildswimmeryukon.bsky.social
Reminder to myself. That above the dark clouds there is sunshine. There has been a lot of grief lately. Sunshine is out there somewhere, someday.
A photo taken when flying down to Vancouver. The sun is rising, soon, so the horizon above the clouds glows red and is lightening the sky. The clouds fill the bottom half of the photo.
February 8, 2025 at 5:58 PM
wildswimmeryukon.bsky.social
But it’s a dry cold.
I am dressed in my below -25 Celsius coat - a Yukon parka. Thick coyote fur lines the hood, trapping the warm air close to your face. The parka is dark blue with red and white ribbon trim. Blue eyes peek out above a red and rainbow scarf. A little brown dog is at the end of his leash on a deserted country road. He wears fluorescent orange booties to protect his feet and a coat that causes him much embarrassment. The land is covered in snow, frost on the trees, and the sky is clear. When the temperature is this cold, there are no clouds and the ice crystals float in the air. The sun is setting, though we won’t actually see the sun from my house for another 10 days.
January 2, 2025 at 12:42 AM