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This is the Bell II Lodge, my home base for a reporting trip down the Stewart-Cassiar Highway into northwestern B.C. a couple weeks back. It was an amazing spot, and I can’t wait for the story to come out in the next issue of Up Here at the end of this month.

Meanwhile, a couple of my recent Up Here Business stories are now online: Into the Wild, about the business of wilderness tourism in the North, and Staking a Claim, about several groundbreaking new agreements between mining companies and First Nations. Check ‘em out.

My story about a strange Arctic suicide is in the Oct/Nov issue of Up Here, on newsstands next week. It’s also now online: The One Who Jumped.

This was a tough one to work on, and a major departure from my usual travel-focused writing. I hope you like it.

Happy Birthday, Vela!

Vela Magazine turned one year old last week, and we’ve been busy celebrating with the launch of a Twitter account – @VelaMag – and a blog to go with our Facebook page. And, of course, there’s still the magazine itself: My most recent story there is called Three Kites on the Ice, and it’s about a kite-skiing expedition that attempted to set a new record for Arctic travel. Check it out!

Elsewhere, my feature from the August issue of Up Here Business is now online: Big Booze Ambitions (PDF). It’s about the Yukon’s growing craft beer and spirits industries. The September issues of both magazines are out now, too – I’ve got a feature in Up Here, “My Nahanni Luxury Cruise,” that’s not yet online, and a shorter historical piece on an obscure bit of Northern history: How the Trumps Struck Klondike Gold. What, you didn’t know that Donald Trump owes his millions to the Yukon?

I’m settled back home in Whitehorse after a busy few months of work/travel that took me from the Yukon to Alaska, the Northwest Territories *and* Nunavut – the ultimate Northern summer.

I’ve got a short essay on Outside’s website about the ultimate river trip gone awry, and why the movie has endured for four decades.

Also: Tomorrow I fly to San Francisco for the annual Book Passage Travel Writers and Photographers Conference! I attended for the first time five years ago, as a brand-new aspiring writer with just a couple paid clips to my name. Looking forward to spending time with friends and colleagues there again this year.

My feature in the July/August issue of Up Here is called ‘I Found the Sweet Life’ and it’s about the week I spent living among the seasonal tourism workers of Skagway, AK. It features drinking games, creative use of tarps, and a 200 lb. St. Bernard named Bronco. (It’s not online, but I had a fun time putting it together.)

I’ve also got a feature story in the July issue of Up Here Business, about the changing face of Whitehorse retail and food/drink businesses: Let Them Eat Brunch. Also in that issue, I wrote about the impact of the Parks Canada budget cuts on the Yukon tourism economy, and the arrival of a new Filipino grocery store in town.

Meanwhile, a couple of my shorter pieces from the June issue of UHB are now online: The Perils of Northern Branding is a short business advice column (!) about common Northern business names, and Ship Day in Skagway is about how the businesses in that small port town operate on their own unique daily rhythm.

More to come – the August issue of Up Here Business lands on newsstands this week, and the September issues of both magazines are in the final stages of production.

I’m hitting the road tomorrow on a two-day drive to the Northwest Territories, where I’ll meet my guides and co-travelers for a seven-day guided trip on the Nahanni River. I can’t wait!

I’ll be without phone or email access until I get back on July 26th.

I had a hell of a time writing my Outside Online story, Before Cheryl Met Oprah: 5 Other Outdoor Adventure Memoirs by Women. When I pitched it, I’d had an idea of the books I wanted to include in the list, but I wanted to be sure I wasn’t overlooking anything crucial — and as I googled and cruised the library stacks and asked friends and colleagues for recommendations, the job got harder and harder. Turns out I was tapping into a seriously rich vein.

Here are some of the female-authored outdoor adventure books that didn’t wind up on the final Outside list, but which have definitely landed on my personal To-Read list:

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