Quiet and motionless: River froze

The Yukon River at Green Creek froze yesterday, December 3, around 3pm.

After seven months of seeing all that open water in constant motion and hearing the diverse sounds it makes, the quiet white stillness of the newly immobilized ice sheets looks and sounds strange, unusual.

We were excited though, to be at the shore when the ice jam reached and passed Green Creek.

Ice coming to a halt at Green Creek

The motionless silence of the river is characteristic for how we experience winter: except for the grey jay family and the chickadee-flock who visit the bird feeder regularly, as well as our local squirrel-neighbours who seem to be in motion all the time, our surroundings provide little visual diversion. Consequently and because I need some sort of diversion sometimes, I find myself staring at Elias or the dog, as they mosey around the house. Lance does not mind, but Elias is not particularly fond of my keen interest in his activities.


Not much motion, but nice to look at anyway: my boys


The freeze up also gives us a new sort of freedom: we can start travelling on the river again! In a few weeks, we will be able to check or mail, buy fresh eggs and see other people – after more than two months of seclusion.