Translation - Follow Your Dreams
00:39:22
Frank
I guess I was always a little bit crazy about Canada but when you’re in Germany and you’ve got your job, you go to work and all that just seems so far away. You can dream about it but that’s just what it is, a dream and it’s very far away.
Then one day, I happened to come to the Yukon, through an acquaintance. I got here and it was just like in all my books. Everything I had dreamed about, just the way I had imagined it. It was exactly the same.
01 :32:13
It all started the same way it did for my Dad. I read all the books even though I didn’t even really know where Canada was. I guess it was the same sort of thing. He wanted to go be a trapper in Canada even though he didn’t even really know where it was.
It’s probably in the blood. Otherwise I can’t imagine why. You’ve either got it or you don’t. That’s how it all started and then with my grandfather going hunting and fishing. He always took me along. So I got into fishing. And of course it continued with my own dad as well.
02:08:23
Frank’s Father:
You read these books, by Jack London and others. And you just devoured them. And that was it. You wanted to experience it and live it. I was in the Yukon for the first time in 1974. You have no idea here what the place looks like and when you actually get there and see that calm and that vastness – it’s fantastic. You see it once and you’re ruined for life! I always told everyone including my youngest son that whoever goes there if they are just a bit interested, they’ll catch the bug and they’ll always want to go back again and again. That’s how dreams start.
Frank
02:53:14
My father had just come back from the Yukon. He was there to hunt. My Father is a butcher by trade. So he came back and told me all about it and of course he showed me pictures. Well, that was it. I had the fever and of course he had to mention that they were looking for butchers up there which is actually why I first started to think, well maybe I should become a butcher, as a way to get into the Yukon. I didn’t really care at the time so long as it got me there. So I started the apprenticeship and went through with it and carried on as a journeyman. The Yukon was always in the back of my head the whole time. I was in Canada a few times during that period. I always saved my money carefully. The immigration laws changed again and again over the years until I ended up having to complete the examination for the craftsman’s certificate to immigrate.
03:51:11
The first time I was here was in 1987. I met the guy who owned it at the time. He had been doing slide shows in Germany and I met him there and he invited me over.
I had a good job that I had to give up. It was worth it to me. That’s how I ended up here. In any case, I just fell in love with the place right away. It just grows on you when you’re here, especially the North and then it doesn’t let you go.
Spending my first summer in the Yukon did it. I just couldn’t concentrate anymore, not on my work or on my goals, or on all the stuff I was planning on doing in Germany. The dream of a lifetime was right there and it just took over. And all of a sudden it wasn’t just a dream. I’d seen it in reality. Of course, it wasn’t easy for me to give everything up that I had in Germany. Especially, since I was doing very well in Germany. I had a good job, a great family and friends, everything fit. It’s not that easy to give it all up for something that you practically know nothing about. You better not be afraid of giving up the things that you are used to for awhile. You have to work hard for a few years and earn a bit of money. No one is going to give it to you for free.
05:22:19
Linda: Carlos and Ruby
05:25:17
Frank: That’s my family up there. My two dogs and Linda.
05:28:28
Linda :
I was born and raised in Beauseger, Manitoba which is north east of Winnipeg. And when I was 28 I moved to Calgary and the one winter I met Frank . He was down in Calgary visiting. And so I came up to Dawson City with him because that’s where he was living. Then we’ve been together ever since, for 11 and a half years now.
One of the reasons I moved here was the Yukon too. The space, the mountains, the lakes, the wilderness, the animals… I just love it here.
06:02:11
I worked on a game farm for awhile. It was like a park with all the animals that live in the Yukon: musk ox, moose, and caribou, big horn sheep and so on. It was a huge area, they had about 700 hectares. You have to do everything in the Yukon: guide fishermen, hunters, tourists, do canoe trips, car trips through the Yukon and Alaska.
06:35:00
Linda:
And then you bought the trap line 6 or 7 years ago I think. Yeah, Yeah
Frank: Yeah
06:40:24
I had been looking around for awhile and then I saw a small ad at the Trapper Association: trap line for sale, North of Watson Lake. I didn’t know the area at all, had never been here. So I did some research and found out that it was a really good trap line.
06:58:16
Frank (English):
By the end of March I usually drive supplies in to the lodge. The ice is pretty good by the end of March, so I can use my vehicle to drive across.
07:11:19
This is where we get on. It’s about 60 kilometres from here. It’ll take a few hours before we get there. So let’s hope there are no holes in the ice.
The ice looks good. No problem.
I think it will go well but you never know. There are a few pressure ridges out there that you have to go around because of course you could break through the ice and then it probably doesn’t take long for the car to sink so you better figure out how to get out quickly.
07:53:21
But I still have to go down the lake for about another 35 kilometres. No one’s been through here yet so let’s hope I don’t get stuck. Oh, it looks rough. I’ll just go straight through the middle. I usually open the windows up in between, depending on how the weather is, if there’s a lot of wind or not. Or I leave the door slightly open.
08:26:17
I want a permanent dock, a boat dock. That’s why I brought the wood. This is our old cabin. It’s almost a hundred years old but still very nice. I don’t even know who built it, whether it was a gold digger or … It’s really old, in any case, but still in good shape, very comfortable, still a good place to spend the night. My own Jack London cabin, it’s wonderful.
So let’s go upstairs and hope that no bears have got into the main building.
What can I say? My problem is that I just don’t know exactly where I want to live – on the trap line or here. That’s why I live in Marsh Lake because I can’t decide.
09:30:20
I think that the people who come to the lodge are coming for the most part to enjoy the fishing. The fishing is really great here but it’s the combination, I think, that’s important. Good fishing and the wilderness. They get the mountains, clear water, and the peace and quiet. There’s no one here. Yeah, actually for the most part, my guests are nature lovers – it’s the surroundings that attract them.
10:18:02
Like Franz and Robin – that’s not so common nowadays for a grandpa to bring his grandson. They get along great. Franz has just been working all his life and really enjoys getting away from it all, away from the city and fishing in the peace and quiet and showing Robin what’s really important in life. Of course, school and all that is important but so is knowing that you can still go out and experience pristine beauty and that it’s important that it stay that way for the future.
11:08:12
Alright let’s go over there. There’s an eagle’s nest back there.
11:43:20
This is a good fish to eat, not so big but good. We need a few for dinner tonight. We’ll take this one. I always take a rifle when I go to the lodge with guests or without. You never know, there could always be a sudden problem with a bear.
It’s even more fun sharing it with people. When you’re here enjoying it alone that’s o.k. too but sharing it with people is more fulfilling after all. You can talk about what you experienced during the day, sit around the picnic table in the evening and chat about what happened, what you caught and what you saw. That’s just a lot more fun.
12:48:00
Franz: You’ll be able to say that you stood at the very spot that a bear scratched at.
Frank: Anyways, the bear has more hair I do.
Of course, we don’t want dozens and dozens of people here. That would ruin it all and wouldn’t be so nice either but having a few people around is fun.
13:22:03
First of all, I think that it’s very important to get used to the land and the people. Everyone has their dream and has their idea about the place but it often doesn’t work out. It was no different for me at the beginning. I lost a lot of money because of that after all. It’s best to come over and work for a few years, get to know the people, their customs and all that, get used to it and accept it because you live in another country now. It’s time to forget your old lifestyle back in Germany and get used to the life here in Canada or the Yukon. You should accept that because if you don’t then you’ll be lost anyways.
14:08:02
This is for the smoke house – filets.
I’ll just take out the bones.
You can’t buy anything this good.
Let me close it up.
15:02:07
Franz:
You can’t really even describe everything that nature has to offer here. You have to absorb it first of all. I really hope that my health will allow me to show up here again next year to experience everything that we don’t have at home.
15:30:07
Robin:
Now for my big catch – it took me years to get this. Not bad eh? It took a half hour! The hook fell out during the struggle, the fish felt into the water, right into the net.
Franz: You knows if I had seen this world sooner maybe I would have become one of you.
Frank:
16:37:22
Canada is huge of course and the Yukon is just a small part of it but if you look at the population I mean we only have about 32 thousand people here in the Yukon. And if you compared that to Germany and the size of population there on an area this big, well we’d have a hundred million people living here.
Franz: What’s it at?
17:05:03
Frank: 30 meters.
Oh there’s a…
Franz: was there a fish? Oh, yes
Frank : Not at 80 feet.
17:18:02
Frank: Robin, come over here.
Robin: you do it
Frank: No, no.
Robin: What do I do now?
Frank: Reel it in.
Robin: It’s pulling! I hope the hook is in.
Franz: Yahoo! Fisherman’s luck!
Robin!
Robin: the grayling you can use again
17:41:13
Franz:
For me it’s all about the experience. I want Robin to see that you can still experience this, you know? This isn’t possible at home. This atmosphere, this experience.
Frank
We’re right on Talbot Arm. It’s not as windy as the main lake but we have to cross over. It has a lot of wind and high waves so you need a boat that can handle a few waves. This boat has held out pretty good actually. I’ve had it for three years and it’s pretty good and it can handle big waves.
19:02:04
It’s that time of the year again. Time to close up the lodge now. Yep, we’re closing everything up and in a few days we’ll head back out to Whitehorse.
19:28:02
The airplane will take a few things so that I only have to cross over once with the boat. That’s helps otherwise I’d be in the boat all day. I give Gerd a few things and he can unload it over there. Then I don’t have so much weight in the boat.
19:51:03
Pilot: (ENGLISH)
There you go,
Frank: He was hiding it. Holy shit! a cake! It’s my birthday.
Pilot: Maybe
19:59:06
I was out sheep hunting a few days ago in the mountains, got lucky and got an old ram. The meat tastes really great. Yeah I’ll hang it up here – it’s quite cool in here – there’s a bit of wind. There’s a ring for every year. So this one is about 11 or 12 years old, at least.
We have to plan ahead for next year now and make sure we know what we are missing. You have to plan ahead so that you can buy the stuff you need for the next time and bring it with you.
21:35:11
Ralph
Hello, hi. My name is Ralph Mueller and I’m Frank’s brother. I’m here on holidays, unfortunately just for 14 days. I’m looking forward to going out on the trap line. It will be my first time out there. And I want to lend a hand and help out a bit.
21:49:23
So I’m slowing packing up for the trap line. I’ve bought quite a bit of food but we’ll still need a lot more. You need to live well after all. We won’t just be eating dried foods that’s for sure.
22:07:26
Frank (ENGLISH)
I have to drive all the way from here to Watson Lake which is about 400 km from where we live, and then to fly in from there is about another 45 minutes by plane.
22:18:07
Here we are at Watson Lake. Everything went well. It was a good trip, beautiful, saw a few animals on the way. Now we’re waiting for the pilot and then we’ll be taking off for the trap line. We’ll fly in today hopefully and bring in a bunch of supplies and then we’ll see what’s going on out there. I’m told the bear’s been back again so we’ll probably have to fix some things.
22:51:14
Ralph
It’s so vast – it just goes on forever. It’s boundlessness, if I can call it that. In Germany, we are very limited all. We have to live within the confines of a very densely populated and relatively small country. This is on the other hand is simply just amazing! I mean look at how vast the wilderness is here. The peace and quiet . When I’ve been here on holidays before, I’ve that during the first three or four days, you know when you’re still stressed out from your daily routine, then the peace and quiet actually makes you nervous. I mean you don’t hear anything at all.
23:37:08
Ralph
And then slowly you unwind and begin to relax and to really recuperate. That’s when you actually notice how hectic life is in Germany and how much the environmental damage affects you at work day in and day out.
23:56:09
Frank
It’s hair from the bear. It’s always the same one. He comes every year, light brown grizzly hair. Probably the same one that does it. Not a very big bear, likely pretty small for a grizzly, probably pretty old. But I’m not one to complain.
24:23:22
That’s his trademark. He’s been coming for five years in a row, gets into everything and breaks it.
24:40:09
Ralph: What’s its problem? If this happened in Germany we head straight to a mechanic.
Fran k: This needle here….
Ralph: Yes, the needle - you made sure there’s sparks?
Frank: Out here you have to see to it that you figure out how to fix things on your own.
Could be that it is stuck?
Ralph: yeah, this float is stuck.
Frank: if we can’t get it started like this we will take it apart this afternoon.
You need to help yourself out here. Something can always happen to the skidoo or the 4 wheeler and you need these things. You have to see to it that you can help yourself, improvise and keep things running otherwise you’d be stuck.
25:36:21
Ralph
To be honest I don’t drink the water anywhere in Germany. I don’t even drink tap water because it’s very heavily chlorinated due to all the germs and the health problems. But when I’m here I drink from every lake and river and to be perfectly honest I have no problem at all, no guilty conscience and I always feel great. In Germany you have to buy mineral water or other things to drink Tap water is o.k. to cook with or for washing up, no doubt about it, but for drinking you can taste the difference – it’s pretty chlorinated.
26:12:00
Frank:
Yeah, I notice the difference when I go back to the city and can barely drink the water there but this here is great!
26:25:16
Ralph
This is my first time on the trap line and I really like it. There’s actually a lot more comforts than I expected, that’s for sure.
Frank:
Of course it’s nice to cook on a stove. Naturally it all has to be flown in. Everything that you see here in the kitchen was flown in, even the propane. You don’t want to be wasteful. You have to be very careful of how you use things because it is all very expensive to get out here.
26:53:23
Ralph
Well then, bon appetite!
You have to be a little careful.
27:04:06
Ralph
No, I can’t say that I dreamt about being a trapper like Frank did when we were kids. I like being in nature and I do hunt in Germany and I enjoy it and I enjoy the peace and quiet that we have here. I really try to let it soak in because I know when I go back that life will be a hectic. But even though I really like it here I do miss my family. I have two kids and a wife. I guess I chose a different path than Frank..
27:31:04
Frank
The path I chose is really a way of life that doesn’t earn you any money or not much anyways. So if you have a family then you need money to send your kids to school and all that. That’s certainly clear. You have other responsibilities. Most people in the Yukon don’t live like I do. It’s the exception. The Yukon does have it all - the complete package. It’s not just the wilderness or this or that; there’s everything else too.
27:56:13
Ralph:
The whole standard of living is higher here than in Germany is what I’d say.
Frank:
But there are still people like me with this way of life. I could have worked like this in Germany but I wouldn’t have had this unusual way of life. It doesn’t work there but it’s still possible in the Yukon. The Yukon offers you all -the wilderness everything I was always looking for, freedom the expansiveness, the peace and quiet.
28:45:07
Everything you see here is practically part of the trap line as far as you can see to the North and down the whole mountain range to the South. But I only use a pretty small part of it. It’s just too big, it’s a huge area. And that’s just fine because you only use a small corner of the whole trap line and the animals can use the rest to reproduce and regenerate and so you’re not really affecting nature at all and that’s is good. It’s a wonderful area, no people here. I’m the only one running around up here.
30:13:1 4
Angus (ENGLISH)
Looks like nice weather, maybe we’ll get a little tail wind going out there. It’ll be 2 and a half, maybe 3 hours depending on whether or not we have to tramp a strip for the overflow.
30:26:04
Frank
So we want to get out of here as fast as possible so the plane doesn’t freeze up on us. Of course it’s was one of the coldest days of the year. I think it was about 35 or 36 below this morning.
31:41:23
These food caches are really important. I always have extra food and clothes in there. It’s a bit of an emergency stash. You never know, the cabin could burn down, there could be a fire in the cabin and then you’d have nothing and be out in the cold at 20 below, in front of a pile of ashes with nothing to eat or wear.
It’s not too bad up here. Looking pretty good.
Ah, this is important - a bottle of rum so it can get as cold as it wants now. It’s all good when you have a bit of rum in your tea at night.
33:50:27
FRANK (ENGLISH)
It’s quite a healthy life style, I mean out in the fresh air all day long, and you eat good and fresh water there.
34:16:01
The Lake is fed by underwater sources, some warm springs flow into it. I had the water tested once and was told that it had a lot of minerals that are supposed to be really healthy.
34:23:08
FRANK (ENGLISH)
Eh, you’re getting cold feet. No, don’t get in it. Slippery!
35:02:11
I’m trying to use all the pieces. Maybe make one out of two broken ones. All this wood has to be flown in and that’s too expensive. It doesn’t look like it but it’s almost 20 below. It’s pretty cool in here. So we put the meat or whatever in here to attract the marten and the trap goes in the front.
This is moose meat – it smells a little well the marten like it a lot, a very lot. These are coni bear traps the only kind you’re allowed to use today. You have press down the springs. There good because you don’t want an animal to suffer once it ends up in there. Then you put the safety on and are careful as hell not to trap yourself. They’re pretty strong after all, two springs and it would be hard to use one hand to get the other one out if it were caught.
36:37:13
O.k. the trap is ready to go. Let me show you what happens when a marten gets caught. If he goes in here the trap springs shut and that’s it. So when I set traps I use some extra bait as well as meat, something to lure the animals. Of course it doesn’t smell very good. Sometimes I mix it up myself, brew something up over the summer with old fish and rotten meat or whatever I don’t use for myself. Something that smells really bad. It’s just there to rouse the animals’ curiosity and lure them to the trap.
38:05:00
Not just anyone can go into the bush and set up traps where ever they like. You have to do a government course and get a licence. Otherwise you’re not a trapper and aren’t allowed to set traps. You do have to learn how. The traps we use today are totally different from the ones we used to use so there’s a lot to learn before you head out into the bush and set traps.
38: 33:17
You should probably go out with a trapper who knows his way around for a bit, let him show you the ropes. That’s just the way it is. You have to learn how to do it. It’s not something you can just know. Take it slow and easy! That’s my advice.
40:17:18
I’m trying to get the bush channel but we don’t seem to be getting a connection tonight. Usually there’s someone from Stewart Lake at 7:00 pm who calls around to all the people who are still out in the bush. He checks in with them to see if they are o.k. and to make sure that nothing has happened. He tells you how the weather is and so on but tonight I’m just getting static.
40:51:24
I brush it a bit to loosen up the pelt before we skin it. Then I put it on this board and dry it inside out for a bit. It has to be on the board for a few hours. I use these tack to make sure it stretches nice and evenly. The buyers are always looking for a way to lower the price on a pelt like this and that would be a real shame. This good old marten deserves better. So you have to make sure to do it right. These pushpins go in here to keep the pelt from sticking to the board. And we put a wedge in by the front legs to make sure they dry properly. Tomorrow I have to pull it back over and get the fur side out. Then it gets stretched again for several days and you’re done that you can take it off and give it a good brushing. Then you store it in a cool room and hang it so the mice don’t get at it.
42:56:11
Sometime you I fly into the trap line and can see that the whole path is snowed in. And you have no idea what’s under the snow – is it ice? Is there water between the ice and the snow on top?
Werner: How are you?
Oh pretty good. It’s a bit cold but I haven’t seen any overflow out there yet and that’s good. I’ll do a few more rounds to get it nice and wide. It wouldn’t be the first time that a plane’s got stuck in the overflow, in this slush. If that happens it just won’t move. Once it took all day for me and the pilot before we managed to get the plane more or less out and to build a runway so that he could take off.
If you don’t do this it’s really hard to see during take off and landing. The snow just blends and it’s pretty easy to slide off the runway. But it looks pretty good now. Hopefully it won’t snow too much more - it does look like there will be some more and I may have to do the whole landing strip over again. It looks good right now. The pilot will be happy and out here, there’s nothing better than a happy pilot!
44:28:20
Actually, what I learned out here is that you have to enjoy every single day and you have to respect the country you live in and the wilderness and all it contains. Personally I feel like I have more freedom here, for my hobbies and for the things I enjoy and I hope it always stays that way. This land just has so much more to offer in that respect. I love living out there and I hope that it always stays that way but it’s really a shame when I see that I have to go further and further out and further and further away just to find quiet spots.
45:09:00
The season is ending again now and I’ll be heading back to Whitehorse. That’s always nice too. When you’ve been out in the bush for awhile you look forward to going home. Things are a little different… Well, let’s see what happened in soccer in Germany and with my other interests.