A few years ago, while visiting daughter Jen at her home in the Yukon Territory in Canada, we took a day trip down to Skagway, AK. Both of my daughters are fascinated with old cemetaries -- not sure why -- so visits w/them usually entail a trip to a cemetary or two.

Jen took me to the one near the Chilkoot Trail, in the woods, in the middle of nowhere. As we parked the car in the lot to take the pathway to the burial place, she casually mentioned that there have been several bear sightings in the area.

We walked down the trail, maybe 200 yards, and arrived where a space in the woods had been cleared and surrounded by a split rail fence. There are perpendicular pieces of wood at each grave with the carved names of each gold scavenger who died in the avalanche at Chilkoot Trail in 1898.

It is quiet, there is no one else there. Alive, anyway.

I realize the camera is still in the car, so Jen volunteers to go get it. I wander around a bit and notice there is a woman's name on one of the markers. Curious. I'd always thought the gold rushers were all men. Time passes. Jen doesn't come back. I chide myself about being nervous, then decide to walk back along the trail and meet up with her. I casually start out. Keep walking. Nothing. I am almost at the car. No one. I arrive at the car and Jen is not there.

Bears come to mind. I start back along the path and begin calling "Jen, Jennifer, where are you?" No answer. I walk a little faster. "Jen!" Now I am almost back to the graveyard. Oh, God, please, where is she? Finally I hear her calling "Mom?" "Mom!" Here she was, coming back down the path. I start laughing nervously, "I thought sure the bears got you!"

She had stopped in the porta potty on the trail.

I refer to this as my "The Bear Story." Because it was my reality that a bear could eat my daughter. I had passed the porta potty 3 times and never saw it. The bear was real, the outdoor toilet was not. Perception...

(To learn more about the Dyea Cemetary and the activities in the area many years ago, google DyeaCemetary, and it's the first entry. There are also great photos.)