Elisabeth Weigand
Since my earliest childhood I wanted to be a veterinarian doctor. I did not get there. Instead I turned to study foreign languages. Six years at an American computer consultancy followed and my addiction to the then just rising IT world was set.
At the same time I traveled, traveled – and then traveled some more …
It became clear that I was looking for another place on this planet that should fill me with happiness and peace I was not feeling in my homeland.
I skied, sailed and surfed in Europe, trekked in Nepal. I visited Hong Kong, Thailand and Syria.
Always returned to be back on the search again next year.
Then came Canada.
My fist canoe trip in Algonquin Park, Ontario, 3 weeks and I was hooked for the rest of my life. After 5 years of returning every summer to Canada and meeting my future husband I finally immigrated to this wonderful land that answered to all my hopes and wishes.
I had found my “Promised Land”.
We went straight North and settled in the Yukon. A husky, Shadow, and a horse, Amigo, were added to my life.
Operating a Highway Lodge in the Kluane Area for two years I took my first steps in the ever so colorful tourism trade. The learning curve was exponential, the countryside amazing and the possibilities unlimited.
So we started our own Tour Operator Business. For 15 years we helped guests to explore and enjoy the Yukon on canoe trips, trekking tours and horseback adventures as well as winter activities such as ice fishing, snowshoeing and snowmobiling. My work place offered immense diversity wether it was at home with phone and computer, in a van shuttling travelers all over this beautiful country or out in the bush with horses or canoes.
I loved it with wild abandon and became a happy and proud Canadian.
Alas, things change and we do, too. Both of us reached an important junction in our lives and needed to go separate ways.
3 years office management at a local destination store and outfitter plus a season with a northern lights tour operator provided me with great experiences and new perspectives. But also with the feeling I needed something of my own.
2013 I incorporated my own tourism businesses Black Bear Wilderness Adventures Inc., an expediting service that helps people venture all over the Yukon. The same year I processed a friendly take over of Tom’s Touring Service, a company offering sightseeing trips in the greater Whitehorse area. The combination of both units opened up new venues to help guests to come to the Yukon and discover it at its very best.
Today Black Bear Wilderness Adventures Inc. offers Yukon-wide Transportation, Wilderness Cabin Rentals and Sightseeing Tours, Aurora Hunting as well as back country Wilderness Tours.
Living 30km outside of Whitehorse on my much beloved piece of land, I hunt, trap and fish when possible and skijoor with my dog or take my horse into the hills close-by.
To this day I am still crazy to share my knowledge with any guest willing to see, experience and enjoy the wonders& beauty of the Yukon.
Over the years another passion of mine has created two printed Publications about personal adventures in the Yukon. If you like to hear more about a 2000 mile canoe trip down the Yukon River or a 7 month long isolated winter in a self-built cabin in the Coast Mountains – the link My Northern Books on our website will get you there. So far these publications are only available in German, but that can change, too … or maybe you know somebody that reads German …
Elisabeth Weigand
“Let’s start every day as if it were on purpose”