After 2 decades, Yukon's 'Buckshot Betty' is ready to call it a day

Carmen Hinson, aka "Buckshot Betty," says her small town, with fewer than 100 people, is "like a box."

"Everybody lives in it, and then once in a while you gotta shake it up, you know?" she laughs.

Right now, she's looking to shake things up in Beaver Creek, Yukon, by handing over the keys of her landmark Alaska Highway business to a new owner. She recently stuck a "For Sale" sign on the front of Buckshot Betty's, the restaurant, gift shop and motel she's run for two decades.

"I slapped it up there ... just to see if anybody was interested," Hinson said. "I've had a couple of elderly people say 'if I was a lot younger I'd definitely buy it.' But word will get out."

Most of Hinson's life has been closely tied to the Alaska Highway. She grew up in Whitehorse, and for years ran another roadside business on the highway south of Beaver Creek before establishing Buckshot Betty's 20 years ago.

Building and running Buckshot Betty's has been a labour of love. Hinson often works without help, and is usually up and at it by 7 a.m., preparing for the breakfast crowd. In the restaurant, she takes the orders, prepares and cooks the food, and cleans the dishes.

She also does all the bookkeeping, and manages the rental cabins. A typical day won't see her home until after 11 p.m.

"I'm enjoying it. But the only thing that's not enjoying it is my body, my feet, my legs, you know?" Hinson said.

"Most people work 20 years and retire, you know, and work eight hours a day and weekends off. But in this business you don't really get that, so you got to really like it."

She's decided to give herself a bit of a break this fall by closing the restaurant for a few hours over the lunch break.

"I'm just gonna take that time to see daylight," she said.

Beaver Creek is small and remote, but it sees a lot of traffic. It's Canada's westernmost community and for motorists along the Alaska Highway, it's either the first or last stop just before or after crossing the U.S. border.

Summers can be especially busy along the Alaska Highway, with tourists adding to the regular flow of work crews, long-haul truckers, and American military personnel going to or from Alaska.

Buckshot Betty's caters to them all — even the occasional oddball.

"I've seen Jesus walk the highway. I've seen aliens walk the highway ... you know, people have different ideas!" Hinson laughed.

Hinson has even had a song written about her, by Yukon's Barbara Chamberlin.

She says she likes to stay open later in the evening so that nobody passing through Beaver Creek is ever stuck for a place to stay. The closest community of any size in Yukon is about 300 kilometres further down the highway.

She posts her phone number out front and will answer calls "anytime of the night," in case someone needs a room.

She especially worries about travellers in the winter, who sometimes come from somewhere down south and "really don't know what they're getting into."

Winters in Beaver Creek are very dark, and very cold. The lowest recorded temperature in Canadian history was measured just outside of town, at the Snag weather station, on February 3, 1947. The mercury on that refreshing day dipped to –63 C, "establishing Canada's reputation for extreme cold," notes Environment Canada.

"Last year we had so much snow and it was so cold. And you know, it's pretty scary for people that don't know what they're up against," Hinson said.

"I've had to give them gas or socks or clothing because they come up here and like, they don't get that it's, you know, 80 degrees Fahrenheit down there, and it's 80 degrees Fahrenheit below, here."

Even when she manages to sell her business and hands over the keys, Hinson has no plans to pick up stakes and move to somewhere warmer, or bigger. She has no desire to move back to Whitehorse. She's content to make occasional visits to the city, five hours away, to stock up on supplies.

She owns some property in Beaver Creek and intends to stay, but she also wants to enjoy "some outside stuff" in retirement.

"I want to go treasure hunting," she said, then added with a laugh — "depends how old he is!"