Anne-Marie Jennings
Northern News Services

NNSL (Aug 28/98) - For the woman in the yellow hat, coming back to the North is like coming home again.

"People are always asking me where I'm from," says Lyn Hancock, author of a number of books about the North, including Winging It In The North. "I say I'm not from anywhere because I don't spend time in one place for that long."

"But I love the North. I call it my home."

For Hancock, this visit to the NWT has been an important one for here, helping her overcome the events of a difficult year. In recent times, Hancock has had to deal with the collapse of a marriage, the deaths of four family members, legal troubles, a bear attack and a car accident which left her with a case of whiplash.

Hancock has become a recognizable figure across the North, travelling to as many communities as she can, and she has become known as "the woman in the yellow hat," a reference to the hat she has worn during her travels for more than 20 years.

"I bought it for $1.69 at the Bay," she says. "Now I can't go anywhere without it."

Hancock has spent the last two months criss-crossing the North, reuniting with old friends and making new ones.

Beginning with a canoe trip up the Yukon River, Hancock made her way around the North, stopping in Fort Simpson, Pangnirtung, Rankin Inlet, Resolute, Iqaluit, Beechey Island, Devon Island, Bathurst Island and Yellowknife.

But not one of these visits had been planned in advance.

"I just lucked in to a lot of these trips," she says. "I caught a lot of planes as they were going down the runway."

But another reason for Hancock's return visit to the North is to promote the books she has already written and to do research for the new books she intends to write.

"I'm working on a book about the Mackenzie River as well as the Yukon River," She says. "I've also interviewed more than 50 people from all across the North for other projects."

Writing is Hancock's true passion, and her work as a writer allows her the opportunity to travel the North and meet the kind of people who have always made her feel at home.

While writing books has always been her one true passion, Hancock has come to realize that devoting herself to writing full time is simply not something she can achieve at the present time. In addition to working on research for her books, she is also collecting material for a number of various other writing projects.

But she hasn't forgotten about the books she has already written. Hancock has found that she has had to talk of her older publications -- such as Winging It In The North -- because some people think they are out of print.

"When you go into a bookstore and try to look for my book in the catalog, there is no entry, which generally signals that the book is no longer being printed," she says. "But the thing is, the book is still in print and is still available."

And although her life has taken many a twist and turn since her first visit to the NWT, there is a great deal which hasn't changed at all.

"When I first went to Pangnirtung 11 years ago, the arrangements which had been made for my accommodations fell through and I had nowhere to stay. So I ended up having to sleep outside."

"When I went back this last time, I hadn't made any arrangements for my accommodations, and I ended up sleeping outside once again."