Sunday, January 10, 2010
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Still socked in!
We're still here! We had teasing, fleeting glimpses of blue through the fog yesterday, even a thin blue line above the horizon, and our hopes were high for departure today. The fog is thick as ever. However,there is sun peeping through so maybe the fog will evaporate. We could be lucky today. Chris, the park's site manager and ever the optimist, thinks so. So I'm making sure I'm well packed.
We're not on the river as originally planned, but we've still been going out for local botanizing after the 2:00pm call to officially call off the day's flight. Yesterday, Chris and I joined the botanists to collect plants locally along the coast a few kms down the road.
The landscape is so immense, with no trees as reference for topography or distance. It's easier to focus on the ground. It opens up a whole new world. The flowers are incredible. Large flowers on low stems, mats, clumps and cushion plants hugging the ground seeking shelter from the wind. Gnarled willow shrubs only a few cms tall with twisted branches. Bird calls everywhere. The most common songbird here is the Lapland lonspur, a colourful sparrow. There are also shorebirds and waterfowl. I've seen yellow-billed and red-throated loons and can now distinguish between the semipalmated and white-rumped sandpiper. (OK, the large flash of white on the rump is a good clue!). I'm amazed that anything can survive the winters here or live out their breeding cycle in the very brief summer.
This 'enforced meditation' has been good for me. There's a niche for everything. I'm lucky to be reminded of that.
We're not on the river as originally planned, but we've still been going out for local botanizing after the 2:00pm call to officially call off the day's flight. Yesterday, Chris and I joined the botanists to collect plants locally along the coast a few kms down the road.
The landscape is so immense, with no trees as reference for topography or distance. It's easier to focus on the ground. It opens up a whole new world. The flowers are incredible. Large flowers on low stems, mats, clumps and cushion plants hugging the ground seeking shelter from the wind. Gnarled willow shrubs only a few cms tall with twisted branches. Bird calls everywhere. The most common songbird here is the Lapland lonspur, a colourful sparrow. There are also shorebirds and waterfowl. I've seen yellow-billed and red-throated loons and can now distinguish between the semipalmated and white-rumped sandpiper. (OK, the large flash of white on the rump is a good clue!). I'm amazed that anything can survive the winters here or live out their breeding cycle in the very brief summer.
This 'enforced meditation' has been good for me. There's a niche for everything. I'm lucky to be reminded of that.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Socked in in Paulatuk, NT
Happy Canada Day!
We were scheduled to head to Tuktut Nogait National Park on June 27, last Saturday. We've been grounded in Paulatuk due to fog since then. It's now Wed. July 1 and the pea soup is as thick as ever. Locals have told us the weather is unseasonably cold and foggy. It's usually like this in mid-April when the ice in the bay starts to break up. However, break-up was late this year and ice is still in the bay creating the fog.
This is Day 5 and the longest continous period of fog experienced here in years, apparently. The current temperature is 2.6°C and humidity is 99 %. So it's cold wet fog, too. I have a theory about the weather forecast up here. It's always due to improve the next day. It's been saying that for the past 5 days!
I went botanizing with the plant people yesterday. In 4 hours we covered about 4.5 kms. Noses to the ground and butts in the air for part of it. It's not the kind of hiking I usually engage in, but it was informative and entertaining.
It's supposed to be clear tomorrow (of course!). Let's hope so!
We were scheduled to head to Tuktut Nogait National Park on June 27, last Saturday. We've been grounded in Paulatuk due to fog since then. It's now Wed. July 1 and the pea soup is as thick as ever. Locals have told us the weather is unseasonably cold and foggy. It's usually like this in mid-April when the ice in the bay starts to break up. However, break-up was late this year and ice is still in the bay creating the fog.
This is Day 5 and the longest continous period of fog experienced here in years, apparently. The current temperature is 2.6°C and humidity is 99 %. So it's cold wet fog, too. I have a theory about the weather forecast up here. It's always due to improve the next day. It's been saying that for the past 5 days!
I went botanizing with the plant people yesterday. In 4 hours we covered about 4.5 kms. Noses to the ground and butts in the air for part of it. It's not the kind of hiking I usually engage in, but it was informative and entertaining.
It's supposed to be clear tomorrow (of course!). Let's hope so!
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