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.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
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!
Tutktut Nogait National Park-Summer plans 2009
My contract as instructor in the Natural Resources program at Aurora College is done. For the summer, I'll be working with Parks Canada as a Resource Conservation Technician. Yeah! I'll be out in the field for a good part of it as a field assistant for some botanists with the Canadian Museum of Nature. We will be going to Tutktut Nogait National Park to collect plants for the museum herbarium in Ottawa. We've been grounded in Paulatuk for several days due to fog. So the plane can't pick us up and drop us off near the park.
Tuktut Nogait Park is in the NE corner of the Northwest Territories right on the border with Nunavut. We'll be travelling on the Hornaday River by canoe for 3 weeks. A real expedition! Tuktut Nogait is one of the most remote and least visited parks in the system. There was only one group of visitors last year - 2 people flew over by small plane and required a landing permit to stop at a lake to go fishing.
This year, in fact, several private trips this year have been cancelled due to flight restrictions within the park itself. The Bluenose caribou herd have declined in recent years and local residents are concerned about the impact of overflights on caribou within and near their calving grounds.
There are 4 botanists and 2 Parks staff paddling north on the Hornaday River. Another research crew of 4 from Parks Canada will be flying in with us and backpacking south as part of an archaeological survey looking for evidence of ancient human occupation and use of the park.
This is definately the life!
Check the link below to find out more about the park
http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/nt/tuktutnogait/index_E.asp
To find out more about the botany project you can check the CBC News North story
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2009/06/26/nwt-plants.html
Let's hope the fog clears and we get to go tomorrow. I'm scheduled to return to Inuvik July 21 - weather depending.
Tuktut Nogait Park is in the NE corner of the Northwest Territories right on the border with Nunavut. We'll be travelling on the Hornaday River by canoe for 3 weeks. A real expedition! Tuktut Nogait is one of the most remote and least visited parks in the system. There was only one group of visitors last year - 2 people flew over by small plane and required a landing permit to stop at a lake to go fishing.
This year, in fact, several private trips this year have been cancelled due to flight restrictions within the park itself. The Bluenose caribou herd have declined in recent years and local residents are concerned about the impact of overflights on caribou within and near their calving grounds.
There are 4 botanists and 2 Parks staff paddling north on the Hornaday River. Another research crew of 4 from Parks Canada will be flying in with us and backpacking south as part of an archaeological survey looking for evidence of ancient human occupation and use of the park.
This is definately the life!
Check the link below to find out more about the park
http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/nt/tuktutnogait/index_E.asp
To find out more about the botany project you can check the CBC News North story
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2009/06/26/nwt-plants.html
Let's hope the fog clears and we get to go tomorrow. I'm scheduled to return to Inuvik July 21 - weather depending.
Spring Adventures in Inuvik, 2009
Spring was long and cold in Inuvik this year. I thought skiing would be done by the time I got back from the Coast in April. But we went on for another month. We are a small group of outdoor enthusiasts. Our new favourite spring activity, to add to spring skiing and spring canoeing on the river at break up, is ski-paddling at Airport Lake. We load our ski gear and day packs into kayaks, shuttle people and gear over to the ice, drag boats up,and set off skiing.
Skate skiing was fabulous on the lake! You just have to stay clear of any holes in the ice. Apparently, there are pockets of methane gas on the lake bed that bubble through the ice and create local hazards. Elsewhere, the ice was still 3 feet thick. All this activity is done in consulation with locals, or at least, Dave, who was still driving his snowmachine on the lake. Our last ski this year was May 24. Last year it was May 11.
In early June I was in the right place at the right time and enjoyed a heli-tour across the delta and over to the Richardson Mtns with friends. We also went hiking on the Campbell Lake escarpment an area of topographical and visual relief. It's not far from Inuvik by road, but looks and feels so different from the delta, it may as well be on the moon.
This spring I also took up rock climbing near Campbell Lake. I went out with Jen and Kevin who are climbers from Squamish. I'm hooked! A friend picked up shoes and harness for me in Edmonton. I went out a few times before the bugs threatened to carry us off the rock! We'll have to wait until fall to go out again. That's mid-August around here.
Skate skiing was fabulous on the lake! You just have to stay clear of any holes in the ice. Apparently, there are pockets of methane gas on the lake bed that bubble through the ice and create local hazards. Elsewhere, the ice was still 3 feet thick. All this activity is done in consulation with locals, or at least, Dave, who was still driving his snowmachine on the lake. Our last ski this year was May 24. Last year it was May 11.
In early June I was in the right place at the right time and enjoyed a heli-tour across the delta and over to the Richardson Mtns with friends. We also went hiking on the Campbell Lake escarpment an area of topographical and visual relief. It's not far from Inuvik by road, but looks and feels so different from the delta, it may as well be on the moon.
This spring I also took up rock climbing near Campbell Lake. I went out with Jen and Kevin who are climbers from Squamish. I'm hooked! A friend picked up shoes and harness for me in Edmonton. I went out a few times before the bugs threatened to carry us off the rock! We'll have to wait until fall to go out again. That's mid-August around here.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Coastal Spring April 2009
I've had a busy spring so far. Of course, I wouldn't have it any other way. I co-taught a wilderness first aid course as part of my completion requirements for WFA instructor. I hit it off really well with Sarah-Marie, the lead instructor. She's living in Halifax, now; but it turns out that she knew, 30 years ago, some of the same people in outdoor recreation whom I now know. Small world indeed!
I'm instructing in the Natural Resources program at Aurora College until mid-June and I'm starting to look around for options after my term ends. I've worked hard this past year and have learned a lot of new things. I'll continue to work hard, but my goal this summer is to be out doors as much as possible and to have fun with my work! Actually, I've been pretty fortunate so far and always end up having fun in the summer.
Earlier this month, I headed south to the Coast for a much needed Spring Break and working holiday with Bluewater Adventures. I was naturalist aboard the Island Odyssey for a sailing adventure through the Gulf Islands with a group of students from Alberta. It was just what the doctor ordered for a case of the winter blues.
The first few nights I stayed with my friend, Cheryl, on board her boat in False Creek near Granville Island. The best view of Vancouver is from the water. I still love it!
I had just a day in Vancouver before I headed to the Island and I made good use of it power shopping northern style. My intention was to buy inexpensive raingear for my sailing trip. I did that indeed - and then some. Cheryl couldn't believe her eyes. She stood out of the way while I flew at it. It was over in about 15 minutes and $500.00! I got what I wanted and also saved about $500.00. I left the store feeling rather pleased with my purchasing savvy. Well the money I saved burned a hole right through my pocket. Right across the street from my next stop was an African drum shop that I'd been meaning to check out . . . Guess the rest!
Anyway, the purpose of my trip was to spend a week cruising through the Gulf Islands, hanging out with teens, looking for whales and other cool marine life. The best, and least expected, sighting was of a pod of transient orcas near Swartz Bay. This is unusual for this area. One of the students got a great photo of the bull's dorsal fin that we used with the field guide to identify him as T14. (Our skipper, Ian, corroborated this. He knows the area and its residents well.) All this happened less than an hour after we left our berth on Day 1!
During the trip, we also saw Dall's and harbour porpoise, as well as California and Stellar's sea lions. We also got to poke into some fascinating tidepools and explore some beaches and islands I'd never been to. My new favourite is Tumbo Island, with its range of habitats from an old homestead and orchard, to a freshwater marsh and a fabulous pebble beach. We also visited some old haunts such as Montegue Harbour and Winter Cove. Thanks, Ian (skipper)and Dustin (crew) for a great trip and for sharing your knowledge (and more than a few laughs!)
The week was over way too soon. But not before my Island friends Georgia and Garry took me for a day paddle from Mill Bay across to Brentwood Bay. The wind came up as we crossed Squally Reach.(That name should have been our first clue.) We decided to walk our kayaks onto the ferry for the return trip. Problem was - none of us brought our wallets. We talked our way on board promising to pay once we reached the other side. The jovial ticket taker held Georgia's watch as collateral until we made good on our promise. I've never been to Brentwood Bay before, next time I'll have to remember my wallet and stop at the pub.
It was a too quick trip,but well worth the flying time. My roommate wasn't home when I got back to Inuvik so I managed to sneak my new drum into the house. I wonder what the cats will think of that?
I'm instructing in the Natural Resources program at Aurora College until mid-June and I'm starting to look around for options after my term ends. I've worked hard this past year and have learned a lot of new things. I'll continue to work hard, but my goal this summer is to be out doors as much as possible and to have fun with my work! Actually, I've been pretty fortunate so far and always end up having fun in the summer.
Earlier this month, I headed south to the Coast for a much needed Spring Break and working holiday with Bluewater Adventures. I was naturalist aboard the Island Odyssey for a sailing adventure through the Gulf Islands with a group of students from Alberta. It was just what the doctor ordered for a case of the winter blues.
The first few nights I stayed with my friend, Cheryl, on board her boat in False Creek near Granville Island. The best view of Vancouver is from the water. I still love it!
I had just a day in Vancouver before I headed to the Island and I made good use of it power shopping northern style. My intention was to buy inexpensive raingear for my sailing trip. I did that indeed - and then some. Cheryl couldn't believe her eyes. She stood out of the way while I flew at it. It was over in about 15 minutes and $500.00! I got what I wanted and also saved about $500.00. I left the store feeling rather pleased with my purchasing savvy. Well the money I saved burned a hole right through my pocket. Right across the street from my next stop was an African drum shop that I'd been meaning to check out . . . Guess the rest!
Anyway, the purpose of my trip was to spend a week cruising through the Gulf Islands, hanging out with teens, looking for whales and other cool marine life. The best, and least expected, sighting was of a pod of transient orcas near Swartz Bay. This is unusual for this area. One of the students got a great photo of the bull's dorsal fin that we used with the field guide to identify him as T14. (Our skipper, Ian, corroborated this. He knows the area and its residents well.) All this happened less than an hour after we left our berth on Day 1!
During the trip, we also saw Dall's and harbour porpoise, as well as California and Stellar's sea lions. We also got to poke into some fascinating tidepools and explore some beaches and islands I'd never been to. My new favourite is Tumbo Island, with its range of habitats from an old homestead and orchard, to a freshwater marsh and a fabulous pebble beach. We also visited some old haunts such as Montegue Harbour and Winter Cove. Thanks, Ian (skipper)and Dustin (crew) for a great trip and for sharing your knowledge (and more than a few laughs!)
The week was over way too soon. But not before my Island friends Georgia and Garry took me for a day paddle from Mill Bay across to Brentwood Bay. The wind came up as we crossed Squally Reach.(That name should have been our first clue.) We decided to walk our kayaks onto the ferry for the return trip. Problem was - none of us brought our wallets. We talked our way on board promising to pay once we reached the other side. The jovial ticket taker held Georgia's watch as collateral until we made good on our promise. I've never been to Brentwood Bay before, next time I'll have to remember my wallet and stop at the pub.
It was a too quick trip,but well worth the flying time. My roommate wasn't home when I got back to Inuvik so I managed to sneak my new drum into the house. I wonder what the cats will think of that?
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