The skidoo ride to Husky Lakes takes approximately two hours, including travel over land and frozen water, mud and puddles. It's a bumpy ride, and results in a very stiff body the next day. But, the ride was well worth it. We saw some nature- a few ptarmigan (sort of lie pigeons with feathers on their feet), some tundra swans, cranes, and other ducks and birds. Alas, we did not see any caribou or bears, or even fox or siqsiqs. We saw some of the bluest ice I've ever seen, and got to experience what it is like to be out on the land, away from town, in the middle of the Arctic. I'll admit, modern amenities like skidoos and cell phones don't make the experience too worrisome.
After the long skidoo ride (with me thinking more than once, "Are we there yet??"), we arrived at a lake where there were people dotted at various locations in the distance. The people of course, were ice fishing. We headed out to the groups of people with the skidoos, and found that they were fishing into a large crack that ran across the lake. We got out our jigging sticks (sticks with some string and a lure) and started to fish. Of course we caught nothing! I thought for sure the people travelled to Husky Lakes because the fish were abundant. Some people spend several weeks out there and catch only 10 or 12 fish. Husky Lakes seems to be as much about enjoyment of the land and spring weather as harvesting food from the land.
Marilyn, Archie and Deon "jigging."
The crack.
Unfortunately, we picked approximately the worst day weather-wise in May to travel out, and thus we got cold fairly quickly. Luckily, Marilyn has a tent frame right next to the lake in an area called Iginilik, which is one of the more populated areas of Husky Lakes. In her tent, there is a woodstove where we dried our outerwear, had some hot drinks and warmed up. We spent some time talking with Marilyn and anyone else who stopped by, and then eventually began the journey back to town. Deon and I did the journey on our own, following the skidoo tracks back. We of course had the GPS from work for "just in case."
We arrived home under the midnight sun (or more of a fog that night) at around 1am. It was a great trip out onto the land, and I finally know what Husky Lakes is like. It was nice to get to know an area that is so important to the local people.
Husky Lakes...
