Sunday flashback...

I found this picture when going through our photos from this summer and fall. I forgot to post it at the time... I'm going to post this pic as a link, for those who are faint of heart. This was taken during the summer when a beluga washed up on shore (not far from where we like to swim on "warm" summer nights). Do I look somewhat grossed out?

At any rate it looks the way it does because it must have died and washed up on shore, after tumbling along the bottom of the ocean where its skin became all roughed up, as you can see in the picture. The other side of the beluga was pretty smooth, and as you'd expect a beluga's skin to be.

Why did I touch it? It's just one of those things that had to be done... like the time I opened the van's door when my mom was driving at 80km/hr. I just couldn't resist!

Anyway click HERE to see the picture!

Weekly wildlife spottings...

This week we had the pleasure of meeting these two cute creatures:


A beaver swimming by a barge at the Horizon's North camp.


A baby bird near the water reservoir.

There's something in the harbour...

This evening we went to a yardsale at Reindeer Point, and then to the Northern Store to get some ice cream. Upon our return from the Northern, we saw something funny in the harbour, swimming. It wasn't a person- there's a huge wind and rain storm right now, so it would be crazy to go swimming. It kind of looked like a dog, but it kept diving below the surface. I thought maybe it was a drowning dog...

However, we did see a seal last summer while canoeing around Tuk island, so we knew that wasn't outside the realm of possibilities. Seals are not common to see around Tuk, so we were all a bit surprised to determine that the mystery creature was in fact a bearded seal. Bearded seals are fairly rare around Tuk, it was the first time that our friends had ever seen one.

The seal was in the harbour just across from our apartment, and we were able to drive along side it on the main street, and follow it all the way out to the Point over the course of about 1/2 an hour. Deon spent a lot of that time trying to get some good pictures- at one point the seal surfaced a few feet from the dock he was standing on. All the while, the kids followed along, throwing rocks at it, every time it poked its head up to check out its surroundings. (I'm not entirely sure why, but kids seem to throw rocks at animals here- so far I've seen them throw rocks at baby ravens, dogs, and now seals).

The number of kids dropped off as we reached the point, so the seal felt comfortable coming close to the shore again, and it spent a lot of time eyeing us up. Here are a few pictures Deon snapped of our cute harbour visitor:

I'm watching you...

I was going through some of our older photos, and I don't think I ever posted a picture of this guy, who dropped by to check us out. He was on the telephone pole outside our window, and he was not impressed by the camera shutter.

Barren-ground grizzly place...

Deon and I just finished several days of work in Aklavik, doing some gravel reconnaissance. One of my favourite parts of my job is the fact that we get the chance to go out on the land, with some really nice local people, as well as travel all over the region for different initiatives.

Aklavik is one of my favourite communities in the ISR, for several reasons (although I really like all of the communities I've been to). The people are so kind and so friendly. Everyone is always willing to help, and lots of people will greet me throughout town, knowing who I am and who I work for. The innkeeper is the cutest lady I've ever met. She loves her job, and takes great pride in keeping the inn in order. There is also something about the town looks that really appeals to me. Perhaps it is the thick willows that border the streets, or the boardwalks that are necessary when the town floods in the spring, or maybe its location along the river...

And of course... there's the legacy of the Mad Trapper of Rat River.


And this cheesy cardboard cutout depicting the situation :p

I love this car! Who knew you could have a convertible in the north? (p.s. I'm pretty sure this car never came with a convertible option- they've cut the top off).



So, on Sunday we went out on the land to do some gravel sampling. We travelled with 4 locals, in their boat and visited about 6 sites approximately 30km from Aklavik. The morning was rainy and chilly, but by the afternoon it was warm and sunny. The scenery was beautiful, and we even saw some wildlife. We saw a moose, some caribou, lots of muskrat, and some bald eagles. And we are both now competent at a muskrat call (essentially sounds like kissing noises).


The banks of the Peel River.


A muskrat swimming towards our kissy muskrat calls.


Getting down to business.

Scratch that plan...

Today involved flying from Tuk to Aklavik to Inuvik to 15 minutes towards Sachs Harbour, back to Inuvik, having some lunch, finding out my flight to Sachs was cancelled, hitching a ride back to Tuk with Nate, and arriving home just before the plane would have got back to Tuk.

A fun day of Arctic travel was had by all.

A few points of interest during my day of travel (3 of 6 communities in one day, not bad!):


The treeline is very apparent here... The nutrients of the Delta provide essentials for the trees, whereas up the hill a bit, they cannot survive.


The beautiful mountains by Aklavik. You can see the ice road on the large channel in the picture.


My view for much of the day... Inside the twin otter



A relatively rare black fox. They are half silver fox, half red fox.