The Sea-Ice

First attempt at ice-fishing at a nearby lake called, Long Lake. Caught nothing!

I can't believe how quickly everything froze up here in and around Whale Cove. I know lakes and ponds had started to freeze since mid October, but never had I imagined the ocean would freeze so fast. It literary started freezing November 10th. and by November 17th. the ice had moved out a few kilometres. 

Andy and I at Long Lake

November is the begining of polar bear hunting season for Whale Cove, and sure enough there was a town hall meeting on how to use and divide the tags. The twon gets 7 tags, and it is up to the majority on how to use the tags. This year they decided to have 4 open tags and 3 by a draw. This means the first 4 are open to anyone in town, first sees first shoots, and then there will be a draw for the first of the remaing 3. The person whose name is drawn would have up to 72 hours to get a bear. If no luck, there would be another draw for the same tag. If they manage to shoot a bear, then there will be a draw for the remaining tags. So this is basically how it is done. It didn't take long for all 7 tags to go, less than a week!

Polar bear tags meeting

The rush to head out in the middle of the night to look for bears was amazing. I thought hunters would wait until next morning to go after bears, but they took off right after the meeting. It was an exciting time for everyone. The most number of ATV's and snowmobiles in one plcae I had ever seen. There was a genuine feeling of walking by a traffic jam, in Whale Cove!

Many rushing out of the town hall meeting, in hope of a chance at a polar bear!  

First bear of the season. Took my class to watch the skinning

November also brought my first trip as a coach with a group of students. We had signed up for the Table Tennis Territorial Championship in Iqaluit. We were allowed to take 6 students, 3 girls and 3 boys, ages 12-17. We started regular practice sessions, then followed that up with a tryout and more practice sessions for those who had made the team. Even though we only practiced for a month, all of our players did great. It was a great experience for them to challenge and play (literary day and night) with kids from all over Nunavut. They are great kids to travel with, so easy to coach and chaperone. I'll do it again any time!

Inuglak school ping pong team

Iqaluit, capital of Nunavut, is a twon of about 7000 people. It seems like it has most of the amenities of a small city, schools, hospital, ice rink, movie theatre, and numerous hotels. Unfortunately it lacked one facility I was desparately hoping it would, a swimming pool. Kids loved that place though. For them simply being able to go out shopping for stuff (video games, headphones,…) that kids in bigger towns take for granted was exciting. I on the other hand wasn't very impressed with Iqaluit. I much rather Whale Cove than places like Iqaluit that are perhaps desparately trying to be like another city in Canada.

View of the bay, Iqaluit

Although hearing and constantly being warned about polar bears, I didn't see any until the thrid week of November. Bear sightings became very common after the last tag of the season was gone We get announcements about their whereabout on an almost daily basis. Whale Cove is on the migration route of polar bears. From November through early January there are lots of bears around. I got to see the first live bear at a distance of about 200m or os. It was patiently lying on ice overlooking the frozen ocean. It looked pretty relaxed, lifting its head once in a while to see what was going on.

Can you see the bear, the yellowish figure on the ice/snow mound

I saw another bear about the same time the next day, as I was jogging. I wasn't alone though, our conservation officer and a local friend were trying to scare it off by firing bear bangers (a flare and a firework inside a shotgun shell that explodes at highest point of its flight). I go for my jogs during lunch hour as it gets pretty dark and cold after work. Our work day is done by 4:10pm, and sun sets before 3:00pm these days.

Some of our students playing hockey while we were ice fishing

Surprisingly I don't need to wear too many layers when I go for a run. Two layers of Ice-Breaker merino wool for the top, and an Ice-Breaker long johns with shorts is all it takes. I am so grateful to the person who introduced me to this fine fabric/brand. The only part I feel cold is my feet; the meshed and super light weight running shoes are not a smart choice for running in the arctic! Although I keep my routes inside the town, I still get warned about bears regularly. It is nice to see how seriously they view bear threat. This way both people and bears stay safe. On more than a few occasions I was offered ride by locals on snowmobiles and trucks when walking home from school or the Co-op.

A giant polar bear track on the sea ice.

The frozen ocean is almost all around us, inviting everyone for a nice and scenic walk on it. I have seen snowmobiles driving on the ice, but yet to see anyone walking on it. Apparently the sea ice, and the rocks on the shore are the perfect place for bears to wait before heading out to the floe edge. I was expecting this migration to be over soon, as the sea has been frozen for a few weeks now. But bears from further south still making their way up to these areas before finally heading out to the floe edge in almost all directions!

Jagged section of the sea ice close to the shore

In fact last night there were three bears on the sea ice where we, my roommate Andy and I, had taken a walk earlier today. We weren't aware of it though. Don, a local friend told us while we were about 500m out on the sea ice. He came by on his snowmobile for a chat when he saw us walking out there.

Smoother sea ice further out. Sun so low in the sky at 1:00pm 

I often want to take a few more photos whenever I am out and about, but can't seem to keep my hands out of gloves and mitts long enough to do that. It feels so bitter cold, even after only a few seconds, that I find it impossible to snap more than 2 or 3 photos at a time. Even then, it takes me a good 5-10 minutes before being able to handle another 20-30 seconds of cold air on fingers. I have so much respect for locals who go on driving snowmobiles for hours, searching for games to hunt. The same goes for wild life photographers and filmmakers, so much respect for them all.

The extreme cold does have its advantages though. Never have to worry about dust, dirty shoes, or ice cubes for that matter. If I need ice cubes for a drink, all I need to do is to leave the tray outside for 10 minutes. A chilled glass for a cold drink, 5 minutes. Life is great, isn't it?

Cheers!

Natural freezer in front of house: muskox, arctic char, caribou,... 

 

The Town

Our home in Whale Cove. Well, only the right unit is ours

The most common sound these days is the roar of snowmobiles. I thought it would take a little longer before I heard those again since leaving Shamattawa over a year and half ago. But the snow has started falling since the beginning of October, and it will stick around right till the end of the school year. This however gives the town the classic look of a Tundra environment most people are used to, the checkered pattern of white snow and dark rocks. Of course lack of trees and the ever present wind creates the pattern as it constantly blows snow off the rocks.  

Western view of the town

I am going to use this post to talk a little more about the town and its infrustructures, perhaps a more thorough introduction to Whale Cove. The place of course is known as the hamlet of Whale Cove. What is a Hamlet? It is a sttlement smaller than a village, which I only learned about after moving up here. There are about 350-400 people here with Inuktitut being the main language. The main employer here is the Hamlet office, which is similar to a tiny city hall, or a band office in small First Nation communities. It basically runs most of the operations in and around the community. There aren't many jobs around here other than maintaining the infrustructures, delivering water to houses, and emptying sewage from houses. I see those two trucks around town regularly. I believe they make daily runs to every household. 

Whale Tail, western view of the town

The next biggest employer is the Co-Op store in town. It is the only store here, for everything: produce, groceries, furniture, ATV's, ammunition,... The Co-Op is also the place where you'll buy gas voucher, before driving a few hundred meters to the actual gas pump. Gas is relatively cheap here, $1.10/Litre

Full service Gas station

The CO-OP, town's only store, for everything!

Our school, Inuglak school, has about 150 students. We have about 30 students in thigh school, grades 10-12, and 120 or so in lower grades. There are 9 teachers, and about 5 teacher assistants, who mostly help out with the lower grades. The school here teaches all subjects in Inuktitut up to grade 4, and then switches to English from grade 5. It has a nice gym which is used for after school activities every day as soon as the classes end and goes right through 11, or 11:30 pm. We, the teachers, offer programs from 4 - 6, and the hamlet offers programs from 7-9:30 for kids, and 9:30-11:00 for adults. The school programs include: soccer, floor hockey, badminton, ping pong, archery (with the help of RCMP officers). The hamlet has floor hokey, volleyball, soccer, and basketball. So the gym is by far the busiest building in the community.

Ping pong practice at our school gym

I have noticed most kids and adults are very athletic and skilled when it comes to pretty much any sport. There are organized tournemants almost every other weekend. I have watched soccer and floor hockey tournemants, as well as taking part in the volleyball tournemant, which by the way our team won! There is also an ice rink, which becomes operational as soon as the temperature drops about minus 20. It is a natural rink, meaning it is covered with dirt, and will be flooded once it is cold enough. It looks pretty big, but unfortunately no heating, bitter cold for spectators. The good thing about the ice rink is that it will free up a bit of space and time for those who want to use the gym while less crowded. I may get more playing time then!

The arena

Next to the ice arena is the community centre or the hall, as it is more commonly known. This is where there is weekend bingo for adlults, weekend dances for the kids, and any other ceremonies and celebrations. It is pretty small, but does the job for this community. If the event is too big, then they'll use the school gym instead.

Town hall

The arena on the left, and the town hall

As with every where else, we have a clinic and an RCMP detachment. The clinic has two nurses at all times, as well as 5 local staff. It seems to be busy every time I visit the place for one reason or the other. There are also only 2 RCMP officers at any time. I guess this is a good thing, as it can only mean less problems up here!

The Clinic

RCMP detachment

Even though this place is much smaller than Shamattawa and other northern communities, it has its own Wildlife and Conservation Office. I guess the main reason is protecting people and polar bears from each other. Whale Cove is on the polar bear migration route, and the bears come around quite frequently starting this time of the year. It wont be long before we start seeing their tracks on the snow in and around town.

Coservation and Wildlife management office

In fact the polar bear hunting season begins November 1st. less than two weeks from now. There are usually 6 tags available for Whlae Cove each year through a lottery system. Any one who is interested, which is everyone, include their name in the draw. The lucky family has less than two days to get their bear. If they fail to get one, they can have their name in the draw again for another chance. This goes on until either all 6 tags are used or the season is over. I was told the season lasts only 6 weeks or so. And I was also told that most tags get used whithin the first week or so. The lucky family that gets picked, drops everything and set out on the land in hope of getting their bear. Bear hunting season is supposed to be the biggest event of the year, and although I have reservations about seeing a magnificent and at risk predator killed, I am looking forward to the experience. I know its meat and especially its skin is valuable to my local friends, and it is also important to them culturally. But I do hope some day there will be more benefit to them having the bears alive rather than dead! One of our local friends promissed to take us on the hunt to expereince it first hand, if his name is drawn. I guess I get to finally use a sick day or two after so many years of not getting sick!

The thin layer of soil, and berries on the rocks. You can almost peel it off the rocks!

Well, this was a short and brief outline of life and some of its activities in Whale Cove. I am going to end this blog with a few shots of my favorite local fruit, the arctic cranberries. I am delighted to see they last the longest of all berries and preserved perfectly under the snow until next summer.

Cheers!

My favorite snack around here, arctic cranberries

Endless supplies of berries before the snow fall

The Camper

Another spectacular night out on the tundra

After spending a week of camping outdoors in the past two weeks, I no longer feel like having a roof over my head is a necessity! Although I may come to regret the above statement soon, If I don't learn building a proper Igloo fast. But before going over the two camping trips, I should perhaps mention another rare event that I did get to experience, the Beluga hunt.

Hunters expertly cutting and dividing the beluga

A life has turned to food for others

About 2 weeks ago we were in our last 20 minutes of the morning math class, when our principal came to let us know that the Beluga hunt was in progress, and that we could go and witness it. So everyone quickly packed to get out of the math class. Truly saved by the bell! We headed towards the rocky western shores of the village. There were hunters both on the shore and on boats waiting for belugs to come close enough to be harpooned or shot. Those on the shore would shoot them with gun first, then head out to harpoon them, whereas those on boats would harpoon them first, then shoot them with gun to finish the kill. The harpoon has a rope attached to a float to mark the doomed whale's location. 
We watched the whales, that were amazingly withing a few meters of the rocky beach, for a few minutes but no shots were fired. I was a bit surprised, asked one of the kids why the hunters weren't shooting the whales. He replied, these are females with youngs, we don't shoot them. They were waiting for single adults to hunt. I was told the reason belugas are so close to shore is that they are trying to get away from a pod of killer whales, which makes a lot of sense. So no whales was killed while I was there.                                                                  

Slabs of fat and skin ready to be picked up by anyone

After lunch we went to the beach again, and saw two groups of skilled hunters busy skinning and cutting two belugas. Everyone was so excited, as this was the first beluga hunt of the season. There would be quite a few more in the coming days and weeks. I was offered a piece of fat and skin to try. Surprisingly the fat was very chewy, but the skin was very nice. It reminded me of the Narwhal sushi I had on our hunting trip with Shon. But I have to admit that Narwhal tasted better than the beluga fat/skin, known as Maktaaq in Inuktitut. The meat was not that pleasant to eat. It almost felt like eating blood clot. I was told it would taste much better when cooked!

Master hunter George offered me some whale delicacy

A few days after the beluga hunt, Andy(my roommate) and I decided to head out for a weekend of camping on the tundra. We were planning to head out right after school, by 4:30pm the latest. But of course we got held up and ended up leaving town 6:30. This time I had rented an ATV to make the trip a bit more comfortable. We knew it was going to be touch and go by the time we loaded everything up on our ATV's and headed out to find the cabin, about 2-2.5 hours drive away.

A stop along the way to find our way before getting lost!

We have been to that cabin with Shon and Benjamine on our first hunting trip, but this time they were not around to show us the way. Shon was going to meet us at the cabin the following day. So we were taking a risk by heading out that late. Sure enough after 3 hours of driving and not finding it, we decided to head back to our previous trip's cabin, which was easier to spot. Got there around 10:30pm and checked a few cabins before finding an unlocked tent style cabin to settle for the night. It was a cabin with 4 feet high plywoods as walls, and trusses that were covered with a white tarp. It was better than spending the night in tents with the possibility of grizzly and polar bear encounters.

Shon and Andy at a resting spot

Early next morning we headed out to find the cabin. This time we managed to find the path to the cabin, with directions from a local road crew we had encountered earlier. There was no way we could ever have founded it in the dark. 

About three quarters of the way to the cabin, we were caught by Shon. That was such a relief, as not only he knew how to get to the cabin but also we could join him on his hunting tour. We dropped our loads at the cabin, which is called Qitinguya. Had coffee with snacks, before heading out. This was the farthest we have been on the tundra. We crossed a couple of rivers, multiple times, searching for caribous. But didnt see any.

Crossed this river and drove up the steep bank

The scenery was spectacular, some rare high vantage points overlooking the ancient rivers. We saw our first caribou around 4pm which Shon didn't shoot. It was too young. The next one he shot, about 5pm. He let us skin and butcher his caribou, which we pretty much ruined his kill. A process which takes him about 10 minutes with no mess at all, took us about an hour and lots of dirt and grass on the meat. It was very generous of him patiently guiding and showing us how to do it properly. Of course it was much more difficult when we tried it. In the end he gave us a leg and some other parts to BBQ for dinner and take some back with us to twon. Thanks Shon!

A family of swans. They all head south soon!

On our way back to the cabin we saw three more caribous, but he didn't shoot them as he was looking for a large male. At the cabin, we had coffee again before Shon left for the town. Andy and I looked for some scrap wood, perhaps from the time they had built the cabin, to BBQ the fresh caribou meat. Unfortunately for us, the wind had died down and the black flies were unrelenting. I have more than 50 red spots on my arms, neck, and face to scratch for the next little while.

Final morning, all ready to head back from Qitinguya

While cooking the meat we also tried our luck with fishing. We each caught an arctic grayling, but the flies made it too painful to continue, so we used our hands and arms to fend them off. Dinner was great. This time we had salt and pepper to season the meat. I don't ever recall eating so much red meat at one sitting. It flet like such a tasty appetizer that was impossible to stop. Thank you mr. caribou for letting us use your meat. 

Andy, Steve(town's conservation officer) and our cache of protein

The next morning we packed and left for Whale Cove. On our way back, we stopped to clean the meat at a nearby lake. While busy cleaning the meat, steve, our conservation officer showed up. We decided to hang out for a bit and fish while chatting with Steve. We each caught a couple of lake trouts which Steve offered to smoke them for us. We happily accepted his offer. It seems everyone is so kind to us, especially after seeing how we enjoy the excursions. Everyone is so proud of their way of life and their land up here. They get so excited when they see us out there in the middle of nowhere doing our best to learn and admire their taditions. Everyone is offering to take us out for more adventures because of that! Next weekend we are heading out with Steve!

So to keep up with the camping trend I accepted to go on a science camp for 5 days with four high school students to Baker Lake, a community of about 3000 people and 2 degrees of latitiude north of Whale Cove. The theme for this year's camp was Rocks and Minerals. There would be 6 groups of 4 students plus a teacher from each community.                                        
                                     

Bonfire at the campsite in Baker Lake

There were three groups with three different classes to attend, and each class was to be taught by two teachers. I voluntered to teach the First Aid sessions, as there were enough teachers doing the GPS, and Rocks/Mineral sessions. The event was organized very nicely, so that kids would attend classes as well as having fun doing outdoor activities. I was very impressed by how cooperative and eager our tentmates were. Everyone would lend a helping hand starting the stoves, cooking, and cleaning up in windy and cold days/nights. On the first night the wind was blowing so hard that all out tents were blown away, and had to run around in the dark to gather heavy rocks to anchor the tents to the ground.

Some of my super cool tentmates!

On our first morning there, we were treated to a nice surprise, a short helicopter ride over the town. Baker Lake is the only community up here that is not on the ocean. Instead it is on the shore of a lake, perhaps called Baker Lake! On our last day of camping we ventured out in the town. It has a hotel, two stores, two churches, a nursing station, an ice rink, two schools,... but no paved road or runway! So a much larger and more luxurious place than our little village, but I woul not trade living in Whale Cove with Baker Lake.

Leaving our mark on the land, our Inukshuk. Last day!

Our tents with lanterns glowing inside

The Hunt

My life is slowly but surely falling into its own Tundra routine up here. Although I am a bit disapointed not being able to replicate the level of physical activities to that of Shamattawa and Klemtu as of yet. I haven't been running as much as I would have hoped to, and instead am relying on after school games of soccer to keep me in decent physical shape. Which I am afraid it is not! I should get into habit of running regularly after school, no matter how windy it may be.

Inuglak School

As for work, it is a bit more challenging than what I had expected. Students are very polite and respectful, but lack self confidence. If I could just remind them how capable and strong they are, I am sure they can easily complete their courses. It is just getting them to take it as one step at a time. Cliche, yet so true! Today we, high school students, went for a land trip out on the Tundra for a day of fishing, berry picking and hunting. It was wonderful to see how competent and confident they were out there, and I'll do my best to remind them of it tomorrow in class. They felt right at home fishing, picking berries, building fire, and in general having fun. They kept asking me how I liked their "land" and I couldn't stop telling them how much I truly loved it. I dont think I have ever come across such a barren and plain landscape that supports so much life! I try posting some pictures from our trip on next blog.

Town's cemetry, facing west, with an ocean view

Over the past couple of weeks, I managed to head out to more local lakes for some afternoon and weekend fishing. Managed to catch my first ever Arctic Grayling. It is a relatively small fish but very tasty. It also looked similar to some of the sepecies we have down in the Caspian region. It was fun catching it, and I am definitely looking forward to more of that. One fish that I have yet to catch is the prized Arctic Char. There are two types, the ocean char and the land-locked lake chars which are a bit smaller than their oceanic cousins.

Another beautiful lake, town's source of water

Tried fishing for lake char here but no luck

My first Arctic Grayling

But by far the biggest adventure of my time in Whale Cove was the hunting trip I was lucky enough to go on last Saturday. It was Andy, my roommate, and two local hunters, Shon and Benjamine. We met by the gas station around 10:00am to get some extra cans of gas and some supplies. Of course Andy and I had already packed camping gear and food, as we were planning to camp out there for the night. We left town around 10:15 and headed out on the land in hope of finding caribous, muskox, and grizzlies. The landscape is pretty much all rocks that is covered by a few inches of soil and very low lying plants. It is covered by lichen, moss, berries of all kinds, arctic cotton, and a variety of willows. Of course you do see lots and lots of exposed rocks, as well as thousands of lakes. Some are a few feet deep and some much deeper, which support fish year round, even through the long deep freeze. The ride on the trail is winding and very bumpy, but nowhere near as bumpy as when you get to drive off trail, which we did for most of the day. I should mention that I was riding with Andy on his newly bought ATV, and the other hunters were driving their own ATV's. After the weekend adventure I truly appreciate why they are called ATV. We drove about an hour on the trails before spotting our first caribou. Of course it was one of our local friends who had spotted the caribou while driving, which is incredible. The caribou was so perfectly camouflaged but Shon and Benjamine would spot them at will. We stopped for a few minutes and just admired looking at it. I was a bit bewildered as to why they weren't going to shoot it, but later learned they were confident of seeing more further down and didnt want to start work just yet! A bit of fun and relaxation before the actual hunt. We drove another 15 minutes or so to get to the cabins on the shore of Aquk river. Apparently most locals have a cabin somewhere along that stretch for taking advantage of spawning chars, which happens both in spring and fall.

Beautiful arctic cotton growing straight out of rocks

We stopped by a friend's cabin to drop off our camping gear, as we were planning to camp there for the night, and continued our search for big game. It wasnt long before Benjamine spotted another caribou. We stopped and watched the young beast for a few minutes. Shon suddenly started driving straight towards the caribou and shot him from about 150 meters distance. We all rushed to the caribou and I was wondering what would follow next. I was thinking how on earth were we going to clean and carry it with us for the rest of a long day.

This one wasn't shot. They let it be

I thought for sure it would take all four of us about an hour or so to clean and carry it to the cabins. Shon got off his ATV, pulled out his 3 inch long tiny knife and started skinning the dead caribou. He was so quick that Andy and I kept shaking our heads in amazement. It took him less than 15 minutes to skin, clean, chop to pieces and wrap the meat in its own skin, then strapping it to the back of his ATV to carry. Surprisingly the caribou didn't look that big wrapped up in its own skin strapped on the back of ATV. Later I learned this way hunters could shoot up to 5 large games and take home to their families all on one outing.

A pair of dancing cranes, countless pairs around

We followed Shon and Benjamine to a community owned cabin standing on its own miles away from any other cabins. This one was for anyone to use. All cabins have basic survival gear and provision to last a few days if needed. it's comforting to know there are options like that around in desperate times. The cabin was about a few hundred meters from sandy bank of the Aquk river. It was also flanked by two huge piles of antlers, just like a gate! We saw a cribou nearby grazing, but the hunters didn't shoot it, even though it was very close. I admire these local hunters. They dont go out shooting anything they see. They only take what they need, and that's why they can always rely on the land to provide them with what they need. That is if the outsiders dont interfere with their affairs.

Narwhal skin sushi for snack

We decided to follow the river banks, as it was more scenic. they wanted to show us the very best of the land. The river snaked its way northwest towards some high point, which is extremely rare out there. We saw a caribou making its way up from the river. Shon decided to shoot it, and within minutes we had another caribou all cleaned wrapped in its own skin and strapped on his ATV. But before cleaning the caribou, Shon treated us to some rare delicacy. he pulled out a semi frozen chunk of Narwhal skin and fat. the skin was dark grey and about quarter of an inch thick on top of a pink layer of fat about an inch thick. We sliced the skin away from the fat and dipped it in soy sauce, a perfect sushi snak. I loved it!

By far the best sushi I have ever tried, Narwhal skin

I prepared a bush fire mostly from moss and some lumber from a broken tent when Shon started to clean his caribou. I wanted to cook the previous cribou's heart and liver for lunch. It was fun but hard work to cook the organs. It took about half an hour to finally have them properly cooked. I used two tent pins as make shift skewers and had to hold and roll them constantly in order to cook all sides thoroughly. It would have taken about five minutes have I had a grill or some finer skewers. Fresh liver and heart for lunch, hmmm!

Shon, Benjamine and I enjoying Narwhal skin sushi

After lunch we drove further west hoping to see grizzly bears. I was told there are polar and grizzly bears around this time of the year. Apparently grizzlies up here eat red meat, mostly of caribou and ground squirrels. It would have been amazing to see a large giant chasing a caribou or pouncing on a squirrel on the vast tree-less landscape. But unfortunately for us, and fortunately for the grizzly, we didn't see any. Perhaps next time we may get lucky and see one of them up here. I have seen grizzlies in Klemtu, but have a feeling it would be much more exciting to see one in a completely different biome.

Chef Morteza cooking some fresh caribou heart and liver

Real hunters relaxing after lunch

By around 3pm Benjamine decided to shoot a caribou, and then we had three. In total we saw about twelve caribous and our hunters shot only three. All the caribous we saw were alone, by themselves. I was expecting to see them in herds, but apparently that doesn't happen until later in the season when they start to migrate. Does and fawns migrate together whereas bulls do it separately. I cant wait to see them on their migration route in the fall. After our thrid caribou we decided to head back on a different route from the one we had taken to get there. This last one which lasted about three hours was the most painful ride I had ever experienced. We were literary driving on rocks covered with vegetation. they were like little mounts of about a foot high and two feet wide, separated apart by about two feet. I felt like every bone on my back was about to crack, not to mention the strain on my hands and arms trying my best to hold on to the ATV for dear life! We did manage to see a hunter/camper and his wife by their cabin. Shon gave them a huge chunk of meat. They offered us tea. We chatted for a few minutes before heading to our evening campsite. By the time we got back to the river bank, where we wanted to camp, it was 9:30pm. A very long but fantastic day. Shon and Benjamine gave us two caribou legs for dinner and parted ways to head back to Whale Cove. Andy and I started a fire to BBQ for dinner as well as having a well-deserved cup of hot tea.

Watching the master at work. Hoping to learn a few tricks

Nights on the Tundra are very sureal. It didnt really get dark until about 11pm. And having the almost full moon around made it seem even later in the evening. The caribou leg was a perfect way to end the day. I cant remember ever having a freshly killed large game for food out in the wild. We kept a weary eye out for any unwanted attention, namely from grizzlies and polar bears. Having fresh meat is certainly an advantgae, but it can also be a serious liablility where there are wolves, and bears around. Luckily for us though, there wasnt any encounter. Although the next day we heard there was a polar bear with two cubs hanging around where we camped a few hours before we got there in the evening. I guess it was a wise decision to use the cabin and not the tents for sleeping.                                                                    

Wild Blueberry for dessert

The next morning we tried our luck for Arctic Char, but not to be. We only tried it for a few minutes, as we wanted to get back to town to catch up with some work. Before heading back we made some instant coffee with water from the river, which was probably the best tasting coffee. A curious arctic fox paid us a visit, but didnt hang long enough for me to take a good shot of him. He was withing 5 meters at some point, but by the time I got the camera he was well on his way disappearing in the vast tundra. Over all a fantastic weekend. I cant remember having a better and more exciting weekend ever. I can only hope to say the same thing about the next weekend! Cheers!

Tea and Caribou leg for dinner