Polar Bear Jail
As we arrived in Churchill, we dogsledded to the Polar Bear Jail. It is where problem bears are taken, on the edge of town. These photos show the polar bear traps used for the problem bears.
Churchill Northern Studies Center
We spent our day dogsledding and skiing with our heads down and noses angled away from the wind. Sustained winds blasted us as we traveled along the coast of Hudson Bay to the Churchill Northern Studies Center. Wind speeds peaked at about 30 mph, with an air temp of about 0 degrees F today. The…
Windbound
We are in the midst of an all out gale. Winds blowing upwards of 35 mph have stopped us in our tracks. Air temps are about 10F, but the wind chill has pushed temps into the deep freeze. Blowing snow is piling up in drifts around the dogsleds and we have hunkered down at an…
Hudson Bay!
The weather has remained ideal. The sun continues to shine brightly and we are slathering on sunscreen. The wind has calmed today. The scenery is changing rapidly. As we move further north, the trees are getting smaller and smaller, and fewer and fewer. The efficient traveling conditions allowed us to log 25 miles today. Our…
Covering Miles
We covered a lot of ground today – about 23 miles by dogsled and ski. We are passing through some brushy areas with small trees. The snow collects in these areas and can mean deep, fluffy, difficult to get a dogsled through, conditions. The dogs bottom out in the deep snow and the sled starts…
Polar Bear Tracks
Today we traveled about 15 miles. The wind started out gusty. We saw several firsts. We saw tracks in the snow from polar bears (including tracks from a mother and two cubs, shown in the photo), caribou, wolves, wolverines, and fox. The wind subsided and a blazing sun is giving us a tan. The temps…
We Launch Dog Teams
We’ve received several varying reports from the conductor regarding the arrival time for our drop off point. Originally we heard mid-morning. It kept getting pushed back due to the rough track conditions. At 1PM, the train screeched to a halt, the freight door slid open, and we started on assembly line unboarding. The train staff…
Trucks, Trains and Dogsleds
We arrived in Thompson, Manitoba, at about 2:30PM. We drove straight to the train depot, staked out the dogs, and then put our sleds, dogs, and gear in order next to the tracks to await the next leg of our journey. We heard several times that the Tundra Train is “always late.” It remained true…
The Dogs Know
At 6AM we arrived in the Wintergreen kennel to start loading sled dogs into the trailer, and launch our journey to Hudson Bay. That’s earlier than we are typically at the kennel. The dogs knew something was up instantly. I walked several dogs from their doghouses to the trailer. Lightning had a glint in her…
Project Polar Bear Gear Pack Out
The below photo shows our smaller dogsleds used for lodge-based trips around Ely. They are now mere skeletons with their sled bags stored for the season. Today we are packing out dogsledding camping gear for Project Polar Bear. Guide Dave Freeman, the director of Wilderness Classroom, is shown above making a repair to the brushbow…