Sunday, February 3, 2008

Snow Machine

Hey. So I hope your Sunday was well. I had a good day, another Icy good time in fact...
A couple of guys that I met at a party last weekend invited me to go for a ski-doo ride. I was all over it, wanted to get out and see some more of my surroundings, and figured a snow machine trip would be the best way to see the sights of the Canadian Arctic. We headed north east to knoll lake, I on the back of Dustin's ski doo. Because of the direction we were headed in, we ended up above the tree line, in the Arctic Tundra. No more of the whimpy Inuvik conifers, instead, low lying, snow covered tundra vegetation. It was amazing to be out, out in the middle of nowhere. After crossing a few lakes, and riding over some rough trails, we made our way to the top of a large hill. You could see tundra for ever, and hear silence for good. The picture above was taken by Nathan from the top of the hill, where we stopped to have hot chocolate but it certainly does not do the scene justice.
Now I suppose you might be wondering what the temperature was. It was about -38, but I dressed warmly. Jenn, I used those warm things in my mittens, they work sooo well. I only wish I had put them in my boots too, my toes got real cold!
So I drove the ski doo around by myself for about 1 min, and embarassingly bailed. Yep, I tipped right over. Not to worry Mom, I wasn't going fast, and of course had my helmet on. But felt like a tool with my new friends. You can laugh, I give you permission.
Peace out dudes!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Kayla - all this talk about snow mobiles, driving on the frozen river and bottle depots reminds me of my time in good 'ol Woodstock, NB! Strange as it sounds, people out there used to (and probably still do) take their snow mobiles out on the Saint John River all the time - much to my amazement and worry, especially when the ice had thawed in parts. In fact, when I first moved there, many of the kids I went to school with wore "Arctic Cat" coats, and when I asked them what "Arctic Cat" was, they thought I was insane. (Us city-dwellers, so far removed from the fine details of small-town winter recreation!)Fantastic pictures, by the way!...e