The Aklavik Mad Trapper Rendezvous

The day begun with some chilly temperatures, but some bright sun, and a beautiful drive on the ice road.

This morning, Mom and I hoped in the truck with Amy and Wade, and drove over to Aklavik, where it is Jamboree time. (Uh oh, cats outta the bag...my one-eyed-classy-Eskimo is my Mom!)Every spring, each of the communities take turns hosting their Jamborees - basically a festival of games and food for the whole community to participate in. Aklavik's Jamboree is a four day festival filled with dog mushing, dizzy stick racing, plank walking, egg tosses, flour packing, ice chiseling, snowshoe racing, talent shows, BINGO, jigging competitions - the list goes on. We got to Aklavik by noon, just in time to see the eager yelping dogs take off on their sleds for the 10 km race with 1000 bucks for first place. Then after taking a short drive around town, we went down to the jamboree site on the river, and waited for the games to commence with a bowl of homemade chili and bannock in hand. There is a picture above of one of the dog teams in action, and following that, a picture of a wall tent where Annie the elder was giving out caribou soup to other elders and visitors (regulations up here do not allow Inuvialuit to sell the caribou that they have hunted - they can only give it as gifts). Seeing as I had come over from Inuvik, Annie let me try some of her yummy caribou soup.

There were a number of people from Inuvik that I knew at the games, which was nice, because it meant Amy and I could enter the four legged race! And, although Amy, Jon and I came in dead last place, I laughed my ass off. There were a number of other hilarious competitions that we all had a hoot watching. Like dizzy stick races, where you have to spin around a stick 10 times and then race to a pylon. There was a lot of falling going on!

So as pristine as you and I might think that the Mackenzie delta is, there is still a fare amount of litter bugs in the North. It takes about an hour and 15 minutes to get to Aklavik on the ice road, but today, the ride home took almost three hours. We stopped and picked up each and every bottle and can along the ice road that we could see. Amy and Wade will get a pretty penny for picking up the litter of others! (You get money for recycling almost everything up here). There was a ton of cans and bottles in the back of their truck by the time we got home.

All in all, a good chilly day was had by all. I now know what a Jamboree entails, and I love the good clean hilarious fun of it all. I'm looking forward to Inuvik's Jamboree, it's next weekend!

This one eyed chick was cold!

Can you guess who this one-eyed-classy-eskimo is?

DEWy Tuktoyaktuk

My title isn't dewy like the grass in summer, or dewey like the decimal system either, Aunt Joan/Mom. Instead its DEWy like the radar system...

So yesterday I was in Tuktoyaktuk for another Community Consultation meeting regarding the Beaufort Sea Integrated Ocean Management Plan. The picture you see above is of a Distance Early Warning Line station. I'm sure many of you are familiar with these radar stations that were built across the far North of Canada during the Cold War to detect incoming bombs from Russia. Most of these sites have been abandoned, leaving behind some pretty toxic waste. These sites have plagued the people of the North for a while now. I'm not sure what the status of this particular DEW line site is in Tuk, looks like it is still in action.

The drive up to Tuk was amazing - the ice road was bumpy, but the sky was clear and we went through the sand hills, north out of the delta, into the barren tundra, and onto the Beaufort Sea. Yes, I walked and drove atop the Beaufort Sea. I was also in good company, two co-workers both whom I admire quite a lot for different reasons, and a local Inuvialuit who chatted us up about the caribou/wolf hunt that he just got back from. His blistered cheeks were proof of his time on the land. We also saw a couple moose on the way home.

On a completely separate and exciting note, I have an exciting, very exciting, visitor in the North with me :)

A Ptarmigans-eye view

This is Inuvik from above, at the top of Baldie (a hill that I climbed today, named so because it is the location where the towns gravel pit is...the hill is becoming progressively bald). Today was slightly hazy, but mostly sunny and gorgeous. Also warmer at -22. My friend and I went for a walk on the boot lake trail, and ended up here.
Later, I went for a ski on the trails with some borrowed skis and a group from the ski club. I saw a group of Ptarmigans (stunningly white Arctic birds from the Grouse family).
Another fantastic day in Inuvik.

Pingo

Oh dear readers, my apologies. I have gone much too long without a blog. My excuse is the insanity of my week.

The Beaufort Sea Partnership meeting was this past week, which means people came from all across Canada to talk about Integrated Ocean management in the Beaufort Sea. It was quite the three day event, and I was the designated minute taker (oh the joys of being a student) and I facilitated three breakout sessions that asked participants from all sectors (government, Inuvialuit, Industry etc) to identify pieces that may be missing in the drafted Integrated Ocean management Plan. It was a good experience, and I can now say I know much more about facilitation and writing on flip charts then I ever have.

Aside from the Beaufort Sea Partnership Meeting, today I had to say buh-bye to my new friend Sarah. She's the coop student who had my position last summer, and who is currently working at the Winnipeg DFO office for her coop term. She was here for the past three weeks to help us with the community tour and the BSP meeting. But we've spent the last four weeks together (one in Winnipeg, then three here), and now I already miss her! It's fun having another student at work to laugh with, and ask stupid questions to that you might not ask a boss. She will be in Waterloo this summer though, so we will reunite :)

The picture above is of a Pingo in Tuktoyaktuk. I'm going there again this Tuesday. A pingo forms when a small lake drain. The permafrost that surrounds the unfrozen sandy ground where the lake once was, begins to spread. When this happens water in the saturated sandy ground freezes and expands, pushing excess water ahead of the freezing ground. As the circle of permafrost moves toward the centre of the once present lake, the excess water comes under increasing pressure, and the lake bed is pushed up, and up, forming the hill you see in the picture above! It's a unique northern land form!

Well, the Muskox hunt in Sachs is ongoing (for a town of 150 people they are legally allowed to harvest 10 000 muskox off the land!!) and this means that it will be in the grocery store soon. Alexa got me some from her friend early, and I have muskox-eggplant lasagna in the oven. (My apologies to you vegetarians, but only in the north right?)

Enjoy your evening. I will enjoy my (bright!!) one.

Atitu!

My blog title means Hello in Inuvialuktun.

This week was pretty busy at work...next week the Beaufort Sea Partnership meeting is happening, which means 50 people are coming to Inuvik from all over Canada to talk about the Beaufort Sea Integrated Management Plan. Wildly busy work week.

The highlight of my week was Aklavik. Aklavik is another one of the six Inuvailuit Settlement Region communities that I am travelling to for the community consultations. It is in the delta, and not on the Beaufort coast, which means it has winter ice road access. So we drove the hour to Aklavik on the ice road, and drew nearer and nearer to the Richardson Mountain range, of which you can see in the second photo above. The first photo was taken 'downtown' Aklavik. Have you heard of Albert Johnson? He's otherwise known as the 'Mad Trapper' and of course is famous up here and especially in Aklavik where he was eventually caught, killed, and buried in the cemetery that is just behind the sign in the first photo.

Funny thing, I'm off to the Mad Trapper tonight...the bar in town here owes its name to Albert Johnson, the crazy fugitive whom killed two mounties, and to whom no one knows the ancestry of.

Growing up?

Whew. That was a busy Monday. Tomorrow I will be travelling to Aklavik, one of the 6 Invialuit Settlement Region communities, by ice road. We will be having the same meeting that we have had in the other communities, and at this meeting, both the Inuvialuit and Gwich'in will be present.

Want to hear about my weekend? Saturday was spent skating in Cal's yard. Cal is my boss, and him, like a bunch of houses in town, have rinks in their front yards. You can see an action shot of me above. We played some hockey, and I loved it, I felt like a little kid who couldn't skate...becuase I can't stop on my skates! (Lindsay, it makes me want to play hockey at school with you!!) Sunday was another great outdoor day (even though it was -35 degrees C). I took a skiing class, it taught me some good basics, and it was a good day outside.

On a separate note, I'm not sure I like this whole growing up thing. After talking to some friends in Waterloo, it's becoming more and more real. My friends and I are growing up, graduating, getting jobs, moving away, and doing life. And, as it happens, 'doing' life involves a heck of a lot of change. I think there are a lot of things and people that I will miss this summer, and the months to come after that. But maybe these things will be replaced by even better ones. You really never can know what the future holds.