Dogsledding was the top of my list of things to do in Inuvik. I called the one and only place and they told me that on the day I wanted to go they were organizing a snowmobiling trip to go see the reindeer herd. I hesitated because it was a $300 but it was scheduled to be -7 Celsius (19F) which is downright balmy by Arctic standards so I decided to go. They estimated an 7-8 hour day and that is a long time to be out in the cold, so the warmer the better. I texted two new nurses that had just arrived, they happen to be from Vancouver too, and they joined me. I had known them for about 30 seconds so kudos to them for being so spontaneous.
The Arctic Chalet tour group closely analyzed what we were wearing. I guess they don't like their guests getting frostbite and it's a real possibility up here. We had on everything warm we had packed up here with us. Balaclavas, mittens, mitt liners, neck warmers, toque (knit hat), goggles, two pairs of long johns, ski pants, Canada Goose jackets and a pocket full of hot shot hand and toe warmers. They were not impressed with any of our personal boots so provided us with moose hide mukluks. I was hesitant that they would be warmer than my Merrels, but without a doubt they were. They warned us that the weather can change at any moment so it's better to be over prepared.
We left on a glorious morning. All of these pictures are of sunRISE. This is about 11 am when we left the chalet.
There were 5 guests and three guides. The sleds (snowmobiles) they gave us were pretty old. We were on them for about 7 hours and they didn't handle very well. I had a very sore back the following few days. I took only one corner too fast and ended up on just one track of the snowmobile. I made the mistake of sticking out my leg to correct myself. I learned later this is how people break their legs (makes sense in hindsight). I guess if you are going to fall you just let the machine fall on you. I didn't break my leg (thank you universe!) and slowed down on the corners from then on.
Giving er down the frozen Mackenzie River with the sun rising behind us. It doesn't get much better than this!
They were saying that in the last 10 years these short willow trees below have got much more abundant in the Arctic due to climate change/global warming. It made for a diverse trip with a lot of different scenery.
This was the top of Beer Hill, the half way point. It is these slow sunrises/sunsets that give the sky these amazing colours for hours....
Rest stop on one of the many frozen lakes we went across!
After about 3 hours/45km we arrived at the 3,000 head reindeer herd. A man named Henrik is a Sami reindeer herder from Sweden whose family has been herders for centuries. The Sami are the only indigenous people in Scandinavia and he was dressed in traditional attire. Henrik was worried that the traditional ways of Sami herding were being lost in Sweden so he came to the Arctic to keep his cultural traditions alive. His eyes lit up when I mentioned the National Geographic article that I had read about the Sami people that came out about 18 months ago.
He is very sentimental and protective of his herd. He is married to the husky kennel master of the dogsledding teams. They only met a few years ago when she had cross country skied (see above, 45km!) to the reindeer herd. Henrik spends Monday to Friday with the herd and comes home to Inuvik on the weekends. There always needs to be someone with the herd so when he is away someone replaces him. Before the ice melts he will herd the reindeer on to a large island for the summer, wait for the ice to melt and they will be contained there until fall. During this time he goes back to Sweden with his dogsledding wife. It still amazes me people live like this and I mean that with the utmost respect. This guy has chosen to come live on the frozen Arctic tundra and herd reindeer. Every day. It's crazy. This is what makes Canada so truly awesome.
Remember how I said we had to prepare in case the weather changed? Well it did. Right when we stopped. The wind was howling and wind when it's cold like this changes everything. We had a scheduled lunch stop on the tundra. Note the herd in the background. They built a fire in the snow, surprisingly fast actually. They have us each a cast iron sandwich holder that had a cheese/tomato/pepper sandwich on one side and an diced apple/cinnamon/butter sandwich on the other. You toast your sandwiches over the fire. They were amazing! And hot chocolate on the arctic tundra just tastes better. Not sure why. The two golden rules in the Arctic are to not sweat and not get hungry, you get so much colder. I was warm enough (thanks again PK!) but starved. Best sandwiches of my life. But by the time I was on my last bites the sandwich was covered in frost. It was that cold. Then I had to pee. Sigh. Man oh man is that a cold squat. And don't squat too low! Oh my god..
Seeing 3000 wild reindeer was one of the coolest things I've ever done. And these are reindeer not caribou. Although they can interbreed, and depending what you read on the internet they are apparently different animals. Reindeer live in large groups (in the thousands), and need to be herded. Caribou live in groups of 10-20 and roam wild. When scared reindeer clump together, caribou scatter. Henrik the reindeer herder apparently gets quite stressed out when a caribou is in the herd and is one of the only ones that can tell the difference between the two species.
They are looking for a "chief herder trainee" for a three year contract if anyone is interested. Being bad ass is a requirement.
http://reindeerherding.org/tag/canada/
The way home was interesting. It became a total white out for a while and we had to follow each other pretty closely. The guide couldn't find one of the turnoffs (can't say I blame them, you couldn't see a thing). It did clear up again but the temperature dropped significantly. We had to keep stopping to warm up our hands in the exhaust of the snowmobile and made a quick stop to the herders cabin to warm up by a fire. Henrik shoots two reindeer a day and sells the meat and hide in town here. It's delicious and mild. He never shoots reindeer when they are running, only grazing. It apparently makes the meat taste different if they are stressed due to the cortical release. He shoots them with one even shot, and the herd doesn't even notice. They just go on doing their thing.
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| Dasher & Dancer?! Come on...that's funny. |
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I still had to go dogsledding! I chose another mild day. It's a trade off. If it's snowing it's warmer, if it's blue sky it's -30. I decided on the warmer option. I know a few people in town that have gone. About 50% of them fell off at some point. If you fall you have to somehow hang on to the sled or else the dogs will take off. I was pretty worried but I managed to stay on. Your feet are on two runners about 3 inches wide. There is a rubber "slow down" pad between the two runners that you can put varying degrees of pressure on with a foot to slow the dogs down. There is also a steel break that if you step on will bring the dogs to a stop pretty quick. So yah you have to take a foot off these 3 inch runners and balance. Yikes. The commands were easy "CHEE!" was right, "CHA" was left. You usually had to give a few pumps of the break to get the dogs attention as you yell these words. And then the customary "GOOD DOGS" when they do something right.
This was pretty fun. I actually wanted them to go faster, but I think I needed more dogs for that. The guide said they had just pulled a bunch of 300lb guys the day before and were pooped out. It's a lot like water skiing, especially as they start. It was nice to be able to look around a little and enjoy the scenery. They had decked me out in wolf gloves to keep my hands warm. They were bulky but definitely warm.
The Arctic Chalet guide company only raises white huskies with blue eyes. They have about 35 of them and a bunch of puppies. They are very vocal dogs with a lot of howling and yipping when they want to go. It's pretty cool.
Note how deep the snow is below. This is me and my new friend Sherri!
Future pups!
I finally got my new GoPro camera to work and got a video of my experience. My debut on YouTube! Pretty proud of it, it took HOURS to edit. Ugh. You might have to copy and paste the link...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaPskFHFJz8&feature=em-upload_owner
I'm doing three night shifts then leaving the Arctic on Friday to spend two weeks at home. I'm ready. I need a town that is more than 1km long I've learned. I am feeling pretty restless. Having a car here would help or a friend/partner. It has been an overall mild winter here so I'm lucky in that regard. There was only one real blizzard and that only lasted a day or two. The cold didn't bother me as much as the dark did. I like the work and the people but need to regroup at home. I extended this trip by two weeks so have spent two months up here this time and 30 days of it them were the polar nights where the sun never came above the horizen. So believe it or not, I'm going to Vancouver for the light. Fingers crossed Mr. Sun comes out when I'm home. I am so glad I came up here. I'll never forget the experience of almost 4 months in the Arctic Circle. Doubt I will come back however. Hats off to the people that can make a life up here. It's not for me but I'm glad I did it. After two weeks at home next stop is 6 weeks on north coastal BC, Prince Rupert! I'm craving green/lush rainforests like home and the OCEAN! Everything is better with the ocean....
Loved this post! Made me feel like I was right there. Great photos, too. Too bad I missed out on the snowmobiling by about a week.
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