Fifteenth Blog

Boat launch area known as the Saw Mil

It feels like it has been ages since I had posted anything, I have simply been waiting for something extra ordinary to happen before adding another post. But I have come to realize that there aren't  going to be that many exciting events in my life any time soon, so I better not use this excuse any more!

Slab of ice on the river bank

Can you spot the Ptarmigans?

Our first school term was over by the end of January and I am pleased to say there were more successful students than I had expected. Always a nice bonus. The second term started with more enthusiasm due to result of the first term and I am hoping it will continue for the remainder of the year. Last weekend We went on a bumpy Winter Road Trip to Thompson, Manitoba using the school bus. The trip was 200km North West (the roughest ride you can ever imagine) to Gillam, and another 270km South West on a permanent gravel road to Thompson. We went there chaperoning some of our high school students attending an Aboriginal Youth Festival/Conference. It took us 6.5 hrs to finish the first 200km and another 4 hours to do the remaining 270 km. It was a fun weekend, hanging out with students attending different workshops during the day and at night sleeping in sleeping bags on a cold tiled classroom floor! Thompson is a city of about 15000 people but devoid of any character. It is simply made up of houses and big box stores acting as a hub for all the communities of the north. I dont think I'll ever want to go there again. The trip back was pretty cold as we had filled half of the bus with groceries which in turn blocked the heated air from getting to us, or so we were told.

The ever curious Fox

Although it has been a relatively warm winter, we are experiencing a few very cold days. Yesterday morning was -31 with a windchill effect of mid minus forties. It was very similar this morning for our weekend adventure. But the upside of it was that we saw two large wolves! One was orange brown and the other almost black.  Its funny how I always mention how large these magnificent animals are, but this time they were simply the largest ones yet! The orange wolf disappeared immediately in the woods to our left, while the black one ran ahead of us on the road, stopping once in a while to see what we were. There were finally some caribou tracks which explains the presence of the wolves. I tried to take a photo but every time we got out of the truck it would start running again. Unfortunately no photo to show for, but two happy witness to back me up this time! However I did take a few shots of wolf tracks both in shallow and deep snow.

My prints next to wolf's

Wolves' tracks in deep snow.

I am happy to say that I have been able to run quite regularly these days. There is 2.5 hours of daylight after work and I couldn't be happier using it for running 3-4 times a week.

Cheers!

Fourteenth Blog

Houses in the community

Well, its been more than a week since I have been back from the winter break and it was nice to see that the cold hasn't negatively affected anything and everything was in working condition. I remember last year having a terrible time due to frozen pipes after returning from the spring break. I was however disappointed to find out that the winter roads were not quite operational yet due to warmer weather. We have had some very cold days with temperatures dropping to -35 degrees, of course much colder considering the windchill effect.

Band office with the airport in the background

Town's Fire hall next to the mechanic shop

last weekend I went for a couple of rides on snowmobile with a local friend. Its a fun but extremely cold way of getting around and seeing places that otherwise would be impossible to see. I still have a frostbite from that ride on my right ear. He was driving so fast that I couldn't let go of the handles in order to adjust my hat. All it took was 10 minutes of fast ride to sport a nasty frostbite for more than a week. The reason for him driving so fast was that early on our ride we came across two adult moose. And moose being such a highly prized game, we decided to head back to town to get a rifle and let other hunters know about them. We did that alright but no one has seen them since. People still search the area hoping to see them. I felt pretty good having finally seen another majestic creature I have been hoping to see ever since coming up here.




Lately my solo outings have been limited to shorter walks and three runs a week after work. The reason for shorter and closer to town outings is the unusual number of wolf sightings. The other day I had a local friend stop by to show me a patch of hair and asking me what it was. I guessed a caribou hide he had shot. He replied it was his dog's tail, eaten by the wolves right outside his house. Most days while running I get trucks stop to tell me be extra careful and to watch out for wolves. I am sure they are right to be vigilant as there are kids and elderly walking about. But I cant help to think about the two books I've read over the summer about researchers spending time with wild wolves in the north and documenting their behavior. I tend to take comfort in knowing that they almost never attack people, but cant help being a bit more nervous every time I head out. On my run today I came across huge wolf tracks right at the beginning of the winter road. they were the largest tracks I have seen yet! I'll make sure to take some photos tomorrow and post them on my next blog.

Site of a plane crash, October 2005, just 500m from the runway

Memorial monument at the site of the crash

Unfortunately my problems with the four-legged creatures wasn't limited to wolves only, I had an altercation with a pack of dogs as well. Last Wednesday night I was walking home from the gym after a game of soccer when I was attacked by a pack of 7 or 8 strange dogs. At first I was so bewildered and confused that I didn't know what to make of it. I thought they were local dogs coming to greet me, as I have never been attacked by dogs. But soon I realized the sharp pain on my left leg was not something to take lightly and started to swing my back pack around. They encircled me and managed to bit me a couple of times before I managed to scramble to school's front steps and hide behind the guard rails. Luckily enough I was wearing my heavy winter pants, which is almost an inch thick, and escaped with only a couple of red spots on my left calf. Two days later I heard a student was attacked by another pack of dogs, so the band office decided to shoot some stray dogs yesterday. I heard some shots but cant tell how many dogs they have killed. I might find that out if I include the dump in my route tomorrow morning.

View from across the frozen river