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