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| Our plane docked at the NorthWright Terminal |
We had a relaxing morning, knowing that the flights to Tuktoyaktuk, only leave at 4 PM. Around noon we went to the tour office to book, because the weather was fabulous. When we arrived, the tour operator informed us they were not doing the 4 pm tour because someone had reserved the plane to go to Hershel Island and Tuktoyaktuk. He said there were two seats available and that he could discount it for us if we wanted to go. After some discussion, we ended up getting the tour that costs three times as much for the price of a flight to Tuck tour. We rushed back to camp, walked Tico and made sandwiches, for our 8-9 hour float plane tour of the Artic.
Thirty minutes later we joined Nan & Mike and boarded a Cessna for Tuktoyaktuk. The scenery was amazing. The plane flew low over the Mackenzie River Delta which split into thousands of channels before finally flowing to the Beaufort Sea.
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| Mckenzie Delta |
The Mackenzie is navigable for 5 months of the year, in the winter parts of it form the ice roads.
The large marshy delta of the Mackenzie River provides habitat for several migrating birds, The estuary is a popular birthing area for Beluga whales.
The Delta is one of the largest in the world. Visually it is amazing from the air. The numerous channels, lakes, intermingled with the arctic ocean water. I have never seen anything like it before. I thought I was watching an episode of planet earth.
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| Pingo - near Tuk |
As we get closer to Tuk, we start to spot Pingos.
Near Tuktuyaaqtuuq (Inuit spelling) is the Pingo National Landmark.
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| Largest Pingo in Canada & second largest in the world |
A pingo, is a mound of earth-covered ice found in the Arctic and subarctic. Tuktoyaktuk has one of the highest concentrations of pingos, with some 1,350 examples. Nan and Mike, our travelling partners were retired geologist who were very excited about seeing and getting to stand on a Pingo.
It is amazing the things you learn while travelling. I had never even heard of a Pingo before.
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| Tuk from the air on approach |
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| approaching Tuktoyaktuk |
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| Landing on Artic Ocean by Tuk |
After visiting the Pingos, Eileen our Inuit tour guide takes us around town and showed us the community freezer. Now this is community spirit and smart thinking. They build this community freezer, under ground in the permafrost. Above you just see a shed; once the door opens there is a hole in the ground with a ladder that you climb done.
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| Ladder down into the Community freezer, not the ice is not far down |
Just as we enter the freezer, Eileen’s cell phone rings, it is the pilot, we need to leave asap, and he does not like the wind that has come up. So we do not get to climb down the ladder into the freezer. Eileen tells us, it has hallways with 18 separate rooms.
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| Tuktoyaktuk, NWT |
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| Eileen showed up how the nursing station, funeral home & cemetary are next to each other.. They have a doctor, dentist and Optomistrist, that come four times a year |
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| Sod home Eileen's dad built, used to be their homes before 'whiteman' |
Eileen had talked a bit about the culture. Her husband is a trapper. The town residents still hunt beluga whale. The first one of the season was caught the day before. She explained the process of how the whale is prepared to preserve for the whole winter. There is no bag limit, and everyone shares their catch with the community, especially the elders and single mothers. They also hunt caribou but only eat it raw, after it has been frozen. Most other supplies come to Tuck on a barge while the Mackenzie is not frozen. After that they have to wait for the ice road to freeze, so they can drive to Inuvik to get what they need. I wish we had more time with Eileen and would have learnt more about their culture, but I completely understand the pilot making our safety a priority. We take off on rough choppy seas and head to Herschel Island.
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| Sickle Point between Tuk and Herschel |
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| Colby our pilot checking the map, for Herschel Island. Really! |
We fly along the northerly most coasts of NWT and then Yukon. We see a lot of ice break ups, and hundreds of small pieces floating around. The pilot had informed us that it was not for certain we would be able to land, because they had received earlier reports of glaciers floating near Herschel.
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| Ice breaking up in the Artic Ocean |
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| Safely landed by Herschel Islan |
Luck is on our side, and as we approach the island the Bay is clear of ice. Once we touch down the pilot says, since we are the first visitors on the island this year, the dock is not there yet, so it will be a bit tricky to get on shore. Great, as if this thing was easy to climb in and out of when there was a dock. I could already see myself fall into the Artic ocean. My fears were not realized, and I made it on shore dry and intact.
We walked around the island and saw lots of evidence of musk ox, but none in sight; however we did spot a caribou.
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| Henry looking for musk-ox on Herschel Island |
Artic tundra flowers were starting to bloom. There is no
bedrock core to the island. The island is subject to very high rates of coastal erosion due to the ice-rich nature of the underlying
permafrost, and its surface heaves and rolls down, making for very difficult walking on the bumpy surface.
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| Wood drifted on shore at Herschel Island ( in a tundra) |
The patches of cotton grass is very often surrounded by water, from snow having melted but not able to seep into the ground. The vegetation is Artic tundra, not a single tree. It was an amazing place, so remote, so north.
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| Houses left behind by early settlers |
We found two abandon cabins, collapsing, with flowers growing on the sod roofs. The island has no inhabitants, but used to. There is evidence of inhabitants, dating back 1000 years. In the late 19
th century there was a population of 1500 who came due to the whaling industry. There once was a missionary, Hudson’s Bay Post, RCMP, but the last resident left the island in 1987.
During the planning of this trip, Henry kept saying he wanted to dip his feet in the Artic Ocean. Well he got to do it twice on this day; once at Tuck and then again at Herschel Island.
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| Cleanest and coldest feet on the flight |
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| Our plane waiting for us at Herschel Island |
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| Coast of Yukon on flight back |
We climbed back on board our float plane and marvelled at the scenery on our return flight. I do not know where those nine hours went, it all passed so fast.
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| Yukon Coast, with Richarson mountains in distance |
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| Mackenzie Delta in sight again |
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