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High Temperature
2
Low Temperature
-34
Sky currently covered by Northern Lights: 71%
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Lesson
Plans | |
| |  | Tent
Talk
Listen
to today's Audio Update!
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Daily
Dilemma |
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| Munchkin, our oldest
dog, seems to be losing weight, despite our efforts to give her extra food each
night. Do you have any suggestions on how we might fatten Munchkin up again?
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Click
to learn more about Daisy
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Our
trip from Oxford House to our current, somewhat unknown, location has been fantastic.
A huge range of travel conditions, interesting camps, sky-filling northern lights,
friendly trappers, and a variety of animal encounters have provided us with vivid
experiences around every bend. We have often exclaimed, "Too bad Dylan and
Andrew aren't here--they would love this." Two nights ago, a strong,
cold wind began to blow off of Hudson Bay. By the morning the full brunt of the
storm was churning Bear Lake into a giant milkshake of blowing snow. | 
Click
Image To EnlargeThe dogs enjoyed the day as much as we did. "Lost?
Who really cares? As long as I'm out running today, and I'll get fed tonight,
I don't care where we are!" says Munchkin. |
Click
Image To EnlargeThe dogs gobble up the fish that Edwin gave them. While
we have to scurry behind snow drifts to keep out of the cold, the dogs just turn
their back to the bitter wind and stick it out. It seems that no matter how cold
it gets, the dogs never get sick of exploring the boreal forest. | Originally,
we had planned to follow the Carrot River to Cross Lake. But after talking with
locals in Oxford House, we decided to take a longer route through Bear Lake instead,
because this route keeps us primarily on lakes and rivers, which is what YOU,
"the voters," told us to do. Unfortunately, we did not purchase maps
of the Bear Lake area in Winnipeg and we could not find any detailed maps of the
area in Oxford House. So, to make a long story a little shorter, we headed west
on Bear Lake into a white out guided by directions given to us over the phone
by a local trapper we have never met and a few carefully folded pieces of 8 1/2
by 11 paper that contained Xerox copies of sketches of the next 50 miles of our
route. |
The
storm intensified as we headed out onto the 20-mile-long main body of Bear Lake,
and we spent the whole day skiing through the storm. Every hour, we would try
to find shelter from the wind behind an island where we could break out the "maps"
and try to assure ourselves that we were heading in the right direction. As
dusk approached, it stopped snowing, and the visibility improved enough for us
to make out landmarks several miles away. We were confident that we were still
heading in the right direction and hurried into the bush to set up camp out of
the teeth of the storm. We found a clearing twice the size of our tent in a thick
stand of black spruce and quickly set up camp. There were snowshoe hare tracks
everywhere, but we were too tired to set any snares and quickly fell asleep. | 
Click
Image To EnlargeAdam uses an ancient navigational aide. Actually, it's
a trap set under the ice next to a beaver lodge. |
| The morning brought calm, sunny
weather, which held for the whole day. Within 5 minutes of leaving camp, we found
the snowmobile trail that William Muswagon, a trapper from Cross Lake, had told
us about over the phone. We sped along the packed trail following the Mahigan
River. We often encountered signs of otter and mink where the moving water caused
thin ice and the river was lined with beaver lodges. Around noon the trail left
the river to circumvent a section of bad ice. Adam spotted a spruce hen and the
hunt was on! Left: Edwin shows off his prize otter with will fetch approximately
$200 US on the fur market. |
| Adam
loaded our trusty BB gun with seven BBs while I kept an eye on our quarry. It
was my turn to shoot and I carefully crept closer to the bird before lining up
for a shot. Adam began to question my marksmanship after I took seven shots without
causing the bird to stir. Adam reloaded the gun and crept in close to try his
luck. We soon realized that we were hitting the bird with our BB's but they were
not hurting the bird one bit. Adam hit the bird three times in the body and twice
in the head and the bird didn't even fly away, let alone drop to the ground. As
Adam returned to the sled for a third round of BBs, the spruce hen took flight.
We chased it through the woods and were able to get close enough for a shot several
more times, but our BBs had no effect. In the end we had to cash in our chips
and continue on birdless. | 
Click
Image To EnlargeEdwin explains how he used to feed his dog teams fish
back in the day. "These big dogs need fish" he exclaimed. |
Click
Image To EnlargeWe pulled into camp tonight after the sun had set and
were only able to find the cabin we are staying in by following the trail with
our headlamps. | As darkness began to fall we spotted
a cabin and headed in hoping to find a comfortable place to spend the night. As
I skied up the trail to the cabin a man on a Skidoo came motoring along the trail.
He went by with out acknowledging my presence and stopped about 20 feet away to
go into a building. He passed us several more times with out acknowledging us
and left us a bit puzzled. Finally, we decided to ski right up to the cabin and
introduce ourselves. Edwin, a trapper from Cross Lake, proved to be a cheerful,
interesting fellow once he warmed up to us. He greeted us as we are often greeted,"I
haven't seen a dog team in a long time!" |
We
soon found ourselves sitting in his cabin talking and soaking in the warmth. After
a few minutes I turned my head and realized there was a half frozen beaver that
Edwin had trapped that day hanging on the wall about 10 inches from my face. He
told us about all the different animals in the area and then hurried outside to
give our dogs some fish.
Soon Edwin's nephew and son came roaring up
on Skidoos and joined the party. They invited us to stay at their camp about 5
miles away after chatting for a few minutes and we headed off racing the coming
darkness. It was pitch black when we reached the camp and we were only able to
find it by following the Skidoo trail with our headlamps. However, as we rest
our tired muscles in the warmth of this tidy little cabin, I know it was well
worth the extra effort. The mercury has plunged to -34 F outside, and the northern
lights are pulsing across the whole sky. Dylan and Andrew....we wish you were
here! Keep exploring!
Dave | 
Click
Image To Enlarge
This photo does not do the northern lights we have
been seeing justice, but it is the best our camera can do! This week has been
great for watching the northern lights dance across the horizon. What causes northern
lights? Do some research and see what you come up with.
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