We started out day with breakfast and our morning departure to Wapusk Adventures and our dog sledding adventure. Dave, the owner, met us and gave us some background information about him and his life in Churchill. He was so interesting to listen that I would have liked more time there! They have 47 dogs and almost all of them are rescue dogs! After an introduction to dogsledding, we met a couple of his dogs, then outside to give it a try! There were four sleds, so Tobey and I were in the second group to go. The first group was off and running so while we waited, our shuttle driver, Bob, gave Tobey some bird feed and one of the gray jays came swooped in and ate from his hand. Pretty fun!
Our turn was next. I sat in the front, Tobey stood on the second runner which also had a seat, and our musher was in the back.
Tobey and I took advantage of the beach chairs to “chill” for a while!
From Cape Merry we attended an interesting presentation at Polar Bears International by a post-doc student from Ireland who is studying the caloric intake and expenditure of polar bears while they are off the ice. (summer season) We have learned so much about the bears while we have been here!
We passed Churchill’s weather station, too!
And soon it was too dark to see any more bears, but the sun setting over Hudson Bay was spectacular!
We enjoyed a lovely dinner, spent time on the back deck looking at the stars and watching the moon rise over the tundra lodge. Our group on this trip has been amazing and we've enjoyed meeting everyone and getting to know them.
It was really fun! Here is a link to the start of our "I Did A Mile" ride. https://youtu.be/_dYHMhxbFOk
Our lead dogs did not want to follow her instuctions at one of the turns, so we ended up staying in the third position instead of passing one of the other sleds!
The picture below is Dave, the owner and our musher. She came from New Zealand and loved it here and stayed.
Our lead dogs did not want to follow her instuctions at one of the turns, so we ended up staying in the third position instead of passing one of the other sleds!
The picture below is Dave, the owner and our musher. She came from New Zealand and loved it here and stayed.
Our lead dogs – one is 13 years old and the other is just a puppy!
After our “I Did A Mile” run, we had a small wrap up session before heading out.
On the way back to town, we spotted a red fox. He was running down the road then crossed back and forth a few times. Miranda and Krista have called them a “Cross Fox” because they are a mix between a red fox and a silver fox.
Back in town, a couple of the women went off to do a helicopter excursion while the rest of our group went out to Cape Merry. It is now part of the Parks Canada system so we had an interesting guide who gave the history of the fort and some fun stories of settlers in the area. The fort and Cape Merry are located where the Churchill River enters into Hudson Bay. It dates back to 1717 when the Hudson Bay Company began construction of its fur trading post. The Prince of Wales Fort is located on the peninsula across from the battery where we were standing.
Because there are bears in the area, the park systems has two armed spotters that are out when people visit the site. We heard shots in the distance so that meant that somewhere nearby a bear had been spotted and was being scared off.
After our “I Did A Mile” run, we had a small wrap up session before heading out.On the way back to town, we spotted a red fox. He was running down the road then crossed back and forth a few times. Miranda and Krista have called them a “Cross Fox” because they are a mix between a red fox and a silver fox.
Back in town, a couple of the women went off to do a helicopter excursion while the rest of our group went out to Cape Merry. It is now part of the Parks Canada system so we had an interesting guide who gave the history of the fort and some fun stories of settlers in the area. The fort and Cape Merry are located where the Churchill River enters into Hudson Bay. It dates back to 1717 when the Hudson Bay Company began construction of its fur trading post. The Prince of Wales Fort is located on the peninsula across from the battery where we were standing.
Because there are bears in the area, the park systems has two armed spotters that are out when people visit the site. We heard shots in the distance so that meant that somewhere nearby a bear had been spotted and was being scared off.
Tobey and I took advantage of the beach chairs to “chill” for a while!
From Cape Merry we attended an interesting presentation at Polar Bears International by a post-doc student from Ireland who is studying the caloric intake and expenditure of polar bears while they are off the ice. (summer season) We have learned so much about the bears while we have been here!
We passed Churchill’s weather station, too!
After lunch we had a couple hours of free time so Tobey and I took a walk around town. We stopped back at the train station to look at more of the displays the park service has there. We took some pictures of the murals around town and did a little shopping.
In 2017, the town planned a huge mural project called SeaWalls Churchill. The intention was to educate and inspire the community to protect the oceans. It turned into something much bigger. In 2017 two powerful March blizzards contributed to extreme flooding which destroyed a huge section of the railway line that leads to Churchill. Many of the supplies and equipment that was supposed to be used for the project were unable to reach Churchill. The community figured out a way to make it happen anyway. The murals spans 30 km (18.5 miles) along the Hudson shore. We had the opportunity to see some of them.
In 2017, the town planned a huge mural project called SeaWalls Churchill. The intention was to educate and inspire the community to protect the oceans. It turned into something much bigger. In 2017 two powerful March blizzards contributed to extreme flooding which destroyed a huge section of the railway line that leads to Churchill. Many of the supplies and equipment that was supposed to be used for the project were unable to reach Churchill. The community figured out a way to make it happen anyway. The murals spans 30 km (18.5 miles) along the Hudson shore. We had the opportunity to see some of them.
At 4:00 we headed out for our last tundra visit to see the sunset and maybe the aurora borealis. We didn't know if we would see any bears or other wildlife. Our good fortune continued! We saw a single bear and then around the corner was a mother and cub! It was so cool.
Out in the rover I was still beaming from everything we had seen so far.
We could look across the bay and see the town of Churchill. The tall buildings are the grain elevators at the port.
The bears somehow knew that we were not ready to say goodbye and we were lucky enough to have a few more wander by the rover.
Out in the rover I was still beaming from everything we had seen so far.
We could look across the bay and see the town of Churchill. The tall buildings are the grain elevators at the port.
The bears somehow knew that we were not ready to say goodbye and we were lucky enough to have a few more wander by the rover.
We did get a little video of another bear that was heading back out toward the water. It's a bit dark, but still fun to see! https://youtu.be/jDIcXhqYjEI
And soon it was too dark to see any more bears, but the sun setting over Hudson Bay was spectacular!
We enjoyed a lovely dinner, spent time on the back deck looking at the stars and watching the moon rise over the tundra lodge. Our group on this trip has been amazing and we've enjoyed meeting everyone and getting to know them.
We didn't see the aurora borealis, but we wanted to think the light clouds could MAYBE have been some of those northern lights! Not really, but that means we will have to plan another trip!
We ended our evening and headed back to the hotel around 8:30. This is our last night in Churchill and it has been absolutely amazing.
We ended our evening and headed back to the hotel around 8:30. This is our last night in Churchill and it has been absolutely amazing.
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