'On The Land' in the High Arctic

from the Ray I. Doan Photographic Collection

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My Grizzly Bear Insurance.

Chapter 3

We woke in morning to ice fog, so we weren't going anyplace until the fog lifted. All of the tall grass on the nearby hill was covered with a thick layer of frost making a pretty scene. I announced that I was going for a walk to take some pictures. Gus told me not to go anyplace without a rifle because I could easily walk into a Grizzly Bear in the fog. He decided to come with me, so I had my first ever photo session with an armed guard.

The fog starting lifting about noon so they took down the tent and starting loading the sleds. Fog is common in the spring because the ice is starting to break up on the Arctic Ocean. This exposes the cold ocean water to the warmer spring air and that often creates fog. The fog continued to lift until we left at 2PM and then it started to settle in again.

Our route took us all the way to the end of Liverpool Bay where we 'climbed up' on the land and crossed over the Nicholson Peninsula to Wood Bay. Earlier there had been discussion among the Eskimos about where they should 'climb up'. I didn't know what this meant until we did it and then I learned it means just what it says. We climbed up from the sea ice onto the tundra that was 15 to 30 foot higher than the bay. The problem is there are just a few places where you can climb up. In most places there is either a sheer cliff or high hills too steep to climb in a skidoo.

On Wood Bay we had an 11 mile crossing, again over awful pressure ridged sea ice, to the tiny abandoned hamlet of Stanton. Two interesting things happened on Wood Bay. The first was the sky kept lowering and when I looked north toward the Arctic Ocean it was an unending white scene. The white snow covered ice leading up to an almost equally white sky. It was such an usual scene I stopped and set up the panoramic camera and had Willie take a picture of me against this all white background.

The second interesting thing was when I learned what that white sky was all about. It was snowing. As soon as we hit the snow storm, it was white out big time. I was following about 30 feet behind Gus and I had no idea where I was going. I couldn't see even the huge bumps, and I was bouncing all over the place, but I was afraid to slow down and lose sight of Gus. He was almost out of sight already and I very much didn't want to get lost in those conditions. I assumed, and hoped, Gus knew where he was going, because I certainly couldn't tell where we were. I felt like we were driving around inside a huge ball of cotton candy. It was not a pleasant sensation.

Abandoned Catholic Church at Stanton.

We drove out of the snow storm just before we hit the shoreline at Stanton. We stopped and cooked a very late lunch, over driftwood, in front of an abandoned catholic church. There had been three or four families that used to live in tiny cabins near the church. They moved away in the 1950's when the DEW Line was constructed, for the high paying jobs that became available elsewhere. The church was abandoned after they left. The cabins had all been torn down and used for firewood, but the church building was still in surprisingly good shape. It was the first and only building we seen since we left Tuktoyuktuk.

From Stanton we continued on about 13 miles, along the eastern shore of Wood Bay, to the mouth of the Mason River. We got there about 9PM and setup camp on a three or four mile long sand and gravel spit that was about a 100 feet wide. We were now 130 miles east of Tuktoyuktuk, and at our base camp for the great Musk Ox hunt. About 10PM a strong west wind came up and it started to snow. Both Willie and Gus were semi concerned about this change in the weather. They said all blizzards started with a west wind, and spring blizzards were common. They asked me how flexible my travel plans were, which was not a question I wanted to hear.

When we went to bed they seemed even more concerned about Grizzly Bears than they had the night before. This kind of talk, to a Florida tourist, does not contribute to a sound sleep. When we got up in the morning it had snowed enough to cover the ground, but no blizzard. The wind was down and it was much colder. We were going to leave the tent and one sled at the base camp. Gus and Willie packed the second sled with emergency supplies.

The emergency supplies consisted of a second tent, gasoline, food, SSB Radio, guns, blankets, stove and some spare clothes. The High Arctic is a place that it pays to be careful. We left at 11AM and Gus told me we would be seeing signs of Musk Ox by 1PM. Our travels were all across the tundra which was a much rougher ride than our previous rough rides on the sea ice. In addition to having to hang on to my skidoo for dear life, I was having problems seeing due to the long fur on the hood of my borrowed Eskimo parka.

My parka had a hood ringed with very long wolf fur. I had learned, it was an absolute must, to have this fur around my face when I was driving the skidoo in really cold weather. I had tried driving with the hood pulled back, but my face got so cold I was afraid of getting frost bite. It was amazing how much warmer I was, with that ring of fur around my face. But, the wolf fur was so long it kept getting in my eyes. Between the rough ride and fur in my eyes I wasn't traveling fast enough to suit Gus.

Willie boiling coffee.

By 1:30PM we'd seen no sign of Musk Ox and Gus decided he'd scout on ahead, by himself, so he could run around faster. I and Willie were to wait down in a small valley. Gus said he'd be back within two hours, so Willie said we'd expect him by 4PM. We went down in the valley, and Willie unloaded the sled and turned it on its side for a wind break. The supplies the Eskimos carry have an emphasis on survival rather than comfort so the only thing to sit on was a tarp spread on the frozen tundra. We took my red skidoo and parked it on top of the hill, so Gus would be able to find us when he returned.

We had lunch and 4PM came and went without a sign of Gus. I had visions of us searching for Gus and I thought to myself, well simple, we'll just follow his tracks and find him. At 4:15PM Gus came driving over the hill. Gus told us the snow ran out five miles ahead. He had seen no sign Musk Ox, and on the bare ground, he said he'll never see any. It was also snowing lightly which cut the visibility to about half a mile. Gus said this made it almost impossible to spot the dark brown Musk Ox, on the bare dark brown tundra.

Gus also told us his skidoo was overheating, because he was driving over so much bare ground, and that he couldn't find find his tracks on the bare ground to follow back to camp. He said he was getting very nervous, when the skidoo starting acting up, because he had no emergency supplies and he knew we wouldn't be able to find him with no tracks to follow. So much for my view of the situation.

Gus and Willie decided we'd have to look for Musk Ox up along the Mason River, since there was snow in that area. Gus walked up the hill to bring down my skidoo and it took him ten minutes to get it started. It had a hand pull starter and I was glad it was him, rather than me, doing all the pulling. We were all relieved when it finally started and he brought it down the hill and turned it off while they reloaded the sled. When I tried to restart my skidoo, I yanked the starter and then the cord wouldn't rewind. That involved a half hour of repair work, and was a portent of worse things to come.

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This page was last updated: March 15, 2008