Silver lining

One of the negative things about my job is that I'm up working at it in the middle of the night sometimes.  The silver lining is seeing the "night" skies this time of year.  This is from a few days ago.  I'm not sure if the sun is blocked by cloud, mountain, or most likely, a bit of both, but the clouds sure were cool.  That's King George mountain.  King George V, to be specific.

Refuelling in Pond Inlet (from June 2)

On my way here, we had to stop in Pond Inlet for fuel, because the fuel truck was broken in Nanisivik (which is the airport that serves Arctic Bay; Nanisivik was a mine site and the airport was located there, with a road to Arctic Bay.)

The mountains below are on Bylot Island, which is off the upper right hand corner of Baffin Island:

From my walk this evening

My million dollar view (with bonus power lines!)

See, this is the reason I can't get too excited about the houses in Los Angeles, like the tiny beach houses, that sell for millions partly due to their "view" (in the case of the beach houses, a flat strip of sand and ocean is the view, if it's not foggy and obstructed).

Look at this.  Granted, the power utility has cruelly hung their wires in front of my window, but other than that, that's quite a view from my modest little apartment.  This was taken in the middle of the night last night, I was waiting for a medivac plane and weather was an issue.  Those pesky clouds that screw up landings sure make for some dramatic light on the mountains.  It's only semi-dark because of the weather, it's very much 24 hour sunlight here in June.

What a difference a day makes

Here's the view from my back window on Wednesday, June 2:

Here's the same view the very next day, June 3:

The weather was so bad I couldn't bring myself to open the window to take the picture!  It's still snowy but the weather is slowly improving.  It was so nice the day I arrived I'd forgotten just how frightful the weather can be in June in the high arctic.

Sylvia Grinnell Territorial Park

I went for a walk over to the territorial park here in Iqaluit this afternoon.

This first pic is from the walk on the way over, that's Frobisher Bay.  The ice at the shore is looking pretty dirty.

Here's the park entrance:

This is the trailhead.  Parts of the trail were still snow-covered, but it was thin snow and pretty well packed if you were careful to walk in someone else's footprints:

Spring runoff in one of the little streams you see all over the tundra at this time of year:

A little lake about halfway up the trail:

A view of the fuel tanks:

The little lake, from the other side:

There's a picnic table in the middle of this one below, can you see it?

View of Iqaluit with the airport in the middle ground.  That's the First Air freighter landing on the runway:

View to the north:

Hey, I saw a purple saxifrage!  Just these two, and 3 others on the verge of blooming right near them:

So that's what south Baffin island looks like at the beginning of June.  High arctic to follow soon...

View from my hotel room

I'm at the Nova Hotel in Iqaluit this time.  Here's the view from my room:

I went for a short hike at the territorial park this afternoon- stay tuned, I'll post the photos soon.

The portable life

I head to Nunavut again tomorrow.  This time, Arctic Bay for 3 months.

Arctic Bay is on the north end of Baffin Island, and is one of my favourite communities in Baffin region.  The landscapes are beautiful and varied, with lots of hiking and walking options that are easy to get to.  I don't think they get as many polar bears as most communities either, so there's the added bonus of there being less risk of being eaten while out and about.

I'm currently trying to stuff my life into one suitcase and 2 medium-large Rubbermaid tubs.  I'm pretty good at it.  I never know until the last minute whether or not I succeeded, so there's suspense, but I am optimistic that I will have pulled it off again.  Of course, it's not just stuffing the stuff into the containers, but judging the weight so that I can actually lift the darn things.

I overnight in Iqaluit on the way there, so I get to haul it all to a hotel as well (no luggage storage there, or at least there wasn't, but maybe I'll be lucky this time, but I doubt it.  In Resolute they let you just leave it in the terminal overnight, but Iqaluit usually makes you take it with you.)

I'll drop a line here from Iqaluit if I get the chance... I think my hotel has internet.  Otherwise, stay tuned, I will be no doubt taking a few pictures and posting them for your vicarious travel enjoyment.

Another big hole in the ground

This one's on Richmond Rd. too, between Island Park and Kirkwood.  Probably another condo building.

Look, a plane!

Well I thought it looked like a plane.