Tag: northerncanada

  • The Epic Klondike

    The Epic Klondike

    Tombstone Territorial Park, hiking Grizzly Creek trail, sub-Arctic landscapes, sourtoe cocktails, and northern lights, all in one day.

  • Into The Wild: Yukon

    Into The Wild: Yukon

    “No! There’s the land. (Have you seen it?)   It’s the cussedest land that I know,From the big, dizzy mountains that screen it   To the deep, deathlike valleys below.” ~Robert Service I’m back! I’m BACK! Travelling once again! At the end of August I flew north to the Yukon Territory for a holiday with my cousin. It was…

  • Return from Churchill

    Return from Churchill

    After a month in Canada’s north, I’m back home again. I took the train back from Churchill to Winnipeg (this time, the journey was far less eventful) and flew home from there. I’ve been home for a week now, enjoying temperatures in the positive degrees. Churchill was an experience unlike any I’ve had before. The…

  • The Best Things in Life

    The Best Things in Life

    The aurora & astronomy instructor at the CNSC often tells people who come up and are eager to see the northern lights: “The best things in life are worth waiting for.” When it comes to nature, is that ever true. One of the things I’ve learned throughout my travels is patience. Whether I’m waiting to…

  • Out of This World

    Out of This World

    Last Saturday we had the most spectacular show I’ve seen yet in Churchill. It started as a pretty nice aurora. Early in the evening, we had a lovely green aurora over the CNSC building: The moon was out and shining so brightly you could see people’s faces clearly. I was out taking photos, and suddenly…

  • Building for the Environment

    Building for the Environment

    I recently got to go on a “Green Building Tour” of the Churchill Northern Studies Centre, and learned a little bit about the history of the CNSC and the construction of the current building. Being uniquely located near both boreal forest and Arctic tundra habitats, Churchill attracts a large number of researchers, particularly in the…

  • Hour of the Blue Snow

    Hour of the Blue Snow

    Another thing I’ve been having fun photographing up here is the “blue hour.” At lectures, I learned that the blue hour is the period of twilight in morning or evening, when the sun is at a significant depth below the horizon and residual, indirect sunlight takes on a predominantly blue shade. The blue hour always…

  • Churchill: Town Day

    Churchill: Town Day

    I joined the learning vacationers on their town day last week. Though I’ve been enjoying my time at the CNSC, it is very isolated. The CNSC is located 23km outside of the town of Churchill, and getting to town can be a bit of a mission. Somebody at the centre likened the experience of being…

  • Focus on Stars

    Focus on Stars

    This past week and a bit, I’ve attended all of the learning vacation lectures at the CNSC and learned heaps about astronomy and the aurora. It’s something I’ve always wanted to know more about (I’ve always loved the stars), and now I know a little bit more about the science and physics behind it all.…

  • Dishwashing & Dogsledding

    Dishwashing & Dogsledding

    My first day at the centre I spent the morning learning about my role as a volunteer. Most of what I’ll be doing here is washing dishes (glamorous, I know). There’ll be the occasional odd job around the centre as well, but most of the volunteer work consists of dishwashing and helping out in the…