Day 2 - Flying over the Tundra to Churchill / Northern Lights!
Saturday, November 9
We said good-bye to the Hotel Fort Garry and went to the Winnipeg airport, driving directly onto the tarmac to our chartered flight to Churchill. There was an issue with the plane so our departure was delayed 2 hours.
There are no roads to Churchill, only planes, trains, and ships. As we flew north, the land became more frozen and snow / ice covered. Manitoba is full of small lakes and ponds making for a beautiful landscape.
Churchill is a frontier town of 800 people, 75% of whom are indigenous. The US built an army base here in 1942 which became Royal Canadian Air Force after the war and was eventually closed. It is the longest runway in North America, and on 9/11 flights that were in the air and needed to land were routed to Gander, Newfoundland because this runway was being repaved.
We toured the “town center,” a huge building that contains the school, the library, the movie theatre, a bowling alley, an indoor playground, the gymnasium, hockey rink, recreation center, snack bar, town administrator offices, medical clinic, and probably much more! Rhonda, a local resident, shared with us about the history and culture of Churchill.
We saw a red fox walking around town in the dark after dinner. (The fox was walking, we were in our van/bus.)
Aurora Borealis
During dinner our group leader, Sarah, got a text from the other leaders saying the aurora was out! So se skipped dessert and jumped in the bus/van to drive a few minutes out of town to see them. Because there had also been polar bear sightings where we were going to see it, we couldn’t get out of the vehicle. Still it was amazing! This was the first time I’d seen them.
A few random photos from the day:
Tomorrow we’re up and out early to spend every daylight hour (all 8 of them) on the tundra looking for polar bears!