Polar Bear Alley

This is a collection of northern stories - polar bear, arctic and otherwise from Churchill, Manitoba, Canada - the polar
bear capital of the world.

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Churchill Travel Guide
Hotels in Churchill, Manitoba
Travel to Churchill, Manitoba
Churchill, Manitoba Links

Polar Bear Alley Expeditions
Polar Bears of Churchill Book
Polar Bears of Churchill Facts

Weather in Churchill, Manitoba
Tide Table for Churchill 
Churchill Aurora Forecast 

Polar Bear Photo Gallery
Beluga Whale Photo Gallery
Polar Bear News 
Polar Bear Attack Page

If you like the Polar Bear Blog, check out my first book, Polar Bears of Churchill. It combines eight years of guiding experience in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada with the latest scientific research, local history and a bit of cabin fever. Independently published. Available online for $14.95! Click BUY NOW to purchase a copy and support Polar Bear Alley!

Churchill on Hudson Bay is a mix of Churchill history and stories from the trapline. Written by longtime Churchill residents, Angus and Bernice MacIver, it is the best resource about Churchill, Manitoba available. Published by the Churchill Ladies Club. Available for $16.95

Polar Bear Blog 

Today's Blog 
Hudson Bay Quest 2007
February 15-March 19, 2007
January 14-February 15, 2007
December-January12, 2007
December 1-10, 2006
November 20-30, 2006
November 5-20, 2006
October 27-Nov5, 2006
October 19-26, 2006
October 9-18, 2006
October 1-October 9, 2006
Sept 24-October 1, 2006
Sept 15-23, 2006
Sept 1-8, 2006
August 20-31, 2006
August 8-17, 2006
August 1-8, 2006  
July 25-31, 2006  
July 18-24, 2006   
July 12-17, 2006   
July 2006   
June 2006  
May 2006 
Archived articles

Polar Bear Blog - Signs of Spring - April 15, 2007

Here are some sure signs of spring in Churchill that have shown up this weekend:

• Barren patches of tundra, even some old crowberries left over from last year (don't worry I didn't eat any).
• Water on my lake, making for a pretty nice reflection of the sunset.
• Water on the bay, a big lead (crack in the sea ice) is open north of Churchill.
• More snow buntings by the day.
• No more sun dogs. No more dogs actually (they're still around, they just don't do much - it takes a lot for Milo to get off the 'deck couch' at +7C).
• Gray Jays stealing Milo's dog food while he watches from the couch.

• Ptarmigan are claiming their territory. Male ptarmigan pick a high, noticeable spot and start calling, something like 'gaww-daww-bukkabukkabukkabukka' (kind of reminiscent of downtown Winnipeg). Anyways, they stake their claim to protect their female and her nest until some predator takes his bait: him. There was already a patch of brown feathers on his neck - soon, he will be half brown/half white and stick out like a sore them on the last remaining snowdrifts.
• Three days of south winds. No geese yet though... soon.
• Helicopters.
• 'That Bike Guy' is back. There's a guy in Churchill that religiously bicycles the length of our one highway almost everyday. Lots of people out walking as well.
• Washboard roads and the Fort Churchill washout. Every year, the higher ground of 'old Fort Churchill' military camp drains across the road to town, leaving a treacherous series of potholes.
• Seasonal workers and Churchill residents trickling back into town.
• The Open door policy at Home Hardware. A sure sign of spring is the permanently open door at the hardware store, even if it is only 2 or 3C.
• Daylight from 5am to 9pm!
• Water main breaks and flooded streets in Churchill.
• My yard is one mass of sawdust, lumber and moose bones (courtesy of Milo) melting out of the snow.
• And, of course, cabin renovations! Yesterday, we completed 90% of the running water project. As soon as the road is plowed to our house (hopefully next weekend) we can get the pump hooked up and the tank filled and then... wash our hands!

The Sink and the Gambler.

Polar Bear Blog - Et Tu Brain? - Another One for April 12, 2007

So, I was pretty excited today. My friend, Yvan, was going to come out and help me get started with the running water project tonight. I worked on the book for a while, went to town to set up some meetings and buy supplies and came back to get ready. However, I have a problem and I am ready to confess it.

I cannot stop thinking. Ever. Sometimes that is good but usually it makes life a lot more complicated. I don't finish sentences, don't start sentences, don't make facial expressions. I reply to people with blank stares or say/write something that is completely incomprehensible to anyone but me (and now possibly you). But, that's not the bad stuff, I really don't mind that, its just who I am, no, the real problem is that things just seem to leave my brain periodically. Its not that I have a bad memory, its worse. I have an erratic memory.

So... here is where all this is leading. I was waiting for Yvan and instead of just staying at home, I started thinking that maybe he wasn't coming out tonite or maybe I was supposed to call him or maybe I should go pick him up in town. So, I walked across the lake to use my neighbour's phone to see what was up.

Now, besides my erratic memory, I have another curse. Bad luck. I can say this with confidence because after two decades of a wide variety of people across Canada teling me that they have never met anyone with worse luck than me, I think its a safe statement.

Anyway, I guess while I was on the phone calling Yvan when he drove by, heading to my house. I had erased the fact that there were two roads leading into Camp Nanuq (mostly because one road leads to the 'angry' neighbour). When the call was done and he wasn't home, I visited my 'good' neighbour and watched for Yvan through the bay window. Soon, I forgot what I was doing until I saw Yvan's van drive by - on the way back to town. I chased him for a bit but it was not meant to be. Sigh.

Don't get me wrong... I'm not complaining, life's still pretty good. I'm just explaining, why there's another blog entry today.

Polar Bear Blog - Mud & Slush & Ice-Nine - April 12, 2007

So I am still slogging along through the Churchill book - actually a few of them, the history book, a guide to Kilgore Trout fishing in northern Manitoba, but mostly a photographic guide to life in Churchill - get your pre-release copy today!!! Its tentatively entitled 'Churchill: You'd Have to be Nuts to Live Here and I Can Prove It'. But, like I said, that's a working title, it will probably end up as something original like 'Polar Bear Alley'. Regardless, its quite nice so far and definitely a different kind of coffee table book...

Of course, there are almost no pictures of April in the book and that is because Churchill turned into a mud and slush hole yesterday. Yes, one giant, glorious puddle. Sunlight means melting snow and ice and melting snow and ice means mud and gravel on the streets and mud and gravel means wildflowers and migrating birds are just around the corner.

Spring is a time when the streets of Churchill pretty much consist of broken water mains, decaying piles of snow, front-end loaders and other snow removal equipmet and, finally, people. Its nice to drive into Churchill and see pedestrians again!

So, in honour of spring, and since I've been writing about wildflowers, here are a few pics of what's coming up...someday.

Churchill's great! 60,000 snow geese can't be wrong!

Fields of fireweed surrounding Prince of Wales Fort.

I would also like to mention that Kurt Vonnegut passed away today. Take a moment of silence for one of the greatest writers of the 20th century and then read some of his stuff, its very good. There is a very good quote by I'm not sure who but it describes Vonnegut pretty well, it goes, 'the most fearless thing you can do is allow someone else to misunderstand you.' As for the rest of you, go jump in the lake!

Polar Bear Blog - Geese Loom Ominously - April 11, 2007

Five days since my last blog... what happened? I am not sure, times flies when the weather is nice. And when you're writing a book or two... trying to make some sense of income tax... and shovelling a snowdrift or ten.

The other day, I was driving into Churchill, looked in my rearviews and thought that my truck was on fire. This, in itself, is not really a stretch (especially for those of you that have seen my little Ford Ranger). However, the smoke billowing from the back of my truck turned out to be something much better, dust!!! Yes, there was no snow on the road! This is a big event up here.

Still no road to my house but walking across the lake is not so bad as long as the weather is nice. Temperatures are supposed to be above normal (finally) with a high of +1C tomorrow and maybe +7C by Saturday. Snow buntings are already back and the next south wind should bring in at least a few geese, probably this weekend.

Long days of sun and nightly northern lights seem to stir your soul. An arctic spring is quite the feeling. There is a tightness in your stomach, different from the tightness in your brain of cabin fever, an undescribable, burgeoning excitement... only alleviated by... cabin renovations!

So, things look pretty good right now... shall we take bets that one more blizzard is waiting around the corner?

Polar Bear Blog - Why I Love April - April 6, 2007

April is great! The sun is shining, no wind - a perfect day for a hike along the coast, there might even be a few seals sunning themselves out on the bay. We have had some pretty good northern lights for the last few nights. Snow geese are already gathering around Winnipeg so hopefully that's a sign of an early spring - after this winter, we could use it.

A hike is also in order because I have been spending too much time inside and on this computer. I am working on, for lack of a better word, a Churchill history project - a collection of short stories about some of the people who have lived here over the years. My first story is called House of Many Colours, about Jimmy Spence. I hope to publish at least an excerpt of it in the next Hudson Bay Post (end of May).

Its a lot of fun interviewing people and getting the varying viewpoints of some of the same events and same times in Churchill's past. Its even more fun trying to wrangle an interview with a few people... 'Interview me? I don't know... how about I call you back?' - 'You don't have my phone number' - 'That's okay.' Still, I think he's going to be my best interview... eventually.

Another thing and something I probably should have figured out the first year I was here... the Churchill library has a fantastic northern section, better than most, if not all others, that I have found in my travels across our country, including journals and books by Jens Munck, Peter Freuchen, Luke 'The Arctic Fox' Foxe, etc. Once you include the Churchill archives and the MacIver's collection of rare northern books, I think you could count the Churchill northern section amongst the best in Canada.

The MacIvers were longtime community members and supporters of Churchill. They lived 15 miles up the Churchill River with a cabin and trapline along Herriot Creek. Angus first came up to Churchill in 1930 - while the Port of Churchill was still being built. Here is an excerpt from The Unbeatable Breed by Bob Lowery:

...Angus longed to see the migratory herds of caribou again. He knew they frequented the Chuchill region and he'd heard that a railway line was being built to the Hudson Bay Post.

Churchill, he decided, had to be his next destination.

He wrote the Federal Government for information of the area and for the rest of his life took a special delight in the reply he received. Churchil, replied the bureaucrat, is a place where 'no white man can live. It is nothing but ice, snow, rock and gravel.'

He reached The Pas in June, 1930 and learned that no one was allowed to ride the train to Churchill on the still under-construction Bayline without a special permit.

Undaunted, he decided to buy a ticket to Gillam and see where he could go from there.

At Gillam, someone stole some of his belongings and then set fire to the rest to cover up the theft.

Still determined to reach Churchill, Angus prevailedon the Hudson Bay Railway's district engineer to issue him a permit.

'I was the only man not working for the government to get this privilege,' he recalled. 'The courtesy was extended by the official after he was persuaded that I was neither going to open a store nor bootleg. I had business of my own, or at least plans for one. My occupation was to be trapping.'

And all you have to do to visit Churchill is buy a ticket...

Eventually, the Angus and Bernice MacIver wrote a book of their life at Herriot and the history of Churchill called Churchill on Hudson Bay. It is available at giftshops in Churchill or through this website. Its a great book and proceeds support the Churchill Ladies Club.

Polar Bear Blog - The Smartest Man in Canada - April 4, 2007

According to the CBC Test the Nation IQ Test, the smartest person in Canada is a 59 year old male living in Manitoba. He is not a morning person but is a Sagittarius. After combing his brown hair, he does things with his right hand, including curling, a favourite Canadian sport. He is the eldest of two children and enjoys meat and wine.

Well, I got 110 - so I'm dumber than the average guy in Canada but then I took it again and I got 122 so I am smarter than the average bear - I don't know what that means- but its pretty fun try it out.. Check out TEST THE NATION.

CBC IQ test? Hey c'mon, give me a break... its spring. I'm going crazy.

RIP Benjamin 'Bob' Clark

Polar Bear Blog - News from the North - April 4, 2007

I think I've used this joke before, the one that Andy the cook at White Whale Lodge used to tell...everyday... it went like this 'News from the North - dot - dot -dot - Nothing to Report - dot -dot - dot - Back to you, Lloyd' - okay, its not really a joke but I still laugh whenever I think of it. I think it was only funny because we had been locked in that lodge across the river for over a month.

But I do have something to report. Over the past couple months, I've got a few emails from people asking about the Churchill dump. Well, we finally have some news - garbage is being shipped out of there, while it is still frozen and doesn't smell so godawfullyhorrible. Now, that doesn't mean that the problem is solved, it is only going to Thompson as a stop gap measure. They actually want to close their dump as well - who doesn't really?

Regardless, its nice to see something happening. Right now, the leading solution seems to be an incinerator - I think I made fun of this option earlier but, hey, we'll take what we can get.

And more ecofreako news from the north - Leaf Rapids has banned plastic bags! Where did that come from?!? Soon,after Leaf Rapids announced their decision, San Francisco followed suit. And here, I was hoping to make Churchill into a green community and steal the spotlight - scooped again. Its a pretty smart move though - Leaf Rapids is now in the news and if they keep on going, just might be able to situate themselves as a northern ecotourism destination - probably what Churchill's tour industry should be doing instead of putting our energy into the new Destination Churchill group marketing effort. Visit the Town of Leaf Rapids website here.

Now, all we need is for Churchill's bear season to go green. Speaking of Tundra Buggy, we are sorely lacking in ecofriendliness in polar bear season. Most lunches served out on the tundra creates styrofoam and plastic waste - more than our town can handle actually. So... if you're reading this and booking a tour to see polar bears, ask your tour company for a copy of their environmental policy and find out if they still use styrofoam cups and containers on their tours. Right now, the Churchill Northern Studies Centre and Natural Habitat Adventures are leaders in 'greening' bear season but still can improve.

Ecofriendly products are available in Churchill and Winnipeg so there really is no excuse not to use them. You're paying the bill so you're the ones who can make a difference for Churchill and our polar bears. If they need help or more information on how to 'green' bear season, tell them to email Polar Bear Alley.

By the way, more pictures of the Hudson Bay Quest have been posted on this page so scroll down a bit - I will have an Hudson Bay Quest Gallery coming soon as well.

Dog sledding is truly the 'green' way to travel. Forget carbon spewing fossil fuels, this vehicle travels on seal meat! And really, what's more 'green' than seal hunting!!!

Polar Bear Blog - Why I Hate April - April 3, 2007

It's not that I don't enjoy the month of April, it is just that its split personality is kind of a tease. Because the bay is frozen and there is that 800x600km chunk of ice beside us, winter doesn't necessarily start sooner but it hangs on a lot longer.

Trouble is, there are days, as there was during the final day of the Hudson Bay Quest, when the sun is out, snow is melting and it feels like spring is early. (Hopefully, that one reporter didn't run with her 'global warming' ruins northern dog sled race...)

While you know that it won't last, each and every year you kind of let yourself believe anyway. When days like today come along, where the high is -22C and that really means -35C once you factor in windchill, you don't feel like a wood chopping god or enjoy the crunch of snow under your boots or stop to scan the sullen, if stunning, horizon. No, you just get in a bad mood and wait for this latest and hopefully last cold snap to end.

It is that time of year where a layer of ice has formed underneath the newest snow making shovelling, walking and driving that much more gruelling. The ice holds for the most part but just as you stop thinking about it, you break through the crust into a three foot drift of 'sugar snow'. Sugar snow is simply dry, powdery snow that you can't shovel, walk or drive in without it caving all back in on itself. A little like dehydrated quicksand.

Of course, with a high of -9C on Sunday, all of this will be forgotten and everyone will be in a noticeably better mood. Cabin fever will slink into the background and spring will be fun again until, that is, the next cold snap or spring blizzard.

Polar Bear Blog - Unbarren Lands - March 31st, 2007

Headed out yesterday to pick up my snowmobile north of Caribou River. The fuel pump quit working - I think there is a broken wire somewhere - and that was pretty much it for my newly repaired Arctic Cat. It was running for five days so I guess that's not bad.

We drove out by Bombardier track vehicle around 9am and got back to Churchill just before midnight. It was quite an adventure but a long day. I can tell you that I have shovelled more snow in the last week than I have in the past twelve months. After a while, it doesn't even phase you anymore - the bombardier sinks and you just grab the shovel and start digging.

Its amazing all the stuff that is out there, though. I always pictured the sea ice to be pretty desolate. I mean it is, but there is also just stuff around, we found fuel tanks, broken hitches, another Bombardier and even a brand new Ford F150 on a sled - a sign of how difficult the last few trips between Arviat and Churchill have been for northern freighters. There are cabins and lodges every 10 miles or so, in various states of repair and disrepair. Wolf tracks, fox tracks, snowmobile tracks and track tracks. Lots of stuff for a barren land.

Polar Bear Blog - I Pledge My Allegiance to Canada - March 29th, 2007

So, I finally got sworn in at the Royal Canadian Legion, Branch 227 - Churchill, Manitoba. I have been meaning to do it for about five years now and finally filled out the application AT the legion instead of taking one home losing it, forgetting about it and then getting another one in a few months and repeating the process.

There were two of us being sworn in. We pledged allegiance to Canada and said we wouldn't join any organizations that were dedicated to the overthrow of the Canadian government by force. I was a little worried about the not participating in subversive propaganda part because now I am not sure I can still publish the Hudson Bay Post - but I am scouring the Legion rules and regulations booklet to clarify that one.

It was also the first time I have sung O Canada since the Winnipeg Jets left (thanks for nothing, USA). I felt all patriotic afterwards even if I kind of mumbled some of the words, trying hard to lipread various members of the Legion executive.

Not to mention, that was the shortest meeting I have ever attended, no one complained about something that happened forty years ago AND we got a couple free drinks just for being there!!!