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.

It follows the polar bears of western Hudson Bay during their season on land from mid-July to November.

Churchill Travel Guide
Hotels in Churchill, Manitoba
Travel to Churchill, Manitoba
Polar Bear Alley Expeditions

Polar Bears of Churchill Book
Polar Bears of Churchill Facts

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

Munck's Cafe Publishing

Weather in Churchill, Manitoba

Hudson Bay Sea Ice Update

Tide Table for Churchill

Churchill Aurora Forecast

Polar Bear Blog

Today's Blog 
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 - 8:40am - November 30th, 2006

A nice red sunrise this morning, probably meaning bad weather coming from the west or something like that. The sun did not break the horizon until 8:40am and the days feel noticeably shorter each and every day now. Winter has settled over Churchill (although yesterday we were almost the hotspot in Manitoba - second only to Gillam!) and things are pretty quiet.

Not much is moving along the coast, however things are still active in the treeline. A few people a looking for moose and maybe a caribou or two right now. Most trappers have scouted their traplines, broken trails and started setting traps once again. Other folks are finalizing plans to head south for a little break after 'bear season'. December is a pretty sleepy month in Churchill, probably more activity at North River and other remote cabins than in the town itself.

Heading to Winnipeg tomorrow for the first leg of the Costa Rica trip...

Polar Bear Blog - Radio Churchill, Camp Nanuq and the Stick Bear - November 29th, 2006

Radio Churchill is back on the air! Closed for a bit due to our school renovations, its future looked a little dicey for a bit there but it is back - albeit with some hammering and power tools in the background (renovations are still underway). Radio Churchill is a holdover from military Fort Churchill (the call letters are CHFC...- Churchill CH, Fort Churchill FC) although Churchill's first radio station was set up in 1928 to guide ships into port. Not many communities of less than 1000 people can boast their own radio station, let alone one that cuts into the CBC national broadcast ( at specificially designated times of course). Today, Radio Churchill is comprised of Dave 'The Voice' Caskey and Smokin' Joe Stover although anybody can have a radio show if they want (I even had one for a bit). Welcome back!

Also, I had an email about some asking what Camp Nanuq was and thought maybe I should explain. Camp Nanuq is a cottage subdivision of Churchill although techinically it is on provincially leased land (we pay $75 per year for out lot). Located 15miles east of Churchill, there are three 'lakes' (shallow tundra ponds) and about 20 cabins and one boyscout camp at Camp Nanuq. Camp Nanuq actually gets its name from the boyscout camp itself.

Spruce Ridge, another 'cottage subdivision' lies just west of Camp Nanuq and between the two places there are just over 30 cabins in the area. Of these, four are occupied close to year-round and another 15-20 are used as weekend getaways. There is power but there is no running water, phone service or well any services. And, cabin is a loosely used term, these are true cabins not the fancy little houses that pose as cabins down south. Most of these a verging on shack as opposed to house, but they get the job done.

AND the big story for the day - the true explanation of the guy on the ice that hit the bear with the stick. This was a few blogs ago, from an Australian couple that had witnessed a close encounter. While not a braindead tourist, it was actually a redneck friend of ours that had climbed up on the ice to get a picture of the bear out on the tidal flats. It was a gun not a stick (although he has chased bears away with a stick before) and knows a fair bit about polar bears (although he still could have been eaten that day). He is going to email me some pics from that day and I'll post them when i get them. Of course, I can't tell you the whole story because its too wild and too funny and, sometimes, what happens in Churchill has to stay in Churchill!

Polar Bear Blog - Shmaperwork - November 28th, 2006

Not much to say today, immersed in spreadsheets and receipts and invoices and my giant mental block regarding numbers. All my paperwork should take about a quarter the amount of time but I end up just sitting in front of the computer staring or pacing or playing video pinball.

Or taking a late night walk. The northern lights are out almost every night now and -40 is bearable for a quick lap around Camp Nanuq even if I always seem to be walking against the wind coming home. That's it.

Polar Bear Blog - The Road is Dead, Long Live the Road - November 27th, 2006

That was a blizzard. 48 hours of snow and howling winds - at one point every window on our cabin was covered with snow. Naturally, I did not use my blizzard time constructively and instead read a book - Fred Bruemmer's memoir - Survival: A Refugee's Life - an incredible book and one I would recommend to anybody. I read all 270 pages in one day that must say something about it... or about my incredible ability to shirk responsibility - its a toss-up.

Anyway, Sunday was shovelling snow and rebuilding the winter road and shovelling snow and cutting wood and shovelling snow and napping. We started at the crack of dawn - which right now is about 7:45am - heading out to assess the damage. Luckily, the wind changed mid-blizzard, moving from the northeast to northwest and managed to undo many of the drifts it had just done. Regardless, there are a couple that just cannot be handled by human powered snow shovels. Of course, when one road closes another opens and the northwinds had swept open a couple new places on the tundra.

So, the road lives for a while longer (and hopefully the entire winter), of course it now emerges from the lake through our neighbour's yard - but that is just temporary, theoretically. I still have to find them and let them know that an ice highway now runs by their porch...

At this time next week, we should be on our way to Costa Rica!

What else? Some people were wondering about the ice map - another one of my famous - 'here's a map or a local word or saying without any explanation, now figure it out yourself' moments - but here is the explanation. The sea ice is the little red/orange line along the west coast of Hudson Bay - that represents 70-100% ice cover, grey is newly formed ice and blue still represents 'grease ice' or that soupy mixture of freezing salt water and white is open water.

Hudson Bay does not completely freeze over until mid- to late December. However, as you can see this map is dated November 20th, almost to the day that the bears left Churchill!

So, that's great right - the bears are back on the ice, feeding and cavorting and life is good. Well, almost right - the bears are back on the ice around the usual time and most should survive but it is still a challenge for them, right up until late March when seal pups are born. The vast majority of seals that polar bears eat are less than one year old and, in fact, polar bears do not hit their lowest weights until March! Not to mention, most polar bears probably spent the last few days curled up in a ball waiting out this early winter blizzard - or possibly reading a good book.

Polar Bear Blog - Blizzard - November 24th, 2006

Forecast is calling for a blizzard tonite (10-15cm of snow) and all day tomorrow (another 10-15cm) - that would be nice. The winter road is set and I can't say that the thought of being snowed in for a day or two is totally unappealing. Catch up on some work on the computer and toast the end of 'bear season' with a bit of Camp Nanuq Champagne (vodka, tonic water and Crystal Light - its actually kind of gross now that I think about it).

Just finishing up a grant application to do a Churchill Oral History project. Hopefully, it comes together - its a crazy amount of work but a pretty exciting idea - interview long-time residents and elders to make sure that the stories of Churchill are not lost. Keep your fingers crossed.

Stopped by Home Hardware today and bought a few more components for the running water crusade, now I am just trying to figure out how to get water to the house - thinking of a 100 gallon tank for the back of the truck (mostly, because I don't think the local water truck guy would be willing to drive offroad with his local water truck). I figure if I can get him to fill the tank at the beginning and end of summer and then keep it going with my own tank. My truck should be able to support the weight and hopefully my axle won't snap in half and things should work out but that is a lot of shoulds in there. Oh well, first I should actually get running water before I get too indepth. Of course, you're thinking, why is he writing this in the blog and the answer is I'm not sure.

And of course, Costa Rica is fast approaching. We head out in just over a week to Playa Nicuesa, right in the heart of the Osa Peninsula - what a crazy thought, blizzard this week, tropics the next. I should start researching and planning this a bit so the next few blogs will likely be Poison Dart Frog Blogs instead of Polar Bear Blogs. (If anyone knows of a good place to stay in Golfito, email me)

Note: Click here to see just how little ice it takes for the polar bears to leave Churchill and get back on the bay

Polar Bear Blog - The Runners - November 22nd, 2006

-30 with the windchill today, nice and cold and the wind is still relatively calm (although that is likely to change by tonight). Pretty quiet today, in terms of wildlife, a lone red fox loping along the coast.

Skies are pretty clear each night and the stars are a nice treat after six weeks of cloud cover. Which of course brings us to today's blog entry, the runners. The runners are an Inuit constellation, commonly referred to as Orion's belt. This string of three stars is believed to have been three hunters (possibly brothers) that were chasing a polar bear, gradually chased it up into the night sky and are still chasing it to this day.

As with any oral traditions, there are a few variations: the right foot of Orion is sometimes called the fourth runner - he dropped his mitt and stopped to pick it up and the collection of stars that looks like a tiny 'dipper' is sometimes mentioned as the hunters' dog team. The bear itself is the star, Aldebaran, the brightest star in the constellation of Taurus, sometimes called the Bull's Eye. Anyway, if you follow the three runners, it is up and to the right.

As to why they were chasing a bear, there are several versions depending on where you are in the arctic but my favourite is that their sister married a polar bear in human form. She lived with the bears for a while and then asked to go home to see her family. The bears agreed as long as she told no one that she lived with bears.

Of course, she told and after a fair bit of bloodshed, her brothers end up chasing her husband, the bear, up into the sky. Moral of the story (as with most Inuit legends): women are nuthin' but trouble.

The old ones were so wise...

Polar Bear Blog - Yoga Bear - November 21st, 2006

While the ice is packed in pretty good today, there are still a few polar bear tracks around and still a few bears (just heard more gunfire in town - 11:30am). Everyone's guard is down a bit now that 'bear season' is over and it is hard to remember that not every bear has headed out on the ice.

Last night, Carmen and our neighbour, Michelle, were just getting ready for the weekly yoga session at Camp Nanuq when our other neighbour's dogs, Bear and Trigger, started barking outside. Thinking that it was just Carley (the third member of Camp Nanuq YogaFest) showing up, they did not pay much attention until Carmen finally went to the window and saw a polar bear right under the window, looking up at her.

Bear and Trigger chased it under Michelle's van (it was a little bear). Of course, at the same time Carley was just arriving and thought that her dogs were just barking at Michelle's dogs until she knelt down to look under the van and found a polar bear peering back at her. Carley fired a shot and the bear took off running, luckily in the opposite direction.

Polar Bear Blog - I'm An Adult, Really - November 20th, 2006

Just a quick entry - I was updating my blogger.com site and noticed that all the entries I managed to post on it start with 'Really I'm Not Slacking' or 'I meant to update this yesterday'. Sigh, the more things change, the more they stay the same but I guess if I were not a slacker, I would probably be movin' and shakin' instead of just shakin'.

Although... I just heard that a film crew is looking for 'Extras' in Churchill next year - the only qualification? You have to be willing to have long hair and a beard!!! And to think I wasted five years on a Bachelor of Commerce when long hair was all I needed.

Incidentally, 'LongHair' is my Inuit name - Nu-yeto - something like that. My friends Peter and Mary (most Inuit have very biblical names) gave it to me because Umingmak , the word for Muskox - meaning bearded one or slow moving one or thick-skulled (depending on who you ask) was already taken. Although, I never thought to ask what the Inuktitut word was for 'He Who Cannot Hold Down a Real Job'.

Polar Bear Blog - Time Flies When You Are Shovelling Snow - November 20th, 2006

Finally getting back to the blog here - got caught up with sled dogs and snow shovels and the odd year end party (what can I say...). It was our last day at the dogyard yesterday and I am catching up on invoicing for newspapers and books today. Dragged the winter road last night - basically pulling a big steel bar and chain with the truck to break up the snow. Broke through the ice in one spot but nothing major. Hopefully it was cold enough last night (-31C with windchill) to 'set' the snow and create a good base for our road - next step... running water...

Still a lot of bears everywhere although they are heading out en masse to the ice today. My neighbour saw 18 bears between Camp Nanuq and Churchill today although most were just offshore, walking on the ice and waiting for more to form.

Still a lot of gunfire and cracker shells going off in town, in fact I just heard some at the edge of town just now. Polar bears walking around at night, during the day, on the edge of town, by the garbage cage, down the main street, you name it. Two nights ago, we watched a polar bear stand down the Polar Bear Alert officers behind the Bear Country Inn. He had gotten into a local kennel owner's supply of chicken and was not about to relinquish it. Polar Bear Alert fired every form of ammunition they had at him - cracker shells, flares and even rubber bullets, it was quite impressive. Nothing worked, the rubber bullets made him flinch a bit but then he just bluff charged right after that which as also pretty impressive.

Eventually, they pushed him away with their truck but he simply retreated into the willows. As I headed for home, it was pretty much a mexican standoff - two polar bear alert trucks on one side and the bear biding his time in the willows on the other. Of course, all of this was going down only a few hundred feet from the train station where 80 people were boarding!

Not much activity at Camp Nanuq, bears are sticking to the coast or maybe word has gotten out that it is off limits... Three days ago, Milo and MoonUnit were seen chasing off a mom and two cubs that was trying to cross the lake into the cabin area. She retreated and took the long and peaceful way around Camp Nanuq Cottage Subdivision.

And... one more bear story, this one from an Australian couple that were out and about. They were driving a rental truck along when they saw someone standing out on a huge chunk of ice, watching the sea ice and taking some pictures I suppose. They thought he's a bit far from his truck if there are any bears around. Lo and behold, a bear comes trotting up to the ice floe and the person and tries to climb aboard. The tourist ended up hitting the bear on the nose with a stick or tripod or something. The bear retreated about 30m or so and the person hopped down and walked back to their vehicle.

This is a pretty dangerous time in Churchill right now, lots of bears that are anxious and excited about returning to their hunting grounds, mix in the odd braindead or simply unlucky person and life could get fairly interesting. Lucky for us, these bears have been coexisting with this community and its tourists for over thirty years and their tolerance level is pretty high.

So, provided that no one gets eaten in the next day or two, this should go down as one of Churchill's best 'bear seasons' yet. One driver for Great White Bear Tours counted 58 bears in one day - crazy! But what's even crazier is that I might actually get my internet connection back up on Tuesday - and complete the updates that I was going to post at the start of 'bear season'!