Ice Walker

It was a cold dark and snowy morning as I embarked on my weekly Thursday treck to Tsiigehtchic. There was no traffic that morning because the ferry was pulled out of operation the weekend before. Road conditions were poor at best because of the several inches of snow on the ground, the roads were not yet graded, some unsheltered areas of the road had snow drifts and visibility was low. I was more vigilent than usual and drove slower while keeping a lookout for any four-legged creatures that may venture onto the road. To make matters worst, cell phones don't work out here and I still have summer tires on with very little tread. There are winter tires sitting in storage. It's very difficult to have your vehicle maintananced witht the closest garage in Inuvik. I tried several times to book an appointment but there always a 1 week wait. I found out everyone works on their own vehicle in McPherson. The RCMP said I could use their garage for an oil change and a local said he could change my tires but he's been out of town for a while. In case of an accident I keep an emergency kit in the back of the truck that contains items like: tire chains, shovel, candels, flashlight, blanket.

As I pulled up to the ferry crossing I notice the sign for the ferry was removed; this was not good since it was a land mark to find the off road trail to the Arctic Red River crossing. I searched on foot for a while in the cold, using the truck headlights to shed light on the situation. The posted pictures provide a visual of the trail and parking lot.

Once I parked the truck I walked to the river and to my surprize the first few meters where not yet frozen the entire length of the river! I walked for a while contemplating a return to McPherson when Ken, a teacher from Tsiigehtchic Parked his truck on the other side of the river and made his way over. He said, "You can cross over there on that log" (picture posted of the log and another picture is of Ken holding a board). He mentioned he saw the local "dance" across the log. I threw my laptop and backpack over to Ken and proceeded to use the log as a bridge to the ice. Once on the ice we had to cross one more time to make it onto land because we faced the same watery scenario on the other side of the river; it was even more trecherous. There were several square boards lined up in the icy water to get onto land. Ken said the key was to run and not walk across and to make sure my foot hit the middle of each board. As I ran across, each board dipped down into the water and then bobbled up again as my weight shifted onto another board. It felt like an obstacle course! By afternoon the boards had become more stable as ice formed around them; the video clip is from the afternoon ice walk on the return home.

In the afternoon there were many locals ice fishing and the posted picture has someone pulling a wood box on skis full of white fish. There are no contaminants in this river and so the fish is healthy and delicious. They pull the boxsled full of fish right across the semi-frozen ice and then uphill for about a km to the doorstep of their house.