So, for my MOST INCREDIBLE EXCELLENT ADVENTURE this year my Gramma took me up to Churchill, Manitoba with my Aunt and Uncle to see the Polar Bears. Churchill is the staging ground for the majority of the polar bears that live in the Hudson Bay region as they wait for the pack ice to form. The current in the Hudson Bay travels counter clockwise and because of Churchill’s location and the geography of the land, the ice that forms in the fall first builds up right at Churchill so the Polar Bears stage there while they wait for the ice to form so they can later head out to make their living on the ice.
Churchill, by air, is about 2.5 hours north of Winnepeg and about 52 hours north by train. The train travels VERY slowly because the land is so spongy that when/if they go to fast, the tracks vibrate out of align and they get derailments. There are no roads into Churchill.
So, we flew to Winnepeg to meet up with the tour group my Gramma had signed us up with. We had a one day tour of Winnepeg planned as part of the whole tour group trip. It was interesting but kind of reaffirmed why I’m not a huge fan of “organized group” trips. IMO they planned too much in one day. They wanted to give us an overview and let us get a feel for the city, which is neat for sure, but there were so many things I wanted to spend some time at, like the big city park (1100 acres) on the Assiniboine River (all sorts of gardens there and we got 15 minutes to spend there), or the Museum of Man and Nature (which what I saw was neat as hell, but again we had a limited amount of time there). We also visited the Legislative Building and the Church in the French Quarter of town (which for the life of me I can’t recall the name) that burnt down in the late 60’s. So, the thing that stuck MOST with me about Winnepeg, because this was something I could do most everywhere we stopped, was that many of the buildings there are built with Limestone. Limestone has lots of fossils in it, so you can often find those fossils in the walls of the buildings throughout the city. And look I did. That kept me quite occupied throughout the tour. It was a neat tour and the day couldn’t have been more perfect for it, but too much was crammed in in one day which I think was a shame. Oh well. That night at dinner though the tour leaders let us know that there are Polar Bears being seen up there, Northern Lights and there was some rumor of some Belugas still being around so we were all super excited about the coming morning and our next leg of our adventure.
So the next day we flew to Churchill. We got there mid morning. I had a window seat so that I could hopefully get a view of the Hudson Bay and maybe spot from the air a Beluga, or see some caribou on the ground. Unfortunately we were blessed with a super cloudy, somewhat bumpy ride until we were about 200 feet above the ground and I got to see the ponds that were everywhere, the little spruce trees and the red and brown vegetation everywhere. We got off the plane, got our bags, deposited our check in stuff in the baggage truck the tour company we were signed up with brought for our luggage and climbed into the school bus painted green. We were with North Star Tours in Churchill and stayed at the Polar Inn, which was a very nice hotel. North Star Tours is a family run business and Mark, our guide around town took us from the airport straight to jail.
The Polar Bear Jail that is.
Right near the airport, it’s the jail for holding Polar Bears that get too interested in town or people around town, or cause problems in town. They hold them for 30 days, without food as they don’t want the bears to associate food with humans, then drug them and fly them by helicopter at least 60 miles away and tag them, then release them. The facility can hold 32 and we were told there were 19 inmates at the time.
When a bear becomes a nuisance bear, they set traps out for them.
And they are big traps. There is food put at the front of the trap and when the bear starts messing around with the food in it, it trips the release mechanism which causes the guillotine door to drop and voila, you’ve got canned polar bear.
Mark did tell us that the bears that are in the jail are predominately repeat offenders, multiple repeat offenders. The folk who move the bears haven’t decided if the bears like the drugs more or the helicopter rides but they keep coming back for more.
From there we moved on and went driving around looking to find us a polar bear to observe prior to lunch. We drove some back roads and Mark got his binoculars out and said there’s some bears over there. Thankfully I thought enough to bring my binoculars so I could look through the window and see what he’s seeing. He let us off the bus to get pictures. Steve left all his camera equipment here when he left FL so that I could take it with me on my trip, so I at least had some great equipment (especially compared to my camera that I don’t like) to take pictures and when looking through the view finder, this is what I see:
When I was getting ready for the trip it never occurred to me that I might see a momma bear and a cub, but there they were. Many pictures were taken by many folk, and my gramma was tickled to see how far the camera I brought could “reach out” and see. She did enjoy seeing the bears closer up, even if they weren’t a clear picture. And HEY WE SAW BEARS!
So, off we headed towards town for lunch. Along the way we saw one wandering the beach but he wasn’t cooperative enough to smile for the camera.
Our spirits were high and our excitement unable to be contained. First hour there and we’d seen three bears, even though it wasn’t close. The trip wasn’t a bust. Plus, those bears were the first bears that I have had any real look at in the wild. First bear that wasn’t behind bars I’ve seen is a Polar Bear. How cool is that?
We have some time to kill that afternoon so my family and I wander the town. It’s a nice afternoon and as it’s situated right on the Hudson Bay, I find myself wandering over there. I can’t ignore the allure of water, especially new and foreign water. Plus I love wandering the beach and finding new shells and rocks and things on the beach. We head that direction and I’m met with these signs, posted every couple hundred yards or so.
But it is too gorgeous a day not to enjoy the beach, even if for just a moment. The Hudson Bay is like glass and so serene. Eiders are 15 yards off the beach and the little ripples that pass for waves barely make a sound as the break on the sand. But that was not to last.
The next day was our first trip out in the Tundra Buggys. Those are some NEAT vehicles. The tires are taller than me, there is a full size propane fireplace inside, seating for 40, a bathroom and a big observation deck on the back.
We were out all day, foggy foggy day. The landscape so different, beautiful but so very very different from anything I’ve ever seen before. When we were close enough we could see the Hudson Bay. We saw 3 arctic foxes (and I just couldn’t get over how little they are), about 150 willow ptarmigan, ducks and geese, and a couple of showshoe hares. Pretty good day, but we were looking forward to seeing a polar bear.
Without snow on the ground those white birds and almost white foxes were pretty noticeable. Kevin, our Tundra Buggy guide, said the snows are coming a little later and the ice is forming later in the fall so the bears are showing up later. We’re there early he says, though there are bears around, just not very many at all. Makes sense but still a little disappointing. But that’s ok. I added some new species to my list of neat things I’ve seen.
The next day we had some nasty weather. We woke up and the snow was just beginning to fall. Shortly though, it was being blown sideways with steady 45 mph winds and with gusts much higher sometimes. Mark took us on a tour of the town and surrounding area. We went to a spot that I’m sure is likely a gorgeous place when it’s not blowing like a frozen tropical storm, but we couldn’t see much there. The spot was Cape Merry, where the Churchill River dumps into the Hudson Bay. He let us out, those that wanted to brave the elements and my gramma and I went out. She wanted a picture that showed she was out there. She demanded I HURRY UP and get the photo as she tried not to get blown over by the wind before she got back on the bus.
As I said, the tranquility of the Hudson Bay didn’t last.
EASY 10 foot waves out there just pounding the beach and the rocks. I went out and stood on the hill that overlooked both water bodies and lordy was it cold. And I had a hard time staying upright with some of the gusts.
Everyone was once again waiting on me to get back so I headed back. We continued the tour and we passed the grain loading station. Churchill is actually a seaport as well. It is the only river in the Hudson Bay system that is deep enough for large ocean going vessels without having to be dredged out. It’s also a central location. Grain that is grown and harvested in central Canada is about $0.25 cheaper per bushel to ship out of Churchill than it is to send it down the St. Lawrence and out of the Eastern seaboard when shipping grain to Europe and Africa. So they ship a good bit of grain out of Churchill. They don’t import though. But there’s a good deal of chaff that is released so of course you find some that refuse to leave until the food is truly all gone.
I was quite content to spend the afternoon all bundled up inside staying warm. The storm cleared up a bit though by the time dinner time came, it was no longer snowing. Blowing like a banshee still though so it was an interesting walk through town to get to the restaurant for dinner. Gramma let me taste some of her caribou that she ordered. Delicious. I ordered musk ox. Interesting texture but really quite delicious.
So the next day dawned clear and we had our last trip on the Tundra Buggys. We were excited as the weather had broken but a little worried our first looks at polar bears would be the ones we had the first day and we wouldn’t get any better shots. Off we headed to go find our prey. We found 5 ptarmigan and it was getting close to lunch time and we’d been out for 4 hours already. Kevin asked if we were up for a little adventure as he was planning on taking us off the normal routes to head off to an area he hasn’t had to go to for 20 years to find a bear. We’ll go through the willow swamp. We don’t drive on the willows, we have to navigate around them. He says that in the wind like it is (it was still blowing about 25 mph steady) that many times bears and other critters will just curl up in the lee side of the willows or big boulders to stay out of the wind but bears will hear the buggy driving through and it’s not uncommon for them to poke their heads up to see what is that thing harshing their mellow. So we were driving about an hour when my uncle yells BEAR!
And this is all we see
I tell ya, to say the mood in the buggy changed is an understatement. It went from a sense of worry and dread and a little bit of despair to think we’d come all this way and we might not get to see one close up to excitement in a blink of an eye. We of course all take LOTS of pictures. Kevin says ok what we’re going to do is wind our way over there and see if we can creep up and not scare him away so that perhaps we can get a closer look. The bear graces us with another look as we get closer.
As we creep closer clearly he has decided we aren’t worth getting up out of his spot for and moving.
We decide that that spot is as great a spot as any to have lunch so out comes the soup and sandwiches, cameras of course at the ready. At some point he decides he ought to get up and see what that interesting smell is all about
But clearly it’s not interesting enough to do much about
He does eventually decide to get up and wander off
Stopping of course to get a good look before truly wandering off
As he meandered away it was like you’d given all of us a dozen energy drinks each we were all so thrilled and excited. He didn’t come up to the buggy, like you see in many pictures but who cares. He came up close enough that even those with point and shoot cameras could get great shots of him. And he was a big one. We finished our lunch, the whole bus practically humming we were so high. We cleaned up and Kevin gave us a pretty interesting talk about polar bears. He’s quite knowledgeable about them and has worked almost his whole life around polar bears. How neat would that be? Anyway eventually it was time to head back towards the base, to head home. We turned around the way we came and when we got to the road we find that the polar bear has decided that we are interesting enough he’s changed direction to come amble our way to do some investigating.
He came even closer this time
He didn’t stick around as long, but it was long enough to have a snack with him, though no food was shared with him. He did eventually amble off though
Wow what an experience! I was so keyed up I had to go for a walk before dinner, though it couldn’t be a long one. I headed off to see the Hudson Bay again and it had calmed down considerably but still wasn’t tranquil.
The next day was our final day and it was going to be when we were flying out. Mark, took us around looking for more bears and other wildlife in the school bus. Did you know you can take school busses offroading? I would never have considered taking a bus off anything but a super well packed hard dirt road. However with the permafrost we were actually going through the woods on trails where the trees were scraping the top and sides of the bus. Another thing added to my list of neat stuff. Offroading in a school bus.
As we were headed to the airport, we got one last chance to see a polar bear and Mark had found us the momma and cub again.
They were curious about who was disturbing them
We moved in the bus to find another angle and it bothered mom enough to have them get up and move, but just as we were getting ready to pack up and head to the airport, she peeked out for a last goodbye.
So off to the airport we went, triumphant. Excited. Floating high. We’d come to the great north and found polar bears. It was never clear enough to bother looking for the northern lights so that will have to be another trip for me, but that’s ok. It was an outstanding trip. A grand adventure for sure. Churchill sure is a magical place and if anyone ever gets up there to see the bears, I highly recommend asking for Kevin as your guide on the Tundra Buggy. Mark was an outstanding in town and around town guide as well so I highly recommend North Star Tours if you want someone to drive you around and show you the place.
Thanks SO MUCH to Steve who was kind enough to lend me his camera equipment so that I could really capture my adventure to the fullest.
Danibeth
. It sure beats viewing them in a zoo. 
