http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Crannster/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Crannster en-us Wed, 30 Dec 2009 12:09:18 +0000 Wed, 30 Dec 2009 12:09:18 +0000 Hey Guys.All of the seasonal staff flew home except for Simon Shayne and myself. We were 'voluntold' to drive out to Wapusk Park again and rescue the freezer trailer. On our ride out we saw about 25 bears We arrived at the freezer trailer in the dark and started working right away. After a brief sleep on the buggy we started working again to reattach the spindle and wheel to the trailer. It wa http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Manitoba/Wapusk-National-Park/blog-457831.html Hey guys.On November 21st we dismantled our camp and hauled it to Cape Churchill in Wapusk National Park. The 30 km drive took about 5 hours as we trundled across the seemingly endless expanse of nothingness that sprawls its way all around Hudson Bay. Enroute we lost a wheel from the Freezer trailer so we just left it there and continued without it otherwise we'd have ended up at the Cape at mid http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Manitoba/Wapusk-National-Park/blog-455694.html Hi Guys On Saturday we dismantled the camp and moved it 30 km east into Wapusk National Park. Here are a few pictures from our last day at Polar Bear Point. There was some pretty good bear action. Dave. http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Manitoba/Wapusk-National-Park/blog-454543.html Hey guys We had some good sparing action by our camp a few days ago.. Two males were play fighting to help pass the time as they wait for the bay to freeze. Which is now overdue as the temperatures keep rising Enjoy the pictures. Dave. http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Manitoba/Churchill/blog-452714.html Hey guys During the last week or so we have seen our fair share of arctic wildlife. We even had a wolverine run by our camp. We often get woken up at night when bears bang on the side of the lodge trying to get in to the delicious garbage room The foxes and hares are in their full winter coats and they look superb. The temps are still relatively mild and the sea has thawed back out leaving the http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Manitoba/Churchill/blog-449697.html Hey guys. Today we watched a bear drag a seal across the ice for a mile or so He was being pursued by several other bears all wanting to feast on this treat. There was quite a bit of action A bigger bear stole the kill then an even bigger bear stole it again. Although it was way off in the distance the viewing was awesome Once the other bears moved away from the kill we drove up close and http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Manitoba/Churchill/blog-450222.html Hi Everyone I'm up near James Bay a few hundred kilometers south east from Dave in Churchill My work has taken me to this pretty little place on an island in the middle of the Moose River and just a boat ride away from Moosonee where my plane landed. The Moose River drains into the James Bay. The landscape is the Hudson's Bay Lowlands and muskeg forests. The island itself and the neighbour http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Ontario/Moose-Factory/blog-448157.html Greetings from a rainy Churchill All the ice has gone again The temperature rose and melted it all so the bears are happy just to sit tight and wait a bit longer.. I was talking to a guy from Manitoba Conservation as well as a couple of the Parks Canada guides and they were saying that a lot of the bears this year are still down close to the ManitobaOntario border and that they still have a http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Manitoba/Churchill/blog-447547.html Hey Guys.More and more bears are moving through the area every day and they are getting hungrier as well as more curious We have had a couple of big male bears trying to bite their way in. Tearing away at the underside of the lodge and ripping off panels and fittings We now have Buggy 1 up and running and on the tundra Buggy 1 is operated by Polar Bears International and is used for research an http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Manitoba/Churchill/blog-446382.html Hi guys.I just wanted to share some pictures of abandoned buildings. Throughout the summer George and I have been exploring some of the uglier parts of Churchill tooDuring the 50s and 60s Churchill had an American navy base and the population bustled with over 5500 today it's 850. Most of the buildings were destroyed as the Americans didn't want to leave a functioning base just in case the Ru http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Manitoba/Churchill/blog-423254.html Hey guysI thought I would try and update the blog fairly frequently as there are many bears around and I am sure you would all like to see some of the actionWinter has arrived... We had our first winter storm and the land and lakes are now frozen in time. There is actually seaice forming around the shoreline something we don't normally see until very late October or early November I have m http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Manitoba/Churchill/blog-445046.html Hey guys. The highlight of the week this week was during a trip to the dump It's not uncommon to see a big dirty polar bear rummaging through the food scraps at the town dump but I was super excited to see a wolverine He or she was all straggly gnarly and grumpy looking and although the backdrop of plastic garbage bags and piles of Pampers wasn't visually inspiring it was a very powerfu http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Manitoba/Churchill/blog-442484.html Hey guysThe Ithaca sits on a bed of gravel on a shallow tidal flat off the Manitoba coast about 18 km east of Churchill. It is about a 1 km hike at low tide to get out there so George and I decided we would go and check it out. We headed out with the tide getting our feet wet as we marched across the tidewater pools carrying guns of course as there is always a chance of seeing nanuq. It was su http://www.travelblog.org/Oceans-and-Seas/Arctic/blog-434457.html Hi folksThe north wind has been howling for a couple of days now. It is starting to feel like fall but somehow the temperatures are struggling to get below freezing Not that I mind as I have a lot of work to do out on the tundra I could do with a couple more weeks of warm Relative for the time of year weather. Our mobile lodge has been hauled out to the wild and barren windswept and bleak http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Manitoba/Churchill/blog-438955.html Well hello Everyone Dave has certainly left us with some amazing visuals of the Polar Bear and Beluga capital of the world Churchill Manitoba.So just to balance out the news coverage I have taken a few photos of Sioux Lookout our headquarters where I am holding the fort with Lilah our 19 year old cat.When the lupins come out boy do they bloom And I just got the tail end of the bloomi http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Ontario/blog-439730.html Hi there blogmeistersTheresa and I have had a fun week up in Churchill... We dined in Churchill's finest restaurants all two of them and took a couple of very colourful and scenic drives along the coast. One highlight was having a polar bear run across the main street in town when we were out walking Just a nice reminder that you could be killed and eaten at any time by Nanuq I had to fly http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Manitoba/Churchill/blog-434671.html Hi there.The bears have been putting on quite the show in the last few days as we have seen two different bears eating two different caribou carcasses I am guessing that the wolves killed the caribous as we saw their tracks nearby. As the bears have been picking away at carcasses I have been picking blueberries and other wild berries. It takes a while to pick any quantity so its usually just pi http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Manitoba/Churchill/blog-432059.html Greetings to you all.The Beluga whales have been frolicking in the river mouth for the last couple of months and are now migrating out of the river and out of the Hudson Bay. I think it is time to share with you some of these magic moments I have spent with these magnificent mammals. From the Zodiac they are wonderful but from a kayak they are even more amazing. I love when they swim under the k http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Manitoba/Churchill/blog-430946.html All is well here in on the fringe of the Arctic.We have had our first frost of the season only 4 weeks since the last frost of spring so fall is on it's way However we are experiencing an Indian summer as the temps are now on the rise for the next few days. The good weather has caused a flurry of activity in the Tundra Buggy shop. We can finally do some of our work out side There are still a http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Manitoba/Churchill/blog-430615.html Great newsOut on the tundra we were amazed when we saw a mum with her three young cubs It was quite the thrill and it has caused quite the sensation around the world among polar bear experts and enthusiasts alike. It made national news here in Canada and we are all very excited up in Churchill. The threesome were all very chubby and mum looked in real good shape I hope they make it through the http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Manitoba/Churchill/blog-429608.html