Travel Blog » North America » Canada » Northwest Territories

Northwest Territories Travel Blogs

Background: A land of vast distances and rich natural resources, Canada became a self-governing dominion in 1867 while retaining ties to the British crown. Economically and technologically the nation has developed in parallel with the US, its neighbor to the south across an unfortified border. Canada's paramount political problem is meeting public demands for quality improvements in health care and education services after a decade of budget cuts. The issue of reconciling Quebec's francophone heritage with the majority anglophone Canadian population has moved to the back burner in recent years; support for separatism abated after the Quebec government's referendum on independence failed to pass in October of 1995.

Canada

Map of Canada

Canada's Flag

Recommended Books:

Hostels in Canada
Latest Northwest Territories Blog Entries
Northwest Territories Photos

By Ocean lady
July 25th 2007

Drivin' down the Dempster...lookin' for adventure

North America » Canada » Northwest Territories » Inuvik

Fort McPherson

Today I got to drive down the Dempster Highway to the Peel River crossing just past Fort Mcpherson with Jolie and Sean. We collected some water samples from the Peel River, the Arctic Red and the Mackenzie river. The Dempster Highway is extremely dusty, as you can see in my photos! It is a one of a kind drive though. Our first "stop" was to catch the mini ferry across the channel where Arctic Red and Mackenzie merge. From here we drove straight to Fort McPherson. Fort McPherson is a Gwich'in community along the Peel River, connected to Dawson and Inuvik [View Full Entry]

By Ocean lady
July 22nd 2007

Life through a bug net...

North America » Canada » Northwest Territories » Inuvik

Top of permafrost

Hello everyone! These are some more photos of the town, the famous Trapper pub included, but only from the outside... There is a photo of one of our big experiments set up outside, with all the bugs! Speaking of bugs I also included a video on here of the bugs that Sean took when we went out to get some water. You see all those little dots on the screen? Yes those are BUGS! Enjoy [View Full Entry]

By Ocean lady
July 16th 2007

The Igloo Church

North America » Canada » Northwest Territories » Inuvik

RECOVERED

I finally got a chance to tour Our Lady of Victory church, better known throughout the western Arctic as the "Igloo Church." It is said to be the most photographed building in Inuvik. Which is not surprising considering it is a large circular structure surmounted by a byzantine dome, crowned by a cupola topped by a cross in a town of squat rectangular buildings. It is funny that this building seemed to sit more comfortably and congruously in the arctic than the shoebox-shaped house around town. The tour was given by Father Mathew a Nigerian Priest who has been in [View Full Entry]

By Ocean lady
July 14th 2007

DAY 16 Inuvik!

North America » Canada » Northwest Territories » Inuvik

RECOVERED

Wild Saturday night at the Trapper. The Trapper is the local pub in Inuvik and this past Saturday night a talent show was held in the establishment! This social event was being held to raise funds for the End of the Road Music festival (http://www.eotrmusic.com/) held every year in Inuvik mid August so we all went out. I was told it is illegal to take photos inside so I will have to get some pictures of the outside of the Trapper, it is totally welly and looks even sketchier than the Cecil, hee hee. There were about 10 performers all [View Full Entry]

By Ocean lady
July 6th 2007

Explore Inuvik

North America » Canada » Northwest Territories » Inuvik

RECOVERED

Today was my first day off in Inuvik! Everything about the arctic zone is deeply interesting to me I hardly know where to start my exploring here. So I have started to talk with some local people here to get some ideas of the area. I had a meeting with Ed McLean, an ecosystems scientist at the Inuvik parks canada office. He gave me some great leads for graduate supervisors that are doing marine/fish studies in the area with grand funding. I then proceeded to the library to do some fun silent reading on the carpet... (grade 1 style) I [View Full Entry]

By Ocean lady
July 3rd 2007

A helicopter does not want to fly. It is maintained in the air by a variety of forces and controls working in opposition to each other.

North America » Canada » Northwest Territories » Inuvik

RECOVERED

Today Sue and I did our sampling from helicopter floats! Such an adventure. Some of the lakes Sue has included in her study are more isolated than the ones we have been using the canoe on and would be a 45 min hike dragging the canoe through the forest to get to them. So helicopter is our mode of transportation. Helicopters are soooooo expensive! Luckly the Lesack lab has a grant for helicopter time so we hopped onto a Long Ranger at the airport and off we went. The delta looks so unreal from the sky! Hundreds of lakes scattered [View Full Entry]

By Ocean lady
July 1st 2007

Waves in the channel

North America » Canada » Northwest Territories » Inuvik

Lake 129

Waves in the channel North America » Canada » Northwest Territories » Inuvik By Ocean lady July 1st 2007 Sarah Ballard Day #2 in the field: Happy Canada Day! We missed all the town festivities because we were out on th [View Full Entry]

By Ocean lady
June 30th 2007

Riding the wind through the channel

North America » Canada » Northwest Territories » Inuvik

First day of field work

Well today was our first field day on the Mackenzie delta and the weather apparently did not know this, or maybe it did.... Sue is studying the landscape-level variation of dissolved organic carbon amoung the delta lakes, particularly the effects on food web structure and implications of the future (ie global warming). We roared down the silt filled channel in our 16 foot motor boat. Sue says that the river is low this year, meaing that there was not as much of a flood this year. The banks of the river looked like perfectly aligned vertical stacks of mud with [View Full Entry]

By Ocean lady
June 29th 2007

Lab fun and 24 hours of daylight!

North America » Canada » Northwest Territories » Inuvik

The Lesack lab scene

Yesterday I arrived in Inuvik, NWT! The land of the midnight sun:) For those of you who do not know where that is, look at a map, you will find me at the top of the world! Inuvik is 2 degrees north of the Arctic Circle on the Mackenzie River Delta. The environment as somewhere between the treeless tundra and the northern boreal forest, and as I saw from the flight in, the is in the middle of an incredible maze of lakes and streams of the Delta. Inuvik means "place of people" and that is what it is in [View Full Entry]

By Dave Dave
September 1st 2005

All good Things Come To An End.

North America » Canada » Northwest Territories

I Made It!
Enjoying the sunset in the last days of the trip.

If your not already in a boredom induced coma, here is the final installment… While the entire trip was a challenge and provided me with the opportunity to visit some amazing places, it definitely stepped up a notch over for the last ¼ of the distance. This was when I crossed the Arctic Circle (an imaginary line, being the furthest south that the sun will shine for 24 hours during the summer solstice). It almost seemed like as soon as that line was crossed it became colder and the landscape began to change. Trees were smaller the further north I [View Full Entry]

Travel Blog » North America » Canada » Northwest Territories