Caribou-nanza!

Well, it's been the longest amount of time yet since the last post so I thought it would be only fitting to cram as much information into it as I possibly can. The events probably go back to even before my last post, unfortunately I don't have media to accompany all of my stories but there are still some great shots. "Let's Begin!" (that's an inside joke to anyone at Alert who plays BINGO listening to that recorded voice haha)

Let's see, in the past few weeks I have won a station-wide limbo contest at the beach party (a feat considering I'm 6'3), won the gold medal in the Alert Volleyball Tournament (not as much of a feat, but good news nonetheless lol) and successfully completed the Polar Bear dip in water which is below 0 degrees, thanks to its saltiness! Not shown here are the medals I won for my victories and the bright orange shirt awarded for completing the dip.

Intermittent between those 3 events were a number of other activities including bowling, basketball, gym, work, bar-tending etc. but I'd rather have killer than filler.

Which brings me to my next animal sighting, a musk-ox! The other day while on break at the lab I peered out the window and said to myself, I could have sworn that big dark rock was in another place the last time I checked. Sure enough after staring at the 'rock' for a few seconds it started to move, at which point I yelled to my co-workers at the lab, "Musk-ox!" We were maybe able to get within about 300 metres of him before he got spooked and started to take off, but still got some fairly visible shots.

After the rare viewing of the musk-ox I thought that nothing shy of a polar bear encounter could top it but then came my trip up Caribou Road along one of the mountain ranges. I shook off getting woken up at 8 in the morning for a work-related-but-not-really call, ate breakfast and headed on out to the BV.

The majority of the trip took place riding BVs (I made it my mission to get a shotgun seat this time when riding) so it wasn't too strenuous. However, once we found ourselves at the base of the mountain range amidst fog and icy cold winds, the trip, although short, became challenging enough. After great difficulty and many near slips we at last conquered the hill and briefly explored the range as frost from the winds started to form on our hair and jackets.

At this point some individuals decided to search for crystals, with little luck, while others explored the range, seeing if perhaps there were more peaks to scale. After about 10 minutes we had all had quite enough of the freezing cold and decided to head back down the mountain. This was by far the most fun of the trip as the loose shale rocks made for an extremely fast and potentially dangerous slide down.

Once back at the base of the mountain we decided we might as well walk further along the road and as we hit the end we came across an inukshuk which had been built by previous explorers, or possibly a freak windstorm I guess.

Normally I lose interest in staring in rocks after a very short amount of time however, we were fortunate enough to notice a caribou off in the distance as we were taking pictures of the inukshuk. We slowly crept up on the caribou, very carefully as he would dart his head in our direction when someone would make a noise.

Eventually the crowd, making too much noise trying to get as close as me, scared the caribou off and I caught him running away.

After the wildlife excitement it was once again time to depart and we loaded ourselves up in the BV and called it a day. Although the trip was abbreviated, thanks to the caribou sighting, it was considered well worth it.

Next time on BAA: I dunno, do I look like I have ESP to you?


Byron
Seal you later