Colon Bay and Crystal Mountain - Giddyup!

I've been in Alert for about a month now and I've witnessed people coming and going as their tours of duty finish or as they take leaves of absence. Each time a person I know leaves or a new person arrives I find myself thinking about when my time will come. After speaking with several people mentioning how their "long" terms will be done in September, October...I find it's best to not think about that. What I am reminded of, however, is that the summertime here is short so I've been trying to take advantage of the sunlight before I wake up and find myself in the middle of a bad Vin Diesel movie!

Such was the reasoning behind my excursion to Colon Bay (named for it's similarity to the anatomy of the anus) last weekend. The hiking trip involved lots of careful footwork over pointy rocks and unexpectedly mushy ground, but overall was quite enjoyable. While on the way I spotted another arctic flower, one which I imagine is very tasty to the arctic hare, which resembles those cinammon mints you'll get at restaurants.

A little further along the trail (and at several spots inbetween) we had to traverse across ice-cold rivers balancing on wobbly rocks. One river in particular we came across was obviously at a much lower water level than is normal and quite awe inspiring to imagine the rush of water when full.

It wasn't long after trekking through the valley of the river that we came upon some wildlife, a noisy Yagger, either indicating it was preparing to divebomb us or simply get the attention of his chums to look at the funny creatures without wings on the ground.

After a good two or three hours we at last arrived at Colon Bay. It was then I made the distinction between sea water and lake water. The blue in the glaciers from the sea is much lighter and richer than the freshwater ice formations, possibly as a result of the salt crystalization. I was the only one to venture right out to the edge of the Bay and look out upon the sea. Whether it was because of a shared desire to get started on the trek back or stay alive through the avoidance of polar bear maulings, is unclear to me. All I know is I wasn't (un)fortunate enough to see any polar bears while at the bay and just missed a seal dipping it's head back under the water.

After seeing enough of the landscape and skipping a few stones we picked up the pace to make it back to the station in time for dinner, forgetting exactly where and how we crossed the river along the way. Just as we were getting close to the entrance of the station a pack of local wolves paid us a visit, one which surprised me far more than the veterans with whom I had been hiking.

After what I considered to be a successful hiking trip I opted to partake in another a little later in the week and see if I would again be fortuitous. This time the trip was to a popular destination here in Alert, Crystal Mountain. The name is a little deceptive, first of all it's not made of crystal, you can just find small rock crystals on occasion (or rarely in my case). Second of all, technically speaking it doesn't meet the elevation requirements of a mountain. I guess early geographers decided to go with the name because Potentially Crystal-filled Rocky Hill doesn't quite roll off the tongue as nicely.

This trip had the added fun-factor of getting to ride in a BV. BV, for you laymen(myself included no less than a week ago), stands for Bombardier Vehicle, which was originally manufactured by said company for military transport purposes of wounded soldiers etc. over difficult terrain. Although these vehicles are rarely (if at all) manufactured by Bombardier anymore, the name for them has stuck.

The ride on these vehicles over rocky terrain is bumpy to say the least. If you're not careful you can end up with your head in the ceiling or in the lap of your neighbour! Despite the bumpy ride I definitely enjoyed the novelty of the experience and was soon mastering ways in which to minimize ass-poundage while maximizing comfort. After a good hour or so of BV-ing I had just about had enough and as fortune would have it we arrived alongside Crystal Mountain, in all its glory!

As the incline of the front face of the mountain was quite steep we had to approach the top from the far side. As we started to come nearer to the mountain we noticed what we initially thought was a herd of caribou, off in the distance, along the far side. As we came closer however we realized that they were not actually off in the distance, nor were they caribou. It was a herd of arctic hare! The BV stopped and I cautiously yet hastily hiked along the mountain getting as close to the bunnies as I could. After gaining their trust that I was not a predator I was able to grab a great shot of a part of the hard and video of them chowing down and at play.

This failed attempt at a game of tag is what I found to be the most amusing of the videos I recorded. (More pictures and video of these and most of my pictures are available if an encore is requested).

After being torn away from the rabbits I continued up to the pinnacle of the mountain and began participating in the crystal-rush. After over an hour of digging an impressive hole I gave up only to come across some people who had been finding crystals in abundance merely by skimming the top layer of a section. Sure enough within minutes of grazing this spot I uncovered more than I had in all my time spent digging. Although I wasn't proud enough of any of my collections to post pictures they still were pretty neat.

All in all my trips oot and aboot the CFS station have been good times and I look forward to hopefully a few more before the sun sets for the last time in 2009.

Next time on BAA: More animals? Does this look like a Zoo to you? And whatever the *#(% else comes to mind!


Byron
keeping you iglooed to your monitors