Summer Recap

It's been a great summer in the High Arctic! Any possibility of complaint is taken away with the winds. Since my last post there has been a variety of activity on station. We had a group of military personnel here with two Chinook helicopters who were forced to stay here for longer than they expected due to bad weather conditions further south. Easily the biggest helicopters I have ever seen.

CF Chinooks (photo credit: Kevin Shepperd)

  
Last week I was fortunate to get the chance to take a ride in one of the other helicopters here under contract to the BBC who are doing some filming of a local wolf pack for a future documentary. The pilots had some down time, and took us on a “systems check flight” aka joy ride. We danced along the side of Black Top Mountain, dipped and dangled between the valleys and ridges, and got close to being horizontal at one point during a tight turn. The pilot took us out into the fiord and we circled an ice floe, and almost landed on it, but sadly it wasn't safe to.

The sun has now started to set in the evenings, and we are getting some hours of darkness. Summer is over, and Fall has taken stride, with Old Man Winter swiftly on its heels. The temperatures have begun to drop below zero, and the snow is starting to accumulate. It was a productive research season in Eureka, with many different research teams passing through for short stays before venturing onwards in their pursuits. Met a lot of new and different people along the way. Currently we are back down to 11 people on station, and things are slowly winding down.

I was nominated for the ALS Icebucket Challenge while I was here, and I performed it while standing on an ice floe, and then took a swim. Refreshing is a good word for how that felt!!

Our annual sealift happened this past week, in record time as well! The Coast Guard ship Des Groseilliers arrived Tuesday morning very early, and departed Thursday afternoon. The boys did a great job working longer shifts to get all the cargo offloaded and properly triaged. The highlight of the sealift for me, was being able to take a tour of the Coast Guard ship. We were ferried over on a barge, and climbed a rope ladder over the port side of the ship. We were given a tour of the main deck, the crews' deck, the officers' deck, the galley, the engine room, the mess hall, as well as the bridge.   Even had the opportunity to sit in the captains chair and look over the bow.  For a guy who once thought about joining the Coast Guard, this was a special experience.  It became clear to me that I may have struggled a bit with the limitations on ship...primarily the lack of head room at the bulkheads and doorways!

Lyle, myself, Roxanne, and Nick about to board the barge

For those of you who are wondering, yes, the science continues to occur. It's not all play and no work up here. Most of the time it is all work and no play, but who wants to ONLY read about the fine nuances of applied optical physics in the Canadian High Arctic? I'm approaching my anniversary of starting with Dalhousie and CANDAC, and it has been a great year! Learned a lot, and have been able to help them out as best I can. Hoping to continue to learn every day!

Hoping everyone is well, wherever you are!

Happy Trails

Mike

An Arctic Paradise

It has been five weeks now that I have been on this current tour in Eureka, my fourth to date. The summer months have passed, and we are onto Fall now. The vegetation is starting to show signs of colour change within their leaves, and the temps are leveling off around 5C. The ocean in the fiord has thawed completely, barring one or two small multi-year sea ice blocks, which we colloquially refer to as our icebergs. Seeing the ocean up here is quite breathtaking. It is a serene environment that is normally barren, snow covered tundra. However, the long fetch of the fiord allows the wind to dance along the surface, adding an intense dramatic effect to the local raw environment. It reminds me of the inlets and bays along the West Coast, ranging as far north as Secret Cove (minus the presence of the trees). The rolling landscape of the fiord is truly majestic and a wonder to be viewed daily; something I hope I never take for granted.

I find myself lately deep in thought more often than usual. I have been reflecting more about how fortunate this experience has been over the past year, and how much of an impact I am able to truly have, within the realm of contributing scientifically to the greater good of the earth. I am deeply thankful for the support that has come from many friends and family members as I chose to strike out along a different pathway in life. The apple that is fruition, has been very tasty. Thank you all for everything along the way, it has not been in vain. The Arctic, and the north overall, has a way of penetrating your soul, and really impacting the core fiber of your being, if you allow it. It can be for the positive or negative; quite the duality once you realize it has transpired. It also has a way of energizing ones soul with patience and empathy, two qualities that I wish were more significant globally.

Recently, I was contacted by the CBC Nunavut for an interview to be aired on the radio in Nunavut. The reporter was interested in knowing what type of work I do up here, and how my down time is spent. Did the best I could, given that the interview was conducted over the phone, and the comms were not exactly clear. I was quite surprised to hear from the CBC, let alone to find out that they wanted to hear from me about our operations for PEARL here in Eureka. It was another humbling Arctic experience.

As we settle into Fall here on station, the population has decreased dramatically and the pace has become a little slower. I am now flying solo, as my assistant Peter has returned south to Toronto to finish his contract with the University of Toronto. Hopefully he will survive the humidity and adjustments back into society. As for me, it's business as usual up here...pushing back the frontiers of science every day, one optical measurement at a time!!

Happy Trails everyone, enjoy the remainder of your Summer vacation (except for those of you in the Southern Hemisphere who are no doubt enjoying the end to the winter season).

Mike  

Eureka in the Summer

Well folks, it's been another few weeks, and another big journey has occured. After my brief work trip to Yellowknife, I was fortunate to be able to take a mini vacation in Muskoka. Rented a cottage for a week on a quiet lake just south of Gravenhurst and enjoyed some summer time on the dock and in the lake with old and new friends. My sister came to town for the week from Vancouver, and made it up to the cottage. Always good to catch up with her. After Canada Day was over, it was time to roll back to Toronto and get ready to venture back to work in the arctic. But not without going to the Brad Paisley concert at the Molson Amphitheater. I hadn't seen Brad since 2009 when he played in Hamilton; dare I say that this show was better than that one!!

After that it was off to Joe's for a fresh hair cut in prep for deployment. Packed my bags and I was out the door Saturday morning enroute to Pearson Intl. My flights from Toronto to Calgary to Yellowknife were all ontime and without delays. I ventured around the Calgary airport hoping to find a cowboy hat that fit me, given that I arrived on the day that the Stampede started. However, it appears that my head is too large for what they had for sale. Once landing in Yellowknife I had a few errands to take care of, as well as having dinner with my friends Rosie and her husband Gary at the Wildcat Cafe down in Old Town. Couldn't have picked a better night for dinner outside by the lake. Truly beautiful.

I contacted the charter company, and they told me that my flight was scheduled to depart around 0900, so I shut down early and got some sleep in the comforts of my room at the Coast Fraser Hotel.

The next day I was at the hangar early and ready to depart. Around 0900 the pilots informed the pax that there was some inclement weather in Cambridge Bay, and they were re-routing us accordingly. We flew through Gjoa Haven, to Resolute Bay to pickup Bill and Jay, and onwards to Eureka. A different flight plan than normal, but this is the aArctic, and it's best to go with the flow!

After arriving in Eureka, I was told that my boss Pierre would be returning south the next day on the charter flight. He had initially expected to stay an extra week, however the powers that be decided that to save some money on station costs, it was best for him to return south. This left me with a 12 hour window to receive the handover from Pierre as to the current operational state of the labs, as well as the immediate future expectations of the work to be completed. The summer student that was hired to be the assistant operator, Peter, had fortunately been here for two weeks already, and he was current with what needed to be accomplished. So we've been plowing away at the To Do list, as well as maintaining consistent operations of the labs.

One highlight of my brief tour so far, has been the announcement made by Garth Brooks that he is returning to the world of country music, releasing an expected double album, and is undertaking a massive world tour. This caused quite the sense of elation between Jay and myself last week.

This past weekend there was a period when it rained here in Eureka, this does not happen often as it is a desert/arid climate here. Coupled with that rain was an isolated storm south of the fjord in which a rainbow was visible; another anomaly in this barren environment.

Another highlight for me was going for a swim in the thawed Arctic Ocean. The ice floes have opened up enough that I found some space along the shore to the West of the station (away from the sewage dumping site). On Canada Day there was an official Polar Dip for those people who were on station, and brave enough to face the frigid arctic waters...I, however, was in Muskoka enjoying the 30 degree temps and mosquitoes, and alas was not able to participate. So, I made my own polar dip, and stopped the truck along the road back to the station mid-afternoon and went for it. Very refreshing! This was my final ocean to swim in, a goal I had been hoping to accomplish, and am quite pleased I was able to.

Overall, the tour has been going well so far...primarily summer maintenance and accomplishing as much as we can whilst the snow and ice are gone.

Life happens in funny ways...some call it concentric circles, some call it serendipity. A couple days ago, a long lost friend happened to drop out of the sky, literally. Not often do I have a friend show up in Eureka, other than when Jay gets back on rotation here on station. Definitely good to catch up again.

The recent weekend ended with a 4.5 hour hike up to the top of Black Top Mountain and back down. It was an endeavour that we knew we could accomplish, and do it in less time than everyone on station told us we could. Sure enough, even Old Man Maurice managed to drag his 250lb frame up the vertical mountain slope face in less than 2 hours. It was a great workout, and one of many mountains I am hoping to summit in my life. Got all the oceans checked off the list, why not tackle the mountains now?!

Hoping everyone is well.

Arctic-ly yours.

ML.

Happy Trails

The Yellowknife Experience

Last time I wrote something, I ended the post by saying I was off to Yellowknife for a short trip.  Seems only fair that I should write about that trip now that I am back home!

The purpose of that trip was to organize the logistics of our recent CANDAC charter flight to Eureka.  It all started like this...

It was a humid day in Toronto, and I had just returned from a weekend in Myrtle Beach, where the ocean kills the humidity and leaves one feeling refreshed.  I had a day to gather some final materials, load our gear onto pallets and get them shipped to Yellowknife.  Plans were successful, and the pallets were packed and shipped the next day.  Two weeks later, on the Friday night before I was set to deploy to Yellowknife, I received an email from my boss, communicating that the shipping company had "lost" one of my pallets, and I was to figure out where it went and get it on the charter flight on Monday.  Needless to say I didn't sleep well that night!  Saturday was spent on the horn with the shipping coordinator at UofT as well as the shipping company's office in Yellowknife.  The lost freight was located, but visual confirmation was still required, and I couldn't do that until we landed in Yellowknife on Sunday.

Padre and I had a mini Fathers Day celebration Saturday night, culminating in a 03:00 wake up Sunday morning still feeling the effects from dinner the night before.  Packed my bag, loaded up the car, took pop out to breakfast before he dropped me at the airport.  Seeing the city at 04:00 on Sunday morning was a different experience.  We were at a restaurant to have breakfast and coffee; the other patrons were there to sober up from the bar they had left that night.  Interesting experience.

Arrived at the airport, met up with our new Assistant Operator, Peter, and we were off like a herd of turtles for Edmonton.  This was Peter's first trip to the Arctic, let alone anywhere north of Northern Alberta.  He was excited and it was energizing to see someone as excited as he was.  After a brief layover in Edmonton we were off to The Land of the Midnight Sun to get Cinderella to the Ball.  We landed, collected the rental truck and made waves toward where I suspected our freight was located.  Given that it was Sunday, most businesses were closed for the day.  However, our contacts at Discovery Mining Services knew we were coming into town today and needed to organize our freight.  Managed to visually confirm that all the freight was in-fact there, and nothing was lost, only mislabeled.  Very relieved, I was.  There wasn't much more that could be done that day, other than procure a few more items on the Last Minute List.  Checked into the hotel, had dinner at the Wildcat Cafe in Old Town Yellowknife, and toured Peter around Yellowknife.  The sun was still going strong by 22:00 which made it easy to show him the sights.  Finally grabbed some rack around 22:30 and I was out like a light switch.

Peter (tall guy)

 

The next morning we went back to Discovery Mining Services to meet up with our contact there to confirm plans for the charter flight and to organize the logistics of the freight.  All was going well; freight was brought over to the hangar, passengers (pax) were packed and ready to fly.  Everything had been going smoothly, up until 15:00, when the charter airline pulls me aside and says that we have a problem; big weather problems up-island.  It seems as though there was a storm that had settled into Resolute Bay (the second fuel cache along the trip, and last point of contact before Eureka).  We deliberated and made the decision to delay the charter flight that day and try again in the morning.  That's the reality of traveling in the Arctic, weather plays a major factor, especially as climates change as you progress further north.

So, the blessing in disguise was that we were now afforded an extra day/night in Yellowknife!  I took the pax back to the hotel, they arranged new rooms for themselves, and I took off to the airport to get myself a new flight back to Toronto later in the week.  Somewhere between when I left the electronically gated parking lot at the airport, and when I returned to my hotel, a city-wide power outage occurred.  My cell phone was dead, and I couldn't charge it (and I left my solar powered cell phone charger in Toronto - stupid move Michael).  We spent about two hours waiting for the power to come back on and trying to figure out what to do for dinner.  Given that the electricity was off everywhere, most restaurants had ceased serving food and may be shutting down for the night.  Fortunately the power came back on and we decided to go to Bullocks Bistro in Old Town for some of the best fish n' chips in the world.  The Bullocks Experience includes great fish, warm beer, and a lot of attitude from the staff; but that is part of the adventure!  Three hours later we left, full, quenched, and pissed off - the perfect way to leave Bullocks!  My pax were less than impressed with the level of service, but I reassured them that they had the genuine Bullocks Experience.  It was then back to the hotel for the night, and await the status call from the airline dispatcher...commencing at 05:00.

Had to sign the table

The next morning the call came in from Summit Air that they were good to fly and would start loading up the plane with freight.  The troops were mobilized and we were at the hangar for 07:00.  The plane took off at 07:23.  I received status updates from Summit Air throughout the day until the charter flight successfully landed in Eureka later that afternoon.  A layer of stress melted off my shoulders!

Wayne, Mel, and Peter off to Eureka

I then went back to my hotel to ideally catch a few more hours of sleep.  However, before I went up to my room I decided I had better extend my stay one night.  Problem was, the hotel was fully booked that night.  So I made a reservation at the Super 8 Motel on the other side of town via hotels.com on my tablet.  Caught another few hours of sleep and a shower before my noon checkout time.

For lunch that day I was fortunate enough to reconnect with a long-lost friend from my 2006 summer contract at the Tundra Ecosystem Research Station on Daring Lake, NWT. Rosie Strong was our cook for the two week duration of the camp.  She introduced me to the deliciousness that is spanikopita, and I have never forgotten her, or her cooking!  It had been eight years since we last saw each other, but we picked up right where we left off.  She has been living in Yellowknife for twenty-three years with her husband Gary out on Pontoon Lake, a nearby lake approximately 20kms from town.  We had lunch at a small restaurant in Old Town called the Wildcat Cafe; delicious bison burger.

After lunch, I took some time to be a tourist.  Toured the Gallery of the Midnight Sun, and the Old Town Glass Works; both local shops with local art, as well as around town taking in the sites.

Yellowknife River

 

It was then time for me to check-in to my next hotel, the Super 8.  It turned out that my online reservation made via hotels.com was never received, nor did they have any open rooms for me.  After about twenty minutes the general manager was called in to sort through this dilemma, and a room just "magically appeared" for me for the night.  A logistic mistake, perhaps a trend on this trip?!

After what felt like a good nights sleep, I was back at the airport ready to depart for Calgary with furtherance to Toronto later that evening.  The flight to Calgary went smoothly and landed early.  My four hour layover was spent wandering the Calgary airport, eating at Chili's, and avoiding the World Cup games on TV.  Approximately thirty minutes before boarding, the airline announced that the flight to Toronto was overbooked, and they were looking for three volunteers to take a later flight.  Given that I had a flexible schedule, I volunteered for the later flight.  Ten minutes later, the attendant told me that I would be going to Toronto on my scheduled flight because of the bag I checked; it would have been too difficult to pull my bag off I suppose.  When it was time to board the plane, there was a longer lineup than I normally like.  Many people rushing to get to their seats first.  I waited a bit, and let the lemmings jump over the ledge first.  Once I made it onto the plane and was walking to my seat, I saw Peter Mansbridge, the CBC news anchor, sitting to my right.  As it turned out, he was four rows in front of me.  Small world.  I decided I would follow Mr. Mansbridge on Twitter just to see if he had anything to say before/after the flight.  Three and a half hours, one movie and three TV shows later we landed in Toronto.  At this point, the pilots informed us that there had been a security breach within Pearson airport, and they were not allowed to let any passengers off the plane.  Well doesn't my Twitter feed light up with onsite, first person account updates from Mr. Peter Mansbridge.  Eventually I join the conversation and am tweeting back and forth with him, as well as numerous of his other followers.  The latest news from the pilots was that there was a security breach that caused the airport to go into a Lockdown Mode, and the SWAT team was brought in to check every person/plane/bag within the airport.  After an hour of sitting on the plane, we were finally released...as was every other plane.  There was now a mass influx of passenger volume rushing for the baggage claim area.  It took almost an hour to collect my bag.  In between arriving at baggage claim and finally getting my bag, I happened to find myself standing next to a man I've looked up to for years when I was playing football, Geroy Simon, the current CFL's All Time Leading Receiver.  I said hello and introduced myself, had a short conversation with him and his agent, and directed them to where their baggage carousel was.  That experience completely turned around what had been a very arduous day.  Right after that I received a tweet from a reporter working for ABC News in New York City, asking me questions about what was going on at Pearson.  He conducted a brief interview over twitter and informed me that the security breach involved a man leaving the terminal to have a cigarette, returning into the secure area without being screened again, and boarding his flight to Brazil.  By the time the passenger was located, his flight was seven hours towards Brazil.  The plane eventually was turned around and brought back to Toronto.  Unsure what happened to that passenger, but he certainly inconvenienced a lot of people.

I finally made it home at 02:30 Thursday morning.  It was a whirlwind trip, but the fun is all in the adventure of the unknown!

Happy Trails everyone.

Eureka video

I may need a GPS chip on me soon

Well Sports Fans,

It's been awhile since I wrote a blog post, and it's all due to this rolling stone gathering no moss!  Shall we recap?

Departed Eureka back in early May on the monthly produce flight.  It had been 8 weeks of solid work and the break came at a good point.  Thanks is owed to Gord and Pete/Sarah for their care packages during this deployment, really boosted my morale when things were getting heavy mentally.

It was then off to Resolute Bay for refueling and onward to Yellowknife for the night.  Experienced a bit of social anxiety in the Yellowknife airport in the hours leading up to my flight, but that is typical when returning from isolation.  Not fun, but also not unexpected.  Flew via Calgary into Toronto.  Thank you to Nicole for picking me up at the airport and driving me to Barrie to surprise Gord and Dave.  Had a few surprises planned for my return, not many people knew I was coming home in May.  The most significant surprise was for my mom.  In her innocent and naive manner she believed me when I told her I wouldn't be back until June and I would unfortunately have to miss her birthday and Mothers Day.  Pop and I arranged a surprise at a restaurant for her.  Needless to say she almost pulled a Rob Ford on an unsuspecting waitress who was standing in her way, barreling through that poor girl like a linebacker on an All Dog Cover Zero Blitz, to give her globetrotting son a hug.  Good times were had by many that night!

From there, my next stop was my barber, Joe.  Joe has been cutting my dad's hair for almost 50 years, and has been cutting mine for close to 15.  When I walked in to his shop, Joe was vulgarly displeased with whomever had cut my hair last (me), and promptly instructed me to "sit down and let me clean up this disaster.  It's a good thing your ears are so big, gives me a lot of real estate to work with.".  Kind words from an elderly Italian man with a razor and scissors!  Doubt I'll be giving myself another haircut while on deployment!

Had a great time visiting with the boys at a cottage in Severn Falls over the May24 weekend.  Never a bad time.  Made some new friends, and caught up with old ones.

Got the chance to sit down with Weston (and Rhea) to sort out the logistics of his upcoming bachelor party in October.  Rhea was the angel on my shoulder during this planning stage.

Rhea, and my Jarhead haircut (thanks to Joe)

Managed to make it down to Trenton to visit Aubrey, Sylvia, Jaymes and the new pup, Chuck!

One of the things I enjoy most is wandering through a forest, with only the sounds of nature to be heard.  I have been very fortunate in the last few weeks to be able to do some volunteer work with Robin Tapley from Tapley Nature Trails up in the Muskoka region.  Thank you to Colin for arranging that; hoping it will go far!  The projects that Robin has had me working on are creating and constructing archways from White Pine trees for the trail heads at Taboo Resort in Gravenhurst.  Granted me the chance to put my lumberjack hat on and fire up ye ol' chainsaw again...'tit Jean came back to life, and wreaked havoc on the Nature Reserve at Taboo.

'tit Jean, my french Canadian, lumberjack alter-ego

Some of the best experiences in my life have involved spontaneous serendipity.  The family decided it was time to get away for a little beach time.  So we found a seat sale and hit up Myrtle Beach for a long weekend trip.  We checked out Osprey Marina on the inter-coastal waterway, drank and ate at Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville (as every good Parrothead should do), and stayed in a quiet hotel north of the Grand Strand Strip of Myrtle Beach.  Overall a jam packed, yet relaxing weekend away at the beach.

After Myrtle Beach, it was back to Gravenhurst again for more archway construction, and another random adventure to Killbear Provincial Park to go camping and fishing for two days.  The weather held off for us, and it was a great trip, minus the snakes, but I was in good company with my phobia of them (Thanks Jess!)

Recently I had the amazing opportunity to sit down with Robin and Dale to discuss my job and my life in the Arctic, the logistics of what I do, the type of life it requires and the roots from where it came from.  I feel very fortunate to have been granted this opportunity to work with two great people.  Who knows where that story will go! Thank you Dale for taking the time to meet little ol' me!

I FINALLY got the chance to meet Matt's newborn son, Nicolas...I think he was equally afraid of me, as I was of him!

Definitely has been an amazing time being back south again on my leave from work.  I have been all over the province it feels like, and even down into the US.  I hope to get some more adventuring in before my next deployment in July.

I have an upcoming and brief three day trip to Yellowknife to oversee the logistics of the next charter flight going to Eureka in support of the PEARL operation.  I wanted to get another blog post in before I went away on this next mini-trip, because who knows what kind of adventures I will get up to once I'm wheels-up from Toronto!

As always everyone,

Happy Trails!