Leaving Churchill

July 16, 2019 

Today was packing up day.  The plans were for us to pack up our gear, and leave it at the front counter. New guests were arriving by plane and train and we were boarding the train in the late afternoon.  After we packed we boarded the bus to go out to the Tundra Crawler for a journey across the tundra in the hopes of seeing bears or other animals.

Judd drove the bus about fifteen miles outside of Churchill to where the Tundra Crawler is parked.  This machine is massive.  It looks like a school bus on steroids.  It has a large bus like body with bench seats, a propane heater, washroom and a small patio at the rear.  The wheels alone of this machine are six feet high and it is powered with a caterpillar motor. Of course, Judd was the driver and Jason was the photographer.  We crawled along a small trail stopping occasionally to view sandhill cranes, eagles and falcons.  Unfortunately we did not see any bears.  At one point we stopped at a beach on the bay and did some beachcombing under the watchful eye of Judd.  She then drove us out to a view point to show us the remains of a beached freighter that was sitting on the rocks near shore.  

The story of this freighter is that in the mid 1900 it was carrying supplies to Churchill and was caught in a storm.  The captain dropped anchor to ride out the storm however, the winds dragged the ship to shore and it beached on the shallow shores.  No one was injured and most of the supplies were salvaged. At low tide you can still walk out to the wreck.   After returning to the parking area for the Tundra Crawler we boarded the bus to go to the airport.

The majority of the guests were leaving by charter aircraft and new guests were arriving to be brought back into Churchill.  On our way to the airport, we visited the site of the Churchill Northern Studies Centre.  This impressive building is built near the site of the abandoned missile testing sites that had been established in the 1960s.  The Churchill Northern Studies Centre, is the home of university students from many different universities to conduct northern studies.  Its motto is “to understand and sustain the North.” We learned that they accept volunteers to assist in the studies and the general day to day activities at the center. 

We also made a short visit to the Polar Bear Jail again as the doors were open so we thought we could take a peek inside. There were no bears inside but we could see the holding cells.

We then toured the sites of the old missile silos.  During the 1960s and then further into the 1970s, several different companies built missile launching sites.  The purpose of the missiles was to conduct research into the lower altitudes in space.  This included research into the ozone layers, and also to study the aurora borealis. As technology improved, these type of research methods were abandoned.

We then drove to the airport, and said goodbye to the departing guests.  Debbie and I were given a ride back to the resort by Debbie, Jason’s wife who is also a part time guide of the resort.  We ate lunch at the restaurant and waited until about 6:00 until it was time to go to the train station.  Debbie again drove us to the station, we said goodbye to her and Churchill and boarded the train at 7:00.  

We got the same cabin that we had on our trip up to Churchill. We settled into the cabin and then went to the dome car to watch Churchill disappear on the horizon.  In the dome car, we met Dave, a retired US navy electrical engineer, and his wife Millie.  They were from Minnesota, and had spent four days in Churchill.  They told us they have been travelling for twenty years and have made over 24 trips across Canada!  They have been volunteers in the National Parks in Alaska for many years. They were a very interesting couple to talk to.  We watched the sun go down over Churchill and watched the bright red full moon rise over the boreal forest.  It was time for bed.