Chuurchill Day 1 10/28/2024
- sridgway38
- Oct 28, 2024
- 4 min read
We had an early breakfast this morning at the Fort Gary hotel after putting out our luggage which would be picked up and delivered to the Churchill hotel when we arrived. We met the group and our guide Garrett in the lobby at 7:45 with our hand luggage including a camera bad that would be valet checked. We ran into the young Irish woman who we had met on the airport transfer in the lobby as well and found that he name is Atracta. she was not in our direct group but would transfer to Churchill with us. She had spent the evening that we arrived at a local restaurant for dinner and then Saturday at an art museum and the human rights museum. She was wasting no time!
We left the hotel for the airport in a bus with both groups and after a 20 minute drive through Winnipeg we drive directly onto the tarmac to a charter plane operated by Calm airways. It was a twin engine prop plane that seated about 70. It was nice, had very similar processes as a commercial airline, several crew and even cookies and beverage service.
We flew across Manitoba to Churchill flying over a lot of very watery land, small ponds and lakes almost everywhere and so much water that there were very few roads and almost no communities that we could see through most of the trip.
I discovered that although your couldn't see the propellers while flying with the naked eye you could when you took a cell phone picture so here's one.
As we got very close to Manitoba we flew in over the Hudson bay and a small town was visible as well as roads.
Once we landed we went into a very small airport, and then onto a waiting bus that comfortably fit the 16 guests and our guide. We took a short ride into Churchill stopping to explain the terrain and landmarks along the way. Our guide Garrett was very knowledgeable about the area.
After we got into town we went to lunch at a little restaurant. The food and the service were good if somewhat basic. Getting food to this town is quite expensive according to Garrett, with a gallon of milk costing 10.00. Most families here have subsidized housing, utilities and food. The liquor though is price regulated so that is the same price in all of Canada. So your Rum and your Coke cost about the same as Garrett joked. We drove next to our hotel called the Churchill Hotel and got room keys. Our luggage was in the room and the rooms were larger and more well appointed than we had expected. We had about an hour to get changed before we headed out to a Dog Sled place.
We arrived at Wapusk Adventures run by Dave Daley who is a dog musher, and owns the long distance racing kennel and tour company. He has been in many long distance races, and also has rescued about 80% of the dogs in his kennel, he is not a breeding kennel. His son Wyatt met our bus and we headed into the main building to hear Dave talk about his kennel, the races he has been in and the Hudson Bay challenge race that he started to allow for smaller dog teams of 4-5 to have a place to race. Dave aka The Big Dog has 42 dogs currently in residence and he runs the tours as a way to feed the dogs and share his culture. Both Dave and his wife are indigineous but from different tribes and they are raising their family here in Churchill.
After the talk we headed outside to take our own chance at "racing" the iditamile track that they have. They had carts attached to dog teams because the snow wasn't deep enough and we each had a driver with us and 2 guests. The dog teams of 6 were all excited to run. The nice thing about this was that they don't need to be a long distance racer to be on the sled team here, they can run a mile or two a day and still be part of the fun. I sat in the front and Conrad stood where the driver would stand, but he also had an experienced driver with him.
Once we finished the second half of our group took their turns on the track. The driver who was with us lives in Winnipeg and came up to Churchill on break to waitress but found the Daley family and they trained and hired her. She was enjoying the work and appreciated how Dave treated his dogs and was planning to return for other seasons.
Once done with our turn we walked around the property. to see the Teepee on property and the beautiful log cabin heated outhouse that Dave built with his kids over Covid because they wanted to learn to build log cabins.
After the dog sleds we headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. We headed over to the restaurant walking because it was still light out but would have to return by bus because of the potential for Polar bears in town after dark. Dinner was very good and the restaurant was like any that you'd see in the states with a nice bar and lots of diners in attendance. We headed back to the hotel and a nearby Gallery where Garrett did a brief photography overview before we turned in for the night.
Tomorrow we will be on the rovers out on the Tundra looking for Polar bears.