Churchill to Los Barriles: At last, polar bears and the northern lights

When we first started planning this trip, Brant’s primary goal was to see the northern lights. As we approached the date over the past several weeks, heavy cloud cover was predicted, perhaps even rain. At one point we even considered cancelling the trip as it was a pricey adventure to be sitting in a hotel room. Fortunately most of it was nonrefundable.

Our friends dropped us off at the airport in Toronto where we took a quick flight to Winnipeg… or Winterpeg as my friend calls it. There were no connections to Churchill so we dropped off our luggage to overnight at the airport hotel and ubered into the city to check out the WAG museum followed by some great Thai food.

The plan was to fly there (pricey) then take the overnight train with sleeper back. The sleepers were bunk beds and were the 21 st place we have stayed overnight on this trip. Definitely the smallest space we’ve stayed in, but we were thankful to get them and could have easily auctioned them off for triple what we paid.

I would not say Churchill is beautiful. It is flat with lots of shades of brown. There are infrequent clumps of fir trees fighting for their life. Most of the buildings look like prefab things they have plopped down on the permafrost. So without a doubt this place benefited the most of any town we’ve ever seen by having a mural program . Apparently artists came from all over a few years ago. Hope they did it in on a warm summer day as it’s hard to paint when you are shivering.

Of course we weren’t here for the landscape. We were here for the northern lights. And a bonus, polar bears.

We arrived at just the start of the season. Polar bear season that is. This is why: the regional polar bears (about 600 of them) come ashore as the ice melts in the summer then they just wander out amongst the wilderness to wait for cold weather to freeze up the bay again. Hopefully they’ve fattened up on about 50 seals over the course of fall, winter and spring so they can just laze around for a couple months while they wait for it to freeze again.

There is complex geography as to why the bears all gather here. This shallow spot in Hudson Bay also has lower salinity thus due to a large river flowing into it thus allowing it to freeze faster. You can understand why the polar bears chose this spot to gather but it’s a little murkier why humans chose it.

There is a port there but it’s currently not being used (and I assume can only be used a short time of the year). It was used for grain transport in the past. (They did tell us a small cruise ship came in from Greenland recently). During the Cold War it was a busy place with lots of missiles pointed at the northeast. It’s also an area that is doing/has done lots of research. For example, studies on the northern lights to find a way to use them to hide radio transmission of messages. A marine research area studies salinity, freezing and how to best continue shipping routes.

We were here for 3 nights but we got nearly 4 days because of departure/arrival times. One day we just relaxed, walked a bit in town, checked out gift shops… necessary to have these days in a long trip… and doing stuff here was very expensive! Plus, it was actually a bit unnerving to walk around. Especially after dark. There was a 10 PM curfew and no walking allowed along the coast (due to risk of bears this time of year).

Our first day 3 of us piled into the 4 by 4 with a guide. Then Thomas drove us slowly around gravel roads all day long… about 8 am til 5. Honestly a bit tedious and cold with the window often open, but we had some great conversations with Thomas a Norwegian with a masters in environmental toxicology who spends his spare time doing oil paintings of wildlife in the tundra. He’s had many jobs but I thought the most unique was being a bear guard while people doing work out on the tundra. His paintings are remarkably realistic… look up Thomas Taylor’s artwork.

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We feel incredibly LUCKY that we got an amazing night of northern lights. It was dense clouds all day but suddenly they dissipated at about 9pm. We had signed up for a northern lights tour that calls you if the lights come out. There is no charge if the lights don’t come out or you can opt out (if you decide it’s too cold). They called at 9 and about the same time one of our “polar bear colleague “ from earlier in the day kindly texted us to go outside now! We did and moments later our van rolled into the parking lot.

There is something a bit disconcerting about watching the dancing northern lights knowing we are standing outside in the dark in the same spots we saw polar bears earlier that day. We were thankful to have guide who had us stay in the car while he grabbed his rifle and checked the area. (He also kept scanning with a flashlight).

For me (and I think for Brant as well), watching the Northern lights was one of the best travel experiences of my life, but I can’t quite explain why. This mass of swirling light and color popping up all over the sky just seemed so unbelievable, so ever changing and surprising . It was as though the sky was trying to speak to us. I know that sounds odd but being out there under the dancing lights you could see why this had such meaning to the First Nations people. Honestly it made me want to dance. It was also nice to share it with group from Sri Lanka, Israel, India and Canada …. And for all of us to feel so moved by it together ( even the guide).

We have always had a rule to not eat at the same restaurant twice while on vacation. In this town there were 4 open restaurants. We quickly decided one was our favorite and proceeded to eat there 4 times! This is also a place where lots of groups come. People often stay just one day. There was even an RV group that gathers from all over the US in the peace garden in North or South Dakota . The convoy of RVS (19 this year) then proceeds to drive all the way to Thompson, Canada. There they take a chartered flight the rest of the way to Churchill. My kind of RVing, you stay in a hotel! There is no road going all the way to Churchill. You can only get there via train, or plane.

I asked the woman who picked us up at the airport what keeps her there. She quickly answered that it was the kindness and support of the people that makes her want to stay. Her shoe broke on their first day and 3 people came from the community with offers of shoes. There is no shoe store here. The people here did seem extraordinarily friendly and helpful. Even the tourists seemed much nicer than your average tourist here. People were here were not to take on some epic hike, it was all about being here in this unique place to watch the northern lights and see the bears. I think that attracts a remarkably easy going group of folks willing to bob around in a 4 by 4 for many hours, but so very excited when a bear is sighted . I guess it’s because it’s not about your personal achievement but what you happened to be lucky enough to see. Simultaneously everyone is trying to help everyone have a good experience…by pointing out wildlife, sharing warm clothes, texting when the lights come out, insisting the short people get in front when viewing. And with all that driving about, there was lots of good conversation. Much of the conversation is about protecting all these precious resources.

We always feel we’ve lead a bit of a boring life but have enjoyed hearing the adventures of many. We met very few US citizens but many who had immigrated from other countries and were determined to see everything in the northern hemisphere . People come from all over the world to experience this unique place. One young man I think from India was so very excited to be watching the northern lights (as we all were), he said there is nothing more Canadian than this! I did not correct him, but in truth I have yet to meet a Canadian (until now) that has been to Churchill.

That said, it is a bit creepy to walk around town. There is a 10pm curfew because the bear patrol goes off duty at 10. One of our guides told us he once came out his front door quickly to go a couple doors down to a neighbors for a drink. At that moment a bear patrol vehicle whipped around the corner blowing the horn and flashing lights. He thought it was a friend joking with him until he turned around to see a big polar bear less than 30 feet away.

Just like a big fluffy dog he had found some hunk of plastic to chew on. Sad but he looked he was enjoying it.

Another day we went on a tundra buggy with a viewing platform for another 8 hour day. Early in the day we saw:

This was early in the season so there was not huge numbers of bears, but also there were a lot less tourists. There are 600 polar bears making there way here. After driving around for quite a while the driver (yes slightly tedious) returned to our trio. Mom saw us and decided it was time to cross the river with her cubs and check us out. Windows were gently opened and we tried our best to be quiet. They showed no fear…. Sauntering right up and around our truck.

A perfect end to the day. Well except it wasn’t the end. We had just the right amount of time to have a nice dinner then grab our luggage and get ferried to the train station (a short walk but would hate to lose my luggage to a polar bear). At the train station after greeting all the people we had met on various tours/restaurants on the trip, we were taken to our tiny sleeper car.

Almost forgot:

Here are a couple pics of polar bears that we missed seeing on our “day off “ but one of our polar bear colleagues was kind enough to share:

We had a backpack of snacks and beverages (because we had heard food was very limited). The trip is 48 hours. Yes that is correct 48 hours. It is 48 hours because it’s a long way which is made longer by stopping at every little town. For example we picked up fish at one town and delivered it to another.

In Shetland everyone talked about whether you should fly or ferry… here people discussed whether you should take train or fly.

Lots of beautiful leaves:

Though at 45 hours we felt quite ready to get off the train. We were done with “chilling”. So one more night in Winnipeg then a flight to Calgary. Once in Calgary just 3.5 hours to Cabo San Lucas. Yet another reason there are so many Canadians come to LB.

We had been gone for 2 months and realized just how much we had missed little giggling kids zipping around in stores. It was even funny when the cow plodded out in front of our car on the main highway. The town was sleepy and slow when we left in August but the restaurants have reopened and construction was moving along and of course, lots of sand in the street from the storm. Once again, we have returned home to a jungle thankful that the plants seem pretty happy and we have a shady oasis!

Brant took this video and none of is zoomed. The lights filled the sky. Toward the end you can see a little bit of the “dancing”

Good to be home for tacos and margaritas!