Wood Buffalo Park - Holiday Camping

Here are several photos from the camping weekend...I will try to provide mini-descriptors in a list as they will surely not show up next to the actual photo:

1. the blackened forest - not sure if a fire did this or an insect...they are all skinny and very black.
2. black bear on the Fort Smith highway...they are close to the road, and usually don't even acknowledge cars who pull up next to them unless they have cubs. This one didn't.
3. Loki (in focus) my friend I.'s little dog
4. Ollie (in focus) her other dog
5. limestone anticline - supposed to have lots of fossils, but the water was too darn cold to cross the creek to check them out this time
6. a lone buffalo along the Fort Smith highway
7. Pelicans - next three photos
8. an eagle coming in for a landing
9. me, on the bridge crossing the salt plains. The hike was 9kms long and felt like 20...I did it all without complaint...the forest was stinking hot, and there was no fresh water to cool off in or drink (I brought some) and was very proud of my out-of-shape body to make it without collapse
10. old buffalo prints, and fresh animal - possibly wolf or a plain old dog prints in the salt plain
11. the salt plains, with the spring run-off drying up
12. salt plains again - note all the rocks that drive down with the ice during spring runoff
13. black bear, along the Pine Lake road
14. sunset at Pine Lake, where we camped...it was gorgeous!
15. delicate harebells aka hairbells
16. more of the salt plains
17. Buffalo in the next 3 shots - note the tiny light brown calf poking its nose out around mumma's tail
18. Ptarmigan in the tree - he thinks I can't see him but I CAN!
19. a collapse sinkhole near Angus Firetower on the Fort Smith highway
20. Buffalo on the Fort Smith Highway
21. a lone bear snacking on top of an old beaver den
22. buffalo herd on the Pine Lake road

I know there are a lot of photos, but they were all so interesting to me! I snapped 250 this weekend (loving digital photography) so this is but a mere handful of them. We were eventually rained out, but the bugs weren't bad, the temps were cooler, and I slept one night in my hammock, and last night in my car (rainy night and we had a bear visit earlier with a cub who chewed up my sleep mask and water containter - I wasn't tempting fate by sleeping in my hammock where she found my sleep mask...)

Big Game In Town

There was a community ball game today, with the teachers, one RCMP, a Band member and myself against the high school students...We KICKED ASS and beat them 9 -5, with two of the runs batted in from YOURS TRULY! I hit the ball all three times at bat, and was struck out the first time, then got my runs in...pretty good for someone who hasn't played ball in about 25 years AND was wearing a skirt and sandals...

May 24 Long Weekend

The usual trek for me has been camping and this year shall prove no different! Despite K.'s sentiments that it was still "winter" and therefore too cold to go camping, I have traded her in for a hardy camper...one of the teachers here in town had planned on going south to Fort Smith to camp and now I am tagging along with her. And now it's snowing. Perhaps there was something to that "winter camping" comment...

But then I checked the forecast for the Fort Smith area this weekend and it promises to be 16C on both Saturday and Sunday...I can handle that. The nights are to be chilly though, with temps in single digits, close to zero...brrrr...

So...I just have to pack the right gear is all...warm sleeping bag, extra blankets, and my new tent. I hope to be sleeping in the hammock though, and will put my tarp up over it. The good thing is, with colder temps at night, mosquitoes won't be as pesky and go into hiding. I haven't had much issue in the past few years at night with them regardless of location. We shall see...

We are planning on doing some hiking on the salt plains, which I have never seen before so that's cool...and there should be lots of buffalo as we will be within Wood Buffalo Park. I'd best make sure my camera is fully charged because I'm going to put it to work! I wasn't able to find any photos of the salt plains online, but you can bet there will be when I get back...

I am considering taking along my kayak as well, though would prefer to take a canoe...still trying to procure a second hand one yet, and though I have a lead, haven't accomplished it just yet.

Now I have to go get the shovels back out of the shed...KIDDING! There isn't enough to shovel.

Swans and Sunset

Another beautiful sunset...and many swans creating quite a racket...their little ones are with them, and they are quite protective, driving off any other swan that gets too close.

Swan Lake

I took these photos this morning after I heard the racket on the way to check the mail. These are swans, and you can see some ducks in the background. Clearly I was not disguised enough to creep any closer as they took flight shortly after. I had my new rubber boots on and would have crept around the lake, but they were choking my thick calves, so I had to come home and chop them off. I'll probably head back later today to see if I can find a different spot to creep up on them for some real close up shots. Click on them to see the full size photo - much better to look at.

Urban Art In Yellowknife

This artwork, save for the one witht he hardhat, are on the outside wall of the mall downtown in Yellowknife.

Snow In May

I'm here in Yellowknife for the week on duty travel - training for adoptions appointment and woke up to SNOW this morning. Yup, you heard it here...snow. I was not impressed. It's been much warmer south of here in Fort Res, 13C yesterday alone, and 20C on the weekend. It is just a dusting, but its still snowing...yuck. Good thing I brought some shoes and a jacket...

I remember one of my daughter's great aunt's telling me that May snow was good for sore eyes...perhaps I shall be out collecting later...

Ties To The Past

Being the ex-base brat that I am, I've lived an often nomadic life. There's been 29 or so moves, 10 different schools. It doesn't really bother me much for the most part. I've enjoyed living in various parts of this vast country, and still have aspirations of living on the prairies, and on the coast of BC at some point in my life. Currently I'm checking out the north and what it has to offer for a few years, and following that, likely some international work.

What this nomadic life has done though, is make it tough to keep ties with the past. There are so many different faces from all of those years, particularly as a child in school. Typical base brats made friends easily as we were all in the same boat and most of us had a good group of friends within days of moving in, friendships forging quickly. We all knew we might only have one year together as our parents shifted us from one base to the next, generally 2-3 years between moves. Living through those moves prior to the age of web craze, during times when long distance used to cost a living fortune, our usual way to maintain touch was through letter contact. Often I continued for a few years with one friend or another, but with move after move, we eventually lost touch. I've only been able to maintain 2 relationships with friends I attended school with - one from grades 3-6 and one from grades 7-9 and 12.

That is, until recent efforts on the internet. Initially through Classmates.com but since their fees get in the way of contact for many people, it has had it's challenges. I have reconnected with some old classmates that way, and it's been great. Then came Facebook. Yeah, you've heard of it. It's the new rage sweeping the nation. And it is there that I have begun reconnecting with various stages of my life.

And the point I am beleaguredly attempting to fumble through at this late hour is that living the life I have, it's been difficult at times to define where home is, and to maintain ties to the past. Without such minimal contact until recently with people I went to school with, there is a huge chunk of my life that is remembered to me only by my family members. Now that I've reconnected, it is so refreshing to hear from old school friends and hear their memories of those younger years.

Another challenge I've had for many years is finding friends my own age. I know...sounds real lame ass loser...but it's quite simple. Once I settled down at the tender age of 18 with my much older husband to play house and raise our daughter, I lived for 12 years in a community with not one single person my own age. From there I went to university for 7 years - surrounded by fresh young faces and old fart profs. Following that has been working at agencies where I worked with one person my own age for less than a year. If you haven't gone to school in the area you live, it is often challenging to meet people from your era.

Ok, it's closing in on midnight and I don't think I've made one bit of sense, lol. I guess what I have been trying to say is that I finally feel like I have ties to my past again, that those 18 years in my parents home, living on military bases have rejoined themselves to my life story. That, and gee it's been nice to chat with people who are exactly the same age as me...

Pussy Willows = SPRING!

Spotted these out in my yard today, and couldn't resist. Now I believe that spring is here. The temp is about 15C tonight and I think we are about a month ahead of the Yukon, compared to my spring experience there last year. There are little buds on the trees here everywhere!