Slave River Paddlefest

Paddlefest - August long weekend.  Its a pretty big event for Smith -- with close to 300 participants and drawing tourists from far away to little town.

The weekend began with a 40km (4-5 hr) floatilla / race from Hay Camp to Fort Fitzgerald.  The race was between Parks, the kayak club and Smiths Landing First Nation, each in a voyageur canoe while about 40 others paddled canoes or kayaks at a more leisurely rate.  There was an amazing community feast at the end - fish, potatoes, corn, bannock, watermelon.  Kind of cool that there are at least 6  feasts in town each year.

The rest of the fest takes place at the rapids at the Mountain Portage where kayak enthusiasts play games and show off their stuff.   We have some pretty amazing rapids here - class V.   You can check out some awesome footage of the experts having fun in the water here.  And it's really a beautiful spot for spectators, too -- outcrops of shield and sandy beaches.

The rapids are actually an important part of the history of the town -- it was a necessary portage on this important transportation corridor from the south to Great Slave Lake, the Mackenzie River and the Arctic Ocean.  We probably wouldn't be here if the rapids didn't exist.

Good times -- if you do plan to come visit us in Smith sometime, I would highly recommend August long weekend!

Teaching in Edzo

My summer started out with a teaching gig in Behchoko (Edzo), a small little village of about 300 people located about 100km from Yellowknife.  Part of my teaching is for the Teacher Education Program running out of Aurora College.  It is affiliated with the University of Saskatchewan, and provides students with an opportunity to gain a B.Ed. without leaving the NWT.  Aurora College also offers a 3-year diploma (working towards the B.Ed) in different communities.  It also means that students aren't required to pack up and leave their community for the whole 4 years (they typically will not have a Bachelor's Degree). 

From an outsider (and of course that is what my observations come from), it seemed like an odd little  place.  I found myself living in a huge institution -- one that housed day care, elementary, high school as well as some college programs as well as a residence.  Of course being summer, it was largely empty, except for a 5 or 6 people who rented rooms in the residence.  I learned that the story of Edzo is that of a village relocation gone wrong.  There is another village, Rae (pop. ~1500), about 15-20 minutes away.  It is located on Marian Lake, really an arm of Great Slave Lake - a beautiful spot.  But in the 1960s, people started getting sick and it was traced back to drinking water.  There was no wastewater treatment.  Given the terrain, climate and small population, developing a cost-effective wastewater treatment system seemed out of reach.  So, the government decided to move the town.  They chose a spot right on the highway, in the middle of the bush (as opposed to waterfront like Rae).  They built the big school there in hopes that everyone would relocate, but not surprisingly, very few moved.

So now the majority of the population lives in Rae, but sends their children to school in Edzo (about 15-20 minutes away).  It was a bit gloomy and isolated, especially with limited access to internet, but the students were great and it was a good learning opportunity.

Midnight Sun

when I started this post... the days were getting visibly longer.  we're both at new jobs, so we'd usually be working away and the next thing we would realize that we had missed the national.   very nice to have a longer evening... but not so much when its hard to sleep.  it stayed light ALL NIGHT LONG.  my friend kathie gave us some foil to put on our windows -- that helps, along with some heavy duty curtains.   now, less than a month after solstice, you can feel the darkness coming.  its still not dark, but it will be.  i was looking forward to experiencing both the light and the dark.  now, i have to admit that i'm scared about losing the sun. 

Lighting up the Night

The aurora borealis, the northern lights, was definitely high on my list of things to see up north.  I had seen a few great shows in Ontario, and I was really looking forward to seeing them up close.  And I was not disappointed!  We got a spectacular show the night I arrived and have been treated to some amazing shows since -- dancing waves across the sky, shooting spikes, reds and greens.  Unfortunately, I didn't learn how to capture them on camera until it was almost getting too light to see them.  My best shots are from late April, Rob's BD celebration at Hay Camp, a Parks' warden cabin about an hour from Smith.  I'm looking forward to trying to get some better/more shots next winter!