It's yellow here

It's fall in Smith -- and has been for a few weeks.  I have to admit I was a little concerned at the beginning of September when there was ice on my windshield every morning and temperatures didn't venture about 6 or 7 C for a few weeks.  But we had a reprieve this weekend -- beautiful sunshine, probably reaching mid teens yesterday.  We took a little hike out to a really unusual and interesting spot called Grosbeak Lake, in Wood Buffalo National Park.  It was a scouting trip for my Geology field trip today.  My teacher friends in Ottawa will be quite jealous to see my class -- only 7 students in this class and field trips really are so easy (and free for students).

Yellow definitely dominates the autumn scene here  -- poplar, tamarack and some birch.... and while there are some smatterings of red, nothing like Ontario and Western Quebec.  I do miss that, but this spot quickly took my mind away from what I was missing.  It is a very shallow salty basin (remnant from an inland tropical sea), with no vegetation due to the salt.  It is strewn with rocks of all types that were carried from hundreds of kilometres way by glaciers some ten thousand years ago.  But what is most unusual is the weathering that has resulted from the salt and freeze/thaw -- some very interesting pock marks and rocks that look like they have just exploded on the spot.  Also on our trip today we saw a male moose running down the side of the road (the hunters were salivating) and a big bison in the park.

Also included is a shot of the river running through town as well as our newly paved path -- it was unveiled for the Terry Fox Run, which was a great way to get everyone out and using it.  This was our favourite dog walking place before the paving -- but now it is too busy.  I guess it's a good thing to have more people using it, but we have since done some more exploring and found more great trails nearby.

Summer in Smith

Its hard to believe the summer is over -- it really flew by.  We had an amazing 'first' summer up here (yes we've already decided it won't be our last) and were very very  happy that Rob's boys, Jake and Jamie, were able to come up.

I spent the first three weeks of summer teaching for Aurora College's Teacher Education Program in Edzo (see earlier post). When I got back to Smith we only had three weekends left with the boys and we crammed in a lot.  Here is a quick recap of some of the highlights:

• Canada Day -- the boys were in Smith and I was in Rae. 
• Story telling festival and Aikaitcho Assembly -- my fist experience watching Dene hand games. Its a guessing game with high stakes -- apparently a lot of betting goes on (sometimes tens of thousands of dollars).  The drums, energy and showboating are amazing -- you can watch for hours.    
• Annual Pine Lake Picnic in the Park (Wood Buff) -- lots of food and fun -- the boys participated in traditional Dene games as well as a canoe race while I helped out with the kayak demonstrations.
•  A fly-in fishing trip to a cabin owned by one of Rob's staff on Lake Germaine.  It was a beautiful spot -- lots of fishing, hanging by the fire, swimming, canoeing, boating, eating, etc. -- a great little getaway.  
• Paddlefest on the Slave River (see earlier post). 
• An evening trip to the Salt Plains (WBNP), a unique habitat with salt mounds and a great place to check out tracks. 
• Road trip down to Edmonton -- included are some photos from Alexandra Falls, NWT.
•  We also did a rafting trip on the Nahanni near the end of August-- see separate post below

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!