Getting to the High Arctic is a lot of fun – AND a lot of hassle. Flying to any destination these days has the potential to be chaotic in terms of delayed and cancelled flights, lost luggage and missed connections. But journeying to Ellesmere Island is a major challenge even for the most intrepid traveler. We figured that adopting a sense of humor would help us solve the problems that were sure to arise (and did!). For this reason, we start our trip journal by inviting readers to share some of the daunting details of the 2500-mile trek. But anyone who wants to skip the recorded events of “getting there” and head right to “got there” can bypass Days 1 and 2 and head directly for Sunday, July 1 – Day 3.
On the flight from Minneapolis to Edmonton, Alberta, we dig out the maps of Canada that Ted Spaulding has laminated for us and review our travel route. We are used to thinking of Minnesota as “up north,” and it is – especially if you live in Virginia. But we are headed for a destination 2500 miles north of the Twin Cities. An assortment of serious winter gear has our duffels straining at the seams and our arms aching from lugging these cumbersome bags around. It’s hard to get a mental grip on the prospect of cold weather with 90-degree temperatures and suffocating humidity, impossible to imagine we’ll soon need the warm clothes in our luggage - the long underwear and the insulation-lined boots, the wool socks and wind-stopper gloves.
We have a 7-hour layover in Edmonton, and we need every minute to shop for enough food for two weeks. This foray to the grocery store is organized and hilariously chaotic at the same time. Dave has a carefully-prepared list which includes everything from A to Z – Apples to Zip-lock bags. Ignoring the curious glances of passersby, we unload our grocery carts at the front of the store and pack our supplies into sturdy produce boxes.
But we run into a problem when we check in for our flight to Yellowknife – too much stuff. However, Canadians are willing and resourceful problem-solvers, and two airline agents at First Air knock themselves out helping us rearrange our gear so it can accompany us to Yellowknife. We are forewarned, though – getting everything on the plane for the once-weekly flight from Yellowknife to Resolute Bay, tomorrow’s layover on the long journey to the edge of the polar ice cap, might be a problem. That plane will be a turbo-prop, and it is fully booked with passengers bound for the remote Inuit hamlet on Cornwallis Island. We resign ourselves to the possibility that we may have to choose between ditching the Kool Aid or the carrots, the cookies or the salami.
Despite the late hour of our arrival in Yellowknife, Dean Cluff, the Regional Biologist for the Great Slave Region in Canada’s Northwest Territories, meets us at the airport. We are always so glad to see Dean with his infectious laugh and his cheerful warmth. We get to bed as early as we can, though. We will have to deal with this potential luggage problem at the crack of dawn. We decide to throw ourselves on the mercy of the cargo agents at First Air, one of Canada’s two airlines serving the far north. If all else fails, we will keep the bags of M and M’s and give the apples to the cargo agents.
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