Three pink rings and five stones

Friday, August 3, 2007

INUVIK, NWT — Another early rise today, to take the truck to the mechanic who handles Fords in town. His name is Tom, and after we explained our oil leak problem, he told us to come back around coffee break to see what he could do. The Inuvik Fire Department truck had a job that obviously took priority. So we whiled away a couple of hours and went back, and Tom said he’d probably be able to help us out. Heartened by this news, we headed back to town on foot, taking in some more of the sights as we went.
We tried to visit the community greenhouse, a unique feature of Inuvik in a reclaimed skating arena which allows individual gardeners as well as commercial farmers to grow fresh produce locally. We could see some of the plants growing, through one window, but the building was locked tight and tours were available only in the evening.
We had other plans for this evening — the Arctic Nature Tours folks told us they could fly us up to Tuktoyaktuk at 6:30 pm for a three-hour tour, since another three people had also signed up. We were delighted with this news.
It was good to do some walking and see more of the town. Inuvik’s buildings are all set on pillars above the ground, and one section is called the Smarties box houses because each unit is painted a different bright colour. The homes are mostly box-shaped units, and some are trailers with porches built on the side. Very few homes have lawns and flowers; most have gravel and weeds around them. There are lots of children playing about, and they are either Inuvialuit (one local native said these are cousins of the Inuit) or from the Gwich’in community. Local signs are in English and these two languages.
At around three in the afternoon, Tom called us on the cell to say the truck was ready. So we walked back to find the truck with its hood open, running in the yard. Inside, Tom showed us the tiny shredded ring that had given way and caused the oil leak. As luck would have it, he had another set in stock, so we now have three new pink rings installed and we’re roadworthy once again! Hooray! We were so grateful to this kind man, who, in spite of a full roster of jobs on the Friday before a long weekend, managed to devote a hour to the problem of complete strangers so we could get on our way.
With our spirits considerably bouyed up, we prepared for our visit to Tuk. It meant an early supper so we would be ready for pick-up at 5:45. Soon we were off to the airport, where we met Alan, our pilot, who told us he had been flying here for two months, but flying planes since he was 16 and he’s now 26! The three other tourists, plus ourselves and Alan, all squeezed in to a small six-seater plane. Then up we went into the sky, leaving Inuvik behind and headed for the Beaufort Sea!
Below we could see a patchwork of lakes and tundra as we flew over the Mackenzie Delta. Every now and then we spotted a small fishing camp, but the rest of the land was vast and uninhabited. Our flight lasted about an hour, and down we came at Tuktoyaktuk, a town of about 1,000 people on the edge of the land with the Arctic Ocean stretching off to the horizon to the north.
We were met by Stanley Felix, an Inuvialuit resident of Tuk who used to be a widely renowned sculptor of soapstone, whalebone and ivory, traveling the world and pulling in huge amounts of money for his work. He gave it up to be a tour guide so he could live peacefully with his family in Tuk, where he has lived all his life. He was very knowledgeable about the area and the challenges of life in this part of the world, and he took us around the town, showing us the old log Anglican church that was built in 1896 and transported here in the 1940s. We also saw the entrance to the town’s deep-freeze, an underground cluster of chambers deep in the permafrost where residents can store caribou meat or fish that they have hunted. There’s a couple of sod houses built in the old style, but they are not used now.
Stanley took us to the shore so we could dip a hand or foot into the Beaufort Sea. To our astonishment, Darry, an American tourist from Seattle in our group, stripped down to swim trunks and waded in to the freezing water for a swim! But not before handing his camera to Lynn, who recorded this feat for his photo album. I had goosebumps on my goosebumps just looking at him — it was only about 10 degrees and there was a stiff wind blowing the whole time. He returned to shore, navigating through some slippery stones, toweled off and climbed back into his clothes with a huge grin on his face.
Another stop was at the Catholic church, a weatherbeaten wooden building with wooden pews. The altar cloth was made of sealskin, stamped with Arctic images, and the candlesticks were made of caribou antlers. Around the walls were handcrafted stations of the cross made from terra cotta. A very unusual church indeed!
Stanley then took us to the town’s only pingo — a raised hill caused by trapped ice that swells up above the earth’s surface from the permafrost. In the distance we could see two more pingos, the largest in the area, like huge warts on a flat landscape. They are designated heritage land by Parks Canada. There are about 1,400 pingos in this region, and the only others in the world are located in Siberia.
After a fascinating couple of hours, it was time to head back to Inuvik. On the way back to the airport, we passed several sheds with caribou antlers piled on top, bleaching in the sun for future sculptures or trophy displays.
Alan flew us over the town for one last look, and then swung out over the sea to show us beluga whales he had spotted on earlier flights. We weren’t able to see them ourselves because the sun was reflecting too much off the water to be able to see. And this was about 10 o’clock at night!
Tucked in my pocket were five smooth beach stones, each a different colour and shape, collected from the shore of the Beaufort Sea, at the most northerly spot we will probably ever visit.