North for a weekend of warmth

We’ve now been in Yellowknife for six months and have adjusted to life here. When I missed a skype call from my sister over Easter she left a message saying we must have gone away for the weekend. I called her back and said I’d laughed at her message, because when you live in Yellowknife you don’t just “go away for the weekend”. Cause there’s no where to go.

By nowhere I mean that you can’t just jump in your car after work on a long weekend and drive somewhere like in most places. Nicole had another jaunt of traveling around the north last week for work, so we decided that I’d fly north and meet her for the weekend. Not a cheap plan but an opportunity nonetheless.

I took Friday off work and flew up to Norman Wells. Nicole returned to Norman Wells soon after I landed from her jaunt around the far north, and while she continued to work in the afternoon I enjoyed walking around town in the balmy 26 degree weather – I was roasting.

The people Nicole had meet through her work up there embraced us like long lost locals. So we joined half the town at the Legion (Canada’s version of a NZ RSA) on Friday evening and had a few beers. We were invited to dinner on Saturday night by Nicole’s client who then proceeded to win two of the five meat raffles.

The Legion - Norman Wells

 

On Saturday morning after breakfast at the local dinner I guided Nicole around the local Tourist Centre/Museum which I’d checked out thoroughly on Friday afternoon. We were then picked up by a couple of Nicole’s contacts to go hiking. It’s bear season and although I’m still keen to see a bear, I not so keen to see one jump out onto a trail in front of me. Luckily we had two local guys (Art and Dave) to ease our fears – Art taking the lead, bear spray in hand, and Dave at the rear with a machete sticking out of his pack.

We hiked along the ski trails that they frequent in winter and although we did see bear tracks we didn’t see any bears. They usually see about one bear on average every year.  Art told us about a crazy Japanese guy that came to Norman Wells a few years ago (and stayed with Art), attempted a cycle trip through the region, saw seven bears on his first day, slept in an abandoned hut and awoke to find his bike seat chewed off by a bear. He wrote “pick me up” with stones on the edge of the river and a helicopter happened to fly over and picked him up!

The funniest line of the day had to go to Nicole though. Standing on a ridge having the features pointed out to us while admiring the snow capped ridges, Nicole then said: “So how far down does the snow go in winter?”. Art gave her a strange look, and I then tried to ease Nicole out of her embarrassment by saying “You’re not in New Zealand now Nicole”. Art’s response was: “Click your heals Dorothy, you’re not in Kanas now”.

Hiking in Norman Wells

 

We returned to our hotel and were then picked up for dinner and taken to the coolest house we’ve seen in the north. About 6 kms out of town, set back from the road amongst a dense stand of trees we sat on the deck drinking beer and watching dinner get cooked for us on the barbeque.

The wide and fast flowing Mackenzie River was pretty cool to watch as big chunks of ice floated north towards the Beaufort Sea. Listening to it was quite an experience. The force of the the break up creates huge piles up of ice and demolished trees along the banks of the river, and the sound of creaking ice is almost disconcerting.

By Sunday morning we felt like we knew half the town. While Norman Wells isn’t your usual tourist destination, having the benefit of Nicole’s local contacts (and great weather) we had a fantastic time.

Who knows if I’ll ever make it back there, but with the warmth of the people and the weather we experienced, I’m sure glad I went.

"City Hall" in Norman Wells

Tags: Norman Wells, Yellowknife