It was time for Polar Picnic II. Last year on our last day, the staff took us out to Twin Lakes for a campfire lunch. We have always called it,"The Polar Picnic". This year, we were invited to repeat the experience with the North of 58 group. We love the folks in this small group. Some of them were in our aurora group last year. In fact, one of them had been reading Brian's blog, and decided that she needed to come back. And she did!
This time, we headed out in 3 komatiks. It was about a 12 kilometer ride out to Twin Lakes, and we travel across several tundra ponds. There are tundra ponds everywhere, but they are not very deep. Basically, they are drainage for the wet lands of the tundra, and so shallow that most freeze to the bottom. In open areas, the wind blows much of the snow from the surface, so you see the lake surfaces glistening in the sunlight.
Our first stop was to build a quinzhee. This group built an igloo a few days ago, and a quinzhee was the second structure on their curriculum for the week. Brian and I slept in one last year, but we never did get to see how it was constructed. Mike, our director, first selected a location with the right kind of snow. He also checked for obstacles like rocks or fallen logs. Then he invited everyone to come into the circle and stomp on the snowpack. There was a bit of a miracle as the snow turned into this sugary, crystalline snow. Then everyone shoveled and swept the snow into a giant pile. Indeed, it was like shoveling sugar. Mike told us that we needed to leave it for a few hours to harden up before we excavated a cave. I was very skeptical that this would happen.
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| The group stomps on the snow before starting |
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| Now it is swept up into a giant pile |
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| Here you can see our komatik, quinzhee, and the ball of mistletoe. |
Off we went for a lesson in snow ecology and snow sampling. They study the snowpack up here as well as many other places, to determine how much water is going to be released when it all melts. That is a huge oversimplification, but perhaps enough for this blog. Brian and I had seen this demo before, so I went off to photograph the landscape. One of the things that tickled me was this white spruce nursery! These baby trees were so cute, especially when you take a look at their impressively large shadows! Another interesting site that you can see in the photo is a giant ball near the top of a spruce tree. This is actually mistletoe, a parasitic plant, but I didn't get to hear the rest of the information. It was huge!
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| Mike does snow sampling with help from his class. |
We hopped back onto the komatiks to head down to our campfire, where we roasted smokies (hotdogs), sausages,
bannock (a quick bread), and marshmallows. All was yummy.
Then it was time for snowshoes and for snowmobile rides. Everyone got to take the snowmobile out for a ride. We had a 14 year old guest from Florida, and he was quite excited. Actually, everyone enjoyed their ride- even Brian.
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| Rachelle roasts her smokie and her boot soles. |
The last task was to complete the quinzhee. Lo and behold, it had really hardened! Mike pointed out that you should choose the entrance on a side that is not in line with the prevailing winds. Of course, the wind would blow snow and cold air inside, and on the opposite side, snow would form a big drift. So choose a side to the right or the left of the side with the prevailing wind! When excavating, we went right to the ground, as you get some heat from the earth. Everyone (but me) took a turn crawling in to do some excavating. At the end, everyone including me, took a turn crawling in and looking around. It was so quiet inside!
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| I believe these are Brian's feet hanging out! |
Time to head home over our snow road, through boreal forests and across tundra ponds. It is hard to believe that we could have had such a long, fun packed day, at such a chilly temperature. Fortunately the sun was out and there was very little wind. There certainly was a ton of joy. Thanks CNSC, for inviting us!
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