stubsadventures

Poncho’s dream was to lay eyes on a polar bear before they were extinct. There were several ways to go about this trip. Our way? Rent a minivan, drive to the northern most part of Manitoba you can drive to (Gillam) and take the train 12 hours north to Churchill. Along the way, we stopped and hiked in Grassy River provincial park. The confusing trails, lack of a map made it a  long 22km trip, the highlight of which was Manitoba’s largest waterfall.

We took a gamble when we went. We went right before the season and took the chance of it being too early and not seeing a bear at all. The train, normally without an empty seat during bear season, was empty practically which made for meeting some amazing new friends. When we arrived in the town, we had rented an SUV. The lady showed up with a 15 passenger van. When we inquired about the location of the SUV, she said a hunter had taken it and hadn’t come back. She didn’t seem the least bit concerned and I got a mental image of a big old polar bear with a satisfied look on his face rubbing his belly on leaning against our SUV.

The adventure began immediately. We started the tour and one of our first stops was a crashed airplane named Miss Piggy, a cargo ship that had missed the runway and no one ever bothered to move it. Driving around the barren terrain of the north, you never quite ever knew when you were going to see a bear, or if one was just on the other side of the hill you were peeing behind. Not seeing a bear for the first two days was discouraging especially after talking to people who had been there for months and never seen one. Not seeing a bear was not an option for us! We had intended on camping while we were there. When we arrived and started to talk to people, we quickly found out we would be arrested because it was so dangerous, so we quickly abandoned that plan. Had we been there during the peak season, we would have been out of luck but because we had gone early, we were able to get a hotel in town.

We set out to hike to the Ithaca, an Italian cargo ship that had run aground in 1960. When the tide is out on the bay, you can hike right up to it. On our way down the remote road to the ship, it happened. Poncho spotted a bear. He slowly came out behind a pile of rocks and for the next fifteen minutes we watched him make his way over to us. To our amazement, he was coming straight for us. It is a surreal moment. You’re always telling yourself, he’ll turn, he won’t come the whole way, anything to not get your hopes up but it happened. He made his way to the road we were on and started to head straight for us. The pictures tell the story better than I can. When he got about 20ft away, we drove off. You aren’t supposed to let the bears have interaction, that’s when they get used to people and stop being afraid. When we drove away, he looked up as if to ask where we were going! Then he took off running into the tundra.

Later, we saw a momma and a baby bear while out on a Tundra buggy tour. Near the end of the tour, we even got the opportunity to drive the buggy! Churchill with its 26km of roads, one town center that held all of its services in a building the size of my high school, polar bear horn and jail will always have a piece of my heart. I was lucky enough to see some of the worlds most beautiful creatures and once again be enchanted with the northern region of this country.

Stubs.