Saturday, June 6, 2015

Whitefish Lake, North West Territories

For a very interesting summer or two Will spent 6 weeks flying out of Yellowknife, on Great Slave Lake, bringing the guests to an eco-tourist lodge on Whitefish Lake, 100 miles to the east.

During the week he was based at the lodge, flying guests out to the tundra in search of wildlife to photograph - here a small group of Muskox.

He described flying over this landscape as fascinating.  The summer season is scarcely 6 weeks, and by early August the low scrubby vegetation is turning red as 'fall' arrives.  The open gravelly ridge in this picture is an esker.

His most interesting reports to us were of time spent on the ground with National Geographic photographers in search of Arctic Foxes.  I've only been that far north once, but it is a fascinating landscape!

These are the cute little 'Sic-Sics', the Arctic Ground Squirrel whose warning call is 'tsik-tsik'.

And this is a somewhat blurry wolf cub they came upon.

And in Will's words, this is a Grizzly, 'that almost ate us' - perhaps too close for comfort.

And the almost obligatory picture of the plane at the dock as the moon rose.

14 comments:

  1. What an adventure. Awesome scenic shots and cool wildlife sightings. Have a happy weekend!

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  2. Wow, what a wonderful place to be, and your captures are beautiful too.

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  3. So special to have Will's photos, and extra so for you sharing with us all.Beautiful last one.

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  4. He enjoyed photography I can tell by his photos, and he loved planes too! :)

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  5. Nice collection of photos from the far north.

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  6. Wonderful photos. I really like the second one looking down at the red scrubby vegetation. The arctic ground squirrels are really cute.

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  7. Will's photos bring back memories of good times of long ago. The Arctic is a beautiful land.

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  8. What beautiful photos . One day I would love to go to Alaska to take photos and to take Arial shots as well ! Thanks for sharing these are amazing . Have a good day !

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  9. wonderful to see this area, thank you for sharing.

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  10. Wonderful pictures. Those aerial shots are stunning. I knew the summer was short, I just had no idea it is only six weeks! :-)

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  11. Did Will leave a journal? His photos are gifts to us all.

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  12. Looks like Will had a fun-filled adventurous life. It's great that you have so many of his photos.

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  13. You are reminding me of so many great flying trips we took in Canada. I miss it now that our plane is no longer allowed to cross the border now that we are permanent residents here. But the trade is OK with me. I love living in BC. - Margy

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