The cabin is on Victor Bay, over the hills from Arctic Bay. Now Victor Bay has an easily accessible area, about 4 kilometres by road over the town. Historically this is where people set up camp in the late spring and into summer. Because of its topography Arctic Bay is a bit of a solar oven, and our snow goes out earlier than surrounding areas. Snow melt equals water on the ice and that, in turn, equals break up.
Sea ice is a different than fresh water ice. It keeps its strength and doesn't rot as the temperatures rise. Melt water, pooling on the surface, acts as a lens and creates weak spots in the ice as the season progresses. That leads to the break up of the ice. So because of those factors, the ice on Arctic Bay goes out quicker than Adam's Sound, Admiralty Inlet, and Victor Bay.
So when people return from camping in the spring, they return through Victor Bay, and the same with the hunters at the floe edge. The route there is faster through Victor Bay, and the ice holds up longer. So, traditionally Victor Bay is where camping happens in the spring and summer. When I first got up here you would see 40 to 50 wall tents there, but as time has gone on much of those are now replaced with cabins. Its also the location of the local golf course, probably the most northerly golf course in the world.
That easily accessible area of Victor Bay is not where our cabin is. Ours is across the bay from there, near a small river, and three other cabins. They belong to my in-laws, another couple, and the third is shared by them. It is an unfinished cabin that is mostly used as storage.
So getting there isn't always easy, and transporting material to the cabin can be challenging at times.
In the summer, the standard way to get there is by ATV trail. It is about 10 kilometres. About half of that is road, up from our place out to the most beautiful sewage lagoon in the world. Seriously, look at that view. Behind me is the lagoon. And at the other side you have another great view overlooking Arctic Bay. The ATV trail goes from that point, down to the bay, along the shore, across a river, and then up over a steep hill. On the other side of the hill it continues along the shore, across the river by the cabin and you're there. The cabin is just beyond the point you see above the trailer. In fact, from that vantage point you can see the top of it above that point. (not in this picture, as it wasn't up then.)
Although we can take some stuff by trailer, it isn't easy. The trailer is heavy, and with much of a load it gets very difficult to get over the hill, especially in wet weather. Usually getting material there looks like this…
and this…
Early on my son and brother-in-law took in much of the plywood for the initial build by trailer. But they needed two ATVs to pull the trailer loads up over the hill.
The route can also be challenging in spring, and with heavy rains. In Spring runoff times the rivers get very high, some times too high to cross safely. Same with heavy and persistent rains. This summer was especially bad for rain, and there were sketchy crossings and much erosion. Part of the hill even slumped due to the rains. Those times, and fall, are further complicated when there are high tides.
A further complication in the Fall is that the Hamlet needs to draw down the sewage lagoon every fall. So, for a week or more the trail down to the shore is a stream of sewage that you drive through and around. There are alternative routes, but none of them are easy, and all are very rough over hummocky tundra, and wet areas.
Despite any of those challenges I very much enjoy travelling there by trail, and in the spring, summer, and fall, it is almost a daily event. After work I'd head out, get some work done, and head back in time for Leah getting off work so I could make supper. As you might have guessed the views are spectacular and there are birds and wildlife to watch along the way.
In the winter things change. As the season progresses it gets harder and harder to get there by ATV. Snow along the trail, sometimes with large drifts. And the rapidly changing light soon means you're going there and coming back in the dark. But once the bay freezes enough we have a new route to take, and can even get there by truck once the ice is thick enough. That route is by road to Victor Bay, and then across the bay on the ice to the cabin. This continues right into spring, until the cracks get too wide to cross easily. We can use this route by ATV (when its warm enough) by snowmobile, and by truck. We can haul material if needed by qamutiq behind the snowmobile or trailer (if the snow isn't too deep).
Getting our metal for the roof there involved tying two qamutiiq together as it was too long to fit on one. It worked well, up until the point of getting it off the ice. But eventually using a couple of snowmobiles and longer ropes it was delivered on site.
So getting there isn't always easy. But it almost always worth the trip.
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I just have to tell you that I read some of this post out loud to Roger. We both said, “Wow” many times. It is wild when I think about it how I complain when the temps here are less than 40 F degrees. I’m such a baby! It surprised me so much that you sometimes drive trucks on the frozen bay ice. I love reading about life there.
Our sea ice is frozen for 9 months of the year, and is really our highway for much of that. Dating back 5000 years by dog team, then snowmobiles, and eventually ATVS, and now trucks all travel on it.