Churchill to Tundra Buggy Lodge - Oct 22

Oct 22 

We had a later start this morning for breakfast at 8:00 in the Tundra Pub. After breakfast we put our luggage out in the hallway, and it would be delivered to our assigned bunks. Breakfast was buffet and had lots of great choices. 

We had a better weather day today than yesterday. It didn’t start to snow until we were walking around town in our free time.

after breakfast

Tundra Pub

Polar Inn

We were on the far side of the van when a Red Fox was spotted, Greg got a quick shot from the far window. Right before this photo, the fox made that classic leap on a Lemming. (small rodent) Everyone cheered on the van.

1st Red Fox - through van window

Our first stop today was the Parks Canada Visitor’s Center. There was an interpretive presentation that discussed the history, culture, and wildlife of Churchill. The speaker was passionate and very interesting. We had some free time to explore it before going for our dog sledding adventure.

me going into the center

We saw 3 more foxes on the way to the dog sledding. I was shooting like crazy and got a couple of lucky shots, they were running like crazy and this one stopped to pose.

After that we went to the Prince of Wales Fort which is now a National Historic Site. It sits on the Hudson Bay across the Churchill River from Churchill.

arrival at the fort

me in yellow

Cape Merry

Prince of Wales Fort - National Historic site

We were running a bit late, and the dogs were hooked up and ready to run. The first group was sent on their way, and we were told where to stand to wait for our sled when they came back around. It was a mile long ride through Churchill’s boreal forest. In Alaska we were helicoptered to glacier, and we did a dog sled ride on the smooth surface. Since there wasn’t much snow in Churchill, the sleds were on wheels. A bit bumpier ride than on the glacier, but it was fun. Greg took a GoPro video of our ride which I will add a link to when he is finished editing it. After everyone was finished, we went inside where David the owner talked to us about dogs including training and feeding. He also told us about long races. He was quite a character.

ready to go!

Greg getting the action on the GoPro

our dogs ready to go

After everyone was back, we could pet the dogs.

dog watering station

the dog's camp

The office

David the owner

We had lunch at the Seaport Restaurant again and this time we had the Fish & Chips. (we swapped the fries with the yam fries. After lunch we had a couple of hours of free time. It was snowing lightly and we pretty much walked the entire town. We popped into the store that served as a “anything you need is here” type of store. Groceries, clothes, furniture, and liquor. There were several souvenir shops and a few restaurants and Inns. We passed by the school and some other businesses and took in the wonderful artwork on many of the buildings. It was nice to see what we couldn’t see out of the windows yesterday. We picked up the town “crazy” person. He saw us stop for a photo and comes running across a field to say it’s for sale and then proceeded to follow us and saying crazy things. He was going to follow us into the general store, so we took off across the street an popped into a souvenir shop. He was gone when we came out, so we went into the store and picked up a few things. It was starting to snow harder, so we popped into the Tundra Pub for some drinks.

the General Store

Chamber of Commerce

tire art?

helicopter tours

Four-wheeler garage

school

post office

in honor of First Nation's mistreated children

an electric Tundra Buggy going by

Finally, around 4:30 the moment we had been waiting for came when we were transferred by bus to the Tundra Buggy Dock for the two-hour journey to the Tundra Buggy Lodge located on Polar Bear Point in the Wildlife Management Area. The Churchill Wildlife Management Area is a controlled zone that buffers Wapusk National Park. The national park is heavily restricted, so the majority of visitor activity is limited to the Wildlife Management Area.

The buggies back up to the lodge and there are 2 sleeper areas. One group of 20 in Hearne and 20 in La Perouse.  We were in La Perouse, the farthest from the lounge and dining “cars”. Each area is separated by a viewing platform, and you have to be careful to shut the doors each time. The next area is the lounge where you can hang out. Beyond that is the dining room and the rest of the lodge is the kitchen and the staff’s areas. Each sleeping room has 3 bathrooms 2 with showers. Water is at a premium so it’s quick short showers.

At no time do we walk on the ground.  We met the staff and were assigned bunks. We had appetizers in the lounge and dinner was served. Our first dinner was elk tenderloin with roasted vegetables. It was melt in your mouth tender and very tasty. Dessert was a chocolate brownie with mocha whipped cream, chocolate sauce & blackberry sauce. Off to a good start!

the buggy dock

inside the buggy

buggies leaving the management area

sunset

the lodge

the day's events displayed on the TV

Elk medallions 

dessert

It was dark and there came a call of bear out the window! We were getting settled into our bunks and people on the other side said there was a bear out of the window. We all went running out to get terrible photos of our first polar bear. 

We didn’t expect to see Northern Lights since it had been cloudy. Everyone made their way back to bed and I kept looking out the window for bears and checking out the sky which had stars and watching for lights. I don’t know what time it was, but Bryan was coming down the aisle, saying “the lights are out”.

So, people went out to the viewing platform and up to the observation deck to check them out. We all had just tossed on some clothes over our night wear and watched them. They weren’t colorful, but fun to watch them swirl about. OK, our first night was awesome as we saw a bear and lights! There never is a guarantee that you will see either. Of course, we all hoped to see bears in the daylight. Not much sleep happened that night. Everyone was just so excited. 

We haven't gone through all the photos & videos yet, but if there are any of the lights, I'll include them later. Once the videos of our sled dog ride are done, I will include them. 

Tomorrow, we have our first full day buggy adventure! Spoiler alert - better bear photos to come! 

For larger photos: 

Churchill to Tundra Buggy Lodge https://photos.app.goo.gl/oJtm47jqmu3ASnzn6