Getting There

Getting to Banks Island isn't easy, and it takes a while. The starting point of our trip was Inuvik, a village in Canada's Northwest Territories on the Mackenzie River delta. To reach Inuvik, we first flew from Boston to Edmonton. We stayed overnight in Edmonton, where we met up with Susan, another of the trip participants. We were all staying in the same hotel and were on the same connecting flight. I should point out that there aren't that many options for getting to Inuvik, so being on the same connecting flight is less of a coincidence than it might sound.


The next morning we boarded a Canadian North flight from Edmonton to Inuvik. We flew on a modified Boeing 737 - modified to carry fewer passengers and a lot more cargo than normal. Considering the amount of gear we were all hauling, we were happy that bag allowances on Canadian North are more liberal than most carriers. Plus, the food service is a lot better. Warm cinnamon bannock - yum!

Coincidentally, our seat companion, a Canadian health safety inspector, had attended college near Wichita and still returns to the area from time to time. He and Lora spent much of the flight reminiscing about their lives in Kansas, and we learned a lot about the oil industry in northern Canada from him.


The flight made stops in Yellowknife and Norman Wells before arriving in Inuvik. At each stop we had the option of getting off the plane and going into the terminal while cargo was off-loaded. In the Yellowknife terminal there is a map on the floor showing a view of the globe from the perspective of the North Pole. Banks sits between latitudes 72-74°N. There are places to visit that are farther north than Banks, but not a lot of them.

Our first view of Inuvik revealed a small town surrounded by water. The Mackenzie is a dominating feature of the landscape, but the sheer number of lakes and ponds is amazing. Being very close to the northern limit of trees, we mainly observed stands of black spruce and willow.

Arriving in Inuvik around 1:00 pm, we were greeted by our friends Karen and MC, who had arrived the day before after having driven Karen's truck all the way from Vancouver, the last 450 miles along the Dempster Highway. They had hauled the majority of the gear and food we would be using. It takes several days to do the drive, but if you've got the time, it's a lot less expensive than the cost of shipping all that gear to Inuvik.

We were soon joined by Alycia, the sixth and final member of our group, who had flown Air North via Whitehorse. We piled our gear (and some of us) into the back of Karen's pickup and headed off to the Arctic Chalet, where we were greeted by hosts Judi and Olav. Not only did we have a really comfortable set of rooms with a kitchenette, but we also had a nice porch that overlooked the lake.

Judi and Olav raise white huskies and offer dog-sled tours in winter. The huskies are very well-behaved. In addition to our view of the lake, we had a good view of the husky pens. Despite our proximity we were never disturbed by the dogs.



Judi and Olav offer a boarding service for guests who travel with pets. Guests' dogs stay in a small pen adjacent to the main pen. Here we see a visiting couple taking their dog out for a walk.

This also gave us an opportunity to observe how interested the huskies are in other dogs. They seemed particularly interested in this little guy ...


Next morning we were up bright and early and back at the Inuvik airport for our Aklak Air flight to the Thomsen River on a Twin Otter. One of the neat things about this plane is its short take-off and landing capabilities, making it a work-horse of bush aviation in the far north. This plane sported tundra tires for landings on gravel bars and flat tundra strips.

The weather was really warm - temperatures were approaching 85°F. The mosquitoes were out in force and we were all wearing the lightest-weight clothes we had. We weren't deluding ourselves, though. We all had multiple thermal layers in our backpacks, knowing that 200 miles to the north the weather would be quite different when we got to the river.

Here we are, waiting for the flight to depart. Except for the folding Ally 811 canoes, all of our gear and food for 15 days can be seen in the photo.

Our destination was the South Boundary Landing Site, a strip of flat tundra along the Thomsen River about 10km north of the southern boundary of Aulavik National Park. The 2.5 hour flight from Inuvik took us north-east out across the Amundsen Gulf to the island. There was still a good bit of ice in the waters between the mainland and the island. Once over the island, we flew north toward our landing site in the park, diverting occasionally to get better views of muskox and caribou. The park itself sits at the northern end of the island straddling the Thomsen River valley, and makes up something like 20% of the island.

Flying along, we were once again struck by how wet the landscape is. Tundra ponds, small creeks, and swampy ground were everywhere. The island itself is quite flat and sparsely vegetated. Many of the small creeks and ponds were still were covered with ice.

I have heard the high arctic described as a place that is indifferent to one's survival. Looking down on that landscape, I found myself reflecting on those words and wondering what challenges we would face in the coming days.