There is no doubt you have experienced the warm weather Yellowknife is having, if you haven’t you should definitely come on up. Part of me can’t believe I’m going to say this, but this the warmest March 1 I have experienced in the north. I can remember 6 years ago camping towards the end of March in a tent at the other end of Prosperous Lake in -50 temperatures.
Without getting in to the argument about the environment and Global Warming I curious to hear other thoughts on this weather. I know personally, I have had my guard up this entire winter in anticipation for -40 weather. I even am still betting we will get a least a week of -20 to -35 weather before the spring actually gets here.
With the warm weather brings on the mucky roads and sidewalks. Stores have trails of rocks and mud through out. Here are some pictures from this afternoon.
Over and over I seem to be talking about why I love Yellowknife and the North. Well I have once again found another reason. I mentioned that I love the clear, blue skied, days we get here in the winter and alone with those days we seem to see more visitors. Not the visitors like you think though, I was thinking more of the white, fluffy, winged kind or better know as Ptarmigan.
You may not think they are good for anything, or good at anything either, but you are wrong. Well, okay, maybe you’d be slightly right, and I suppose they can’t figure out how to pick through your garbage like their second cousin the Raven. What they can do magnificently well though, is camouflage. Have you ever seen a ptarmigan in the summer? Probably not! That is because they’ll look like just another bush among the trees. It is much the same in the winter; the white balls of fluff plop themselves in the fluffy snow and you’d never know they were there.
That is exactly what happened to me the other day. I walked up my driveway and in the front door and found a cat that was going crazy at the front window. When I peered out the window to see what the commotion was I was shock to see what I had just walked past. No word of a lie there must have been 50 ptarmigan sitting on the lawn. I quickly grabbed my camera and snuck back outside, only scaring away a couple.
A couple weeks ago I took a basic digital photography class put on by Dave Brosha, so as I was prancing around the yard I was trying to remember what he had taught me. I’m sure if I had of practiced what he had taught me the following photos would have turned out better, but here are some ptarmigan for your enjoyment. Tell me what you like the most about Yellowknife Winters?
With all the warm weather we have had lately I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to get out on the snowmobile and explore Yellowknife Bay. I started on Frame Lake and made my way to Back Bay and Yellowknife Bay from there. If you have never had the opportunity to walk, ski, drive or snowmobile Yellowknife Bay I highly recommend you do so. The Bay holds a very special place in Yellowknife, with so many unique things to see.
One of them being something we may take for granted is the road system on the ice. With roads leading from houseboat to houseboat to the castle and the Fish Plant all built on a couple feet of ice. It is something that is just neat in its self. Having roads leading from place to place you have a better chance to get up close to the several houseboats occupying the area and admire some of the architecture. Along with seeing the houseboats you of course can also see the construction of the Snow King’s Castle, if it isn’t finished already, and see what hard work is put into each year.
I always find it surreal to drive a vehicle on the ice right beside a boat frozen in the ice. Just the thought alone sounds surreal, this is why I love Yellowknife.
There are so many interesting and unique places and structures around the bay, to many to name all of them. What are your favorite things around the bay or rather what sticks out the most to you?
For the last couple days, the skies have been clear, sun bright, weather cold and massive sun dogs have appeared. They are spectacular to see in real life but we can’t always stop in the middle of the road and appreciate them. Even if you try to find a great place to see them, by the time you do the sun will have gone down. These sun dogs are something maybe not rare to come by, but a treat when they come out. Here in Yellowknife
Do you see the sun dog at some point in the last couple days? How often do sun dogs normally show up in Yellowknife?
