I opened the curtain of the hotel room and light flooded inside. Greg Lehn and I packed up and went downstairs for an early breakfast before our flight out at 10 AM. The town of Yellowknife (population 19,000) is the capital city and largest community of Canada’s Northwest Territory. Despite its seclusion from most of North America, Yellowknife has many so-called common amenities, and this hotel was no exception. I had access to internet, a running shower (with hot water I might add…), and the meals were substantial – not exactly what I expected after three flights and almost 1900 miles from home. Yellowknife is famous partially for the kimberlite pipes that produced diamonds in the area. This mining town might be remote, but it had all of the signs of your everyday city. We ate our breakfast buffet, packed up, and headed to the Yellowknife Airport. As we arrived at the airport a line from Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild crossed my mind:

“I now walk into the wild.”

~Chris McCandless

The plane had sixteen seats and was filled in the middle with cargo bound for Kugluktuk and Cambridge Bay. We boarded the twin-propped plane and pointed north.

The ground below was speckled with small lakes extending to the horizon. As we travelled north the lakes became covered in ice.

The ice was filled with holes and cracks, indicating the summer melt had begun.

Two hours after our wheels left the ground the plane touched down on the gravel runway outside Kugluktuk.

Johnny from Enokhok Inn was waiting at the airport to bring our gear and us back to the Inn. We loaded our equipment and bags into his truck and made the short trek down a gravel road toward town. After we checked into our rooms, we took off to pick up a rental car to help us transport gear for the next week while we’re in town. Next we made our way to the local Hunter and Trapper Association (HTO) to meet with Barbara and discuss our plan for collecting samples on the Coppermine River.

Barb and the HTO will assist us for the duration of the project that is based in Kugluktuk. We agreed to explain the project to the board members for the HTO the following day at 3 PM. We headed back to Enokhok Inn and got organized for the day. Greg and I organized the sampling packages that we will leave in Kugluktuk so water samples can be taken throughout the summer after we leave. This will provide a more complete picture of the chemistry of the river throughout the summer melt season. After completing this, our legs were itching to go for a hike, so we headed out toward the hill that overlooks the west side of town.

Despite being very close to the hill, it took a little time to find a suitable path for the hike. Several of our first attempts were met with curious dogs, which we decided to avoid due to their over-the-top enthusiasm to see us (…lots of barking). We trekked to the to top of the hill and turned around to check out the town below.

Kugluktuk is a town of about 1,450 people nestled between low-lying hills and the Coppermine River. It is the westernmost community of the Nunuvat. The word ‘Kugluktuk’ means ‘place of moving water.’ The root for this name, ‘kugluk,’ means ‘waterfall.’ To the north lies Coronation Bay at the mouth of the Coppermine River.

Across the bay, small snow covered islands rise out of the ice that still blankets the warming water below. Between yesterday and today ice from the river finally began to break up and flow into the bay. For this brief period, the flow of the river increases and it is dangerous to be out on the water due to the chunks of ice and the strength of the current. However, by the time of the hike the fireworks were over and the river glided along calmly.

Next we walked down to Coronation Bay. We talked to a man and his wife who had both graduated from Kugluktuk High School and recently had their first baby girl. The high school and the Kugluktuk Elementary School sit proudly on a hill up the road from the bay.

A large metal fish swims on the side of the high school – a symbol of the arctic char that can be captured in the bay. On the road we pass a man named Roy who offers to sell us a carving of a man ice fishing that he made himself. We talked to him for a minute, but we walked on without purchasing anything. We returned to Enokhok Inn for the night. As I fell asleep close to midnight the sun was still sneaking around the gaps in the curtains. To think a place can be totally light outside in the middle of the night – I felt very enlightened…