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How one SI member spent his summer vacation

By Michael Lane posted 12-05-2017 14:14

  

Growing up near the 55th parallel in Western Canada, I knew most of the country thought we lived in the north, but I also knew there was a whole lot more of Canada further north yet. I spent much of my youth studying maps of the north, reading the poetry of Robert Service, and listening to older siblings and friends tell stories of their northern adventures. And then there was that giant, mysterious lake named Great Bear - simultaneously one of the largest, most northern, most inaccessible, and, for all of those reasons, most pristine and untouched bodies of fresh water in the world.

This past July, ten of us in six small aircraft launched from Grande Prairie, Alberta, on a 10-day Northern Air Safari. Our trip followed the famed Alaska highway to Whitehorse, the Yukon River to Dawson City, across the mountains and barrens of the Yukon Territory to the Mackenzie Delta, to within spitting distance of the Arctic Ocean. We spent two glorious days exploring the lake of the Great Bear, and celebrating Canada’s 150th year at Yellowknife on the shores of Great Slave Lake. In those 10 days, we saw more water and untouched wilderness than we thought ever existed, and were humbled by the immense responsibility we have as custodians of this spectacular piece of the planet. We now have our own northern tales to tell our friends and family. It was truly the trip of a lifetime and I’ll always be grateful to those who accompanied and helped along the way.

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The marge of Lake Leberge (it’s a Robert Service thing)

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Midnight on Great Bear Lake.

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Busted. No, the tailwheel spring isn’t supposed to look like that, and the rusty 45 gallon barrels aren’t normal landing gear parts.

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Spectacular waterfalls on the Martre River, Northwest Territories.

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