Day 6: Taylor Swift, magic, & freaks of nature

November 15, 2012 • 3 Comments

Day 6

Weather report: Gusts to 80 MPH, white out conditions with a wind-chill of only -28C (a warming trend!)

So, for those of you who have lived in Buffalo, Chicago, Montreal, or Tahiti, you’re probably used to this type of weather. For those of us who put thermal underwear on when the temperature dips below 60F, this trip was a real eye opener. (I just want to warn you here, I may have to stop typing this at a moments notice, as there’s a possibility we’ll have northern lights again tonight. If we do, I’ll have to put clothes on and go outside with my camera. Don’t worry though, with the magic of editing, you’ll never know I left).
As we left the hotel and were driving out to get on the rovers, the visibility was so bad you could hardly see up ahead on the road. All seriousness aside, the people that live in these conditions are freaks of nature. When we got to the rovers and headed out, I’m sure we were all thinking, ‘Crap, we ain’t gonna’ see nothin’. Which, for the first few hours was true. However, later that morning, the weather started to clear and become pretty nice, and then late in the day, the skies cleared up enough we had to put sunglasses on. Despite the poor conditions in the morning, it was still fun and adventuresome.
With so few bears in the area, the one time we saw one, there were 6-7 rovers in the immediate area, all jockeying for position for the best view for their clients. This poor bear must have felt like Taylor Swift and we were all the paparazzi. And this was for a bear that was just laying there sleeping! Finally, after about 20-30 minutes of sleeping, he popped up and started to cruise around, no doubt wondering what all these huge white vehicles were and why they were blocking his path. After wearing out the shutter button on our cameras in a desperate attempt to get that ‘perfect shot’ he took off and our driver was the first one out the gate, chasing after. Well, at 6 miles per hour, it wasn’t much of a chase. Based on the bear’s direction, we turned left and all the other rovers went to the right. It’s a good thing we had long lenses, because the bear went to the right. Oh well, you can’t predict nature.
All in all, it was a great day on the tundra (but no northern lights, yet)!

Comments

Susan(non-registered)

Love the blog. Thanks for sharing. What an amazing adventure and incredible photos. I have to say I'm shivering thinking of the cold and the wind and the snow. Growing up in Cleveland experienced below zero weather often, but not quite what you are experiencing I'm sure!

Nancy(non-registered)

Andy, great fun to read your blog, thanks for posting it. I agree with CJ, that bear sleeping is very sweet. I haven't been to Coronado lately, and I didn't know it got so cold. or was that Colorado? Minnesota was that cold, and VT at the top of Killington.

CJ(non-registered)

Oh yeah!!! How cool are these???? I especially love this last shot of the napping bear...beautiful! And the northern lights are amazing...so glad you got to see that.

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Day 6: Taylor Swift, magic, & freaks of nature

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