The Hudson Bay Quest will begin this year in Gillam, Manitoba on March 13th, 2015. The mushers will sled 271 kilometers north to Churchill, Manitoba.
Hudson Bay Quest.
Looking over the 2015 musher roster one finds mushers from Churchill. Maybe this will be the year a local musher brings home the crown. Here’s a look at the Churchillian contingent of mushers registered at the moment:
Charlie Lundie
Dave Daley
Earnest Azure
Dan Dimuzio
Justin Allen
Churchill is under a cold siege! The next 14 hours or more are supposed to be very cold in the region. How cold? An extreme wind chill factor resulting in minus thirty and below centigrade is expected. Extreme cold warnings go into affect when the temperatures fall between minus 30 C and minus 50 C for two hours or more.
Spruce trees in the blowing snow of a blizzard. Brad Josephs photo.
Churchill is expected to push the minus 50 C level resulting from minus 30 C and below real temperatures coupled with 15-20 km/hour winds overnight into Sunday.
Extra caution is being advised to those people needing to go outside or those who work in the cold.
With the intense cold, the sea ice in the Hudson Bay builds to very thick which will bode well for an extended polar bear seal -hunting season.
Churchill is known worldwide at the best, most accessible place to see polar bears. Now, if you’ve spent much time in this northern Manitoba outpost town you know there’s much more than the “king” of the Arctic. In fact, often it’s the other animals of this remote land on the shores of the Hudson Bay that give travelers thrills. The unexpected often can be as exciting as seeing the main event.
Polar bear in the willows in Churchill. Eric rock photo.
Here are five other animal attractions around Churchill you could see during polar bear season and possibly other times of the year.
1. Arctic Fox– This icon of the Arctic is one of the most beautiful animals in the north. To some extent the white fox symbolizes the Arctic as much as the mighty polar bear. the population tends to run in cycles and fluctuates with the lemming population and will compete from year to year with the red fox.
Arctic fox sniffing the tundra for prey. Brad Josephs photo.
2. Moose– Usually individual moose can be seen from a polar rover or from a helicopter journey over the vast tundra.
A moose on the tundra. Brad Josephs photo.
3.- Red fox– The “other’ fox in the Arctic has been increasing its range of habitat over the years and even foraging seal-kills out on the Hudson Bay ice pack. The red fox numbers fluctuate from year to year…highly dependent on lemming numbers.
Red fox along the coast in Churchill,MB. Brad Josephs photo.
4. Beluga Whale– Although you will not see this whale during polar bear season, you could see polar bears during whale season which can extend until late August and even early September.
Beluga whale in the mouth of the Churchill River. Photo-Steve Selden
5. Killer Whale (Orca)- A very rare sight in the Hudson Bay. Occasionally these leviathans surface in areas where they can be seen, usually just outside the mouth of the Churchill River. If you are lucky enough to see one the chances of getting a photo are slim.
Orca’s in the Hudson Bay. Dwight Allen photo.
Come to the north and Churchill to see these amazing animals with Natural Habitat Adventures! Visit nathab.com for information.
