On The Land: Canol Trail

Day 1

We left Yellowknife for Norman Well where some of us connected on the North-Wright twin otter (which was being repaired when we arrived) carrying the bulk of our field supplies and half the drill rig. The flight in was a good but the landing was hard. Unloading of the equipment presented a bit of a challenge as it was loaded by forklift and unloaded by muscle.

Ram’s Head hunting camp is exactly the way it was when I was here 2 years ago.

Ram’s Head is located at N63047’01.9”, W128045’54.1” if you wanted to look it up on Google earth.

The rest of our crew stayed in Norman Wells to try and figure out the details of the work program, they need their computers to connect to the internet (for e-mail) and phone lines to talk to the project manager and clients (PWGSC). The first snag encountered was the wildlife monitor did not make his plane today and will have to travel to Norman Wells by boat (2 plus hours on the Mackenzie River) in order to make his flight tomorrow.

Day 2

Sunday August 12, 6oC and overcast at Ram’s Head, however the rest of the crew and helicopter are fogged-in, in Norman Wells at least for the morning. The crew and Canadian Helicopter’s A-Star arrived at dinner time. After dinner and a brief health and safety meeting (if you can call 2 ½ hours bries) it was off to bed.

Ram’s Head hunting camp from the A-Star Helicopter.

My new home..at least for the next 3 weeks.

My bedroom.

The washroom, the water comes from the glacial stream which runs behind the camp.

The toilet, a two sitter……yes, they are side by side!

Our dining room and office.

Day 3

Fogged in for the morning, breakfast, then back to bed for the next three hours.

The first site that we are working at is Mile 170 (N63o47’01.9”, W128o45’54.1”) and is only a 7 minute flight from camp, however we had 5 flights to get gear and people to site. Then working in the rain, then the heat and start the process all over to get everybody back to camp before the pilot’s duty day runs out.