Marilyn's Odyssey: Douglas Harbour, Quebec

Wednesday July 27th we arrived in Douglas Harbour,Northern Quebec under beautiful sunny skies and calm seas. The temperature was an unusually high 20 degrees. It hardly feels like we are in the Arctic. After a very wet landing and a slog through a large expanse of rocky mud we were able to shed our rubber boots and prepare for our hike.. Our 8 kilometre hike took us over ancient glacier fields, over peat fields, over a hill to a beautiful lake in search of caribou and climbs up rock faces. It was certainly more than the moderate 4 kilometre hike that had been advertised but the scenery was breathtaking and it was a great way to spend the afternoon. The whole hike was lead by Laura carrying a gun and serving as our bear monitor.

Back on ship we sailed down to the end of this long harbour which was stunning. Along the way we were treated to a show by a couple of beluga whales. Out on the back deck while we enjoyed a cocktail we were served some traditional Inuit food including raw beluga, Arctic char ,ring seal and caribou. All was delicious except the seal liver which I could have done a pass on. Life is good.

The tide was a long way out so it was quite a hike just to get to the start of our hike through rocks and beach clay.

Whenever we were on land there were always bear monitors on alert around the perimeters

The branch on this rock is actually an Arctic willow tree. Any trees that there are in the Arctic grow horizontally in the tundra.

Climbing to the top of a hill we came upon this fresh water lake with the ocean in the distance. We hiked out to the ocean and then up a rock face so we could get some panoramic views