Our Summer Itinerary
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| On board the "Blue Loo", pontoon
boat |
In summer we travel on the Inlet in a stable and comfortable 40
ft. pontoon boat, which permits wildlife observation and on-the-spot
lectures. We dock the "Blue Loo" and hike on the land,
exploring, birdwatching, or watching for wildlife. We visit islands
of ancient algal limestone, crowded with arctic poppies, cinquefoils
and saxifrages, where glaucous, herring, and Thayer's gulls nest
in safety from hunting foxes. Peregrine falcons and rough-legged
hawks nest on glacier-carved cliffs, and golden eagles soar in lazy
spirals against the dark summits.
The pace is casual; provisions are made for guests to hike as much
(or as little) as they like. You can hike to spectacular waterfalls,
or gasp in excitement as an arctic char lunges at your lure. Watch
as caribou wind their way over ancestral trails, or musk oxen pound
over the tundra, their hoofbeats like echoes out of the Pleistocene.
Seek a perfect specimen of amethyst, or capture a "pet rock"
on an arctic beach.
Wander
over the incredible oriental carpet of the summer tundra, where
drifts of lupine, arctic heather, mountain avens, rhododendron,
and dozens of other wildflowers bloom in intense profusion. Or seek
the solitude of a cliff, and let your spirit fly free over the great
wild sweep of the tundra ...
The animals of the region are wild and are where they want to be!
Weather, migration, and food sources are not necessarily predictable
from year to year. We do our best to provide excellent wildlife
viewing and at the same time avoid any disturbances or danger to
our wildlife.
We will provide you with opportunities to learn, but no pressure
to do so. You may come here simply to escape the confines of modern
life, and this we understand. The land itself here is healing to
the human soul.
Guided hikes and natural history interpretation in the field combine
with evening lectures, demonstrations of the traditional use of
Inuit tools and clothing, and stimulating conversations. A superb
library enhances on-site learning. It's an in-depth exposure to
all aspects of northern life!
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Our Bathurst Team
Our Bathurst "family" welcomes you.
Left to right: Back row: Brian and Jason Akoluk, Ovik Akoluk, Yvonne
Angohiatok. Middle: Tommy Akoluk, Jhon Henry and Ikey Nanagoak,
Laurie Koaha, Martha and Robert Akoluk, Susie Kapolak, Jennifer
Ongahak, Sheena Kapolak, Trudy Ongahak, Karen Ongahak, Henry Kapolak,
Connie Kapolak and Chania, Jessie Hagiolak Kapolak, George Haniliak
Kapolak. Front: Sam Kapolak, Kevin Kapolak, Allen Kapolak.
The superb Bathurst "Team" consists of a
mixture of longtime northerners and the local Inuit.
Susie Kapolak, our talented chef, was raised in a small
camp about 45 miles from Bathurst Inlet, and remembers travelling
with her grandfather by dogteam to Contwoyto Lake. Her husband,
Sam Kapolak, our boat captain and chief guide, was born on
the shore of Beechey Lake to the southeast of Bathurst. Martha
Akoluk, our chief housekeeper, lived with her family at a number
of DEW-Line sites across the arctic. She now serves on the Nunavut
Impact Review Board. Robert Akoluk, our camp manager, has
lived all his life in the central barrenlands and on the coast.
George Haniliak Kapolak, his wife Karen Ongahak, Allen and
Connie Kapolak, and other local Inuit help with boat tours, camp
management, and serving our guests. Doris Kingnektak often comes
down from her camp at Brown Sound to share her knowledge and help
with our program.
Biologist
Page Burt, author of Barrenland Beauties, a colour field
guide to showy plants of Nunavut, is our staff naturalist and program
director. Formerly an environmental educator and trip leader for
the Cincinnati Nature Center, Page has been involved with Bathurst
Inlet Lodge as naturalist and marketing director since 1973. She
ran Outcrop's Nunavut office and lived in Rankin Inlet (west coast
of Hudson Bay) for 7 years, but is now back in Yellowknife where
she works for Outcrop Ltd. as a special projects manager, doing
environmental baseline work and tourism consulting work. She wrote
the original Arctic Traveller, the tourism guide to Nunavut,
and is revising the 2002 guide. Page is our Program Director; she
designs the programs, conducts staff training, and is available
literally 24 hours a day to work with our guests.
Bishop John R. Sperry, the retired Anglican Bishop of the
Arctic and author of the recently-published, Igloo Dwellers Were
My Church, has lived in the arctic for fifty years. While a
missionary in Coppermine (now Kugluktuk), he travelled some 3000
miles per year by dogteam. Jack Sperry generously joins us each
summer, to share his incomparable knowledge of the Arctic and the
Inuit culture.
And Linda Gordon comes also, to share her canoeing expertise
with our guests, and to assist with a thousand things around the
Lodge. Linda teaches French immersion in Toronto, and joins us in
the summer to help with canoeing groups visiting the lodge on their
way down the Burnside, and with evening canoeing options for our
guests.
Other resource people such as Dr. George Gibson of Yellowknife
and
Dr. Tom Beck of Calgary also join us from time to time.
Glenn and Trish Warner are co-owners along with the local
people, and are always "in place" to share their knowledge
and experiences. Grandson Travis Arychuk and granddaughter
Tanya Fraser also often join us to help.
At Bathurst Inlet, our focus is now and always has been on service
to our guests, on helping our visitors realize their own dreams
of visiting the arctic.
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Conferences and meetings
Does
your company or department have a need for space for a conference
or working meeting? A meeting held in one of our lodges or camps
can provide opportunities for your staff and associates to interact
in the out-of-doors, in an atmosphere conducive to reflection and
inspiration. It can help build working relationships, or learn techniques
and attitudes that will help them work together much better. Bathurst
has been used by the Government of Nunavut for some pretty serious
policy-making sessions. We can help you achieve your corporate objectives,
at a lodge or wilderness camp facility.
As you can see, there are so many variables we cannot possibly
develop set prices. If you are interested in this sort of experience,
call or write to us with your ideas, and we will make suggestions
and develop a custom quote just for you.
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What They Say
Bathurst Inlet Lodge is not only the highlight of the region; it
is the highlight of a vacation in the whole Northwest Territories.
It offers all - in one place - that a visitor might seek from an
arctic experience. Lyn Hancock, author
The endless beauty and variety of tundra plants, the magnificent
scenery, and the Arctic wildlife, combined with the presence of
the tiny Eskimo settlement and the coziness and friendliness of
Bathurst Inlet Lodge made this one of the most interesting and enjoyable
field trips I have ever been on.L. David Mech, wildlife biologist,
author of The Wolf
A fascinating experience! Thanks to all who helped my "small
eyes" grow! Naomi Framstein, Toronto
If you want to savour the full range of summertime Arctic activity
- wildlife watching, angling, viewing scenic grandeur, and contact
with the Eskimos, I can think of no better way to do it than to
make Bathurst Inlet Lodge your headquarters and go out from there
under the guidance of old Arctic hands. Karl H. Maslowski, wildlife
photographer/cinematographer, Cincinnati, Ohio
Dedicated personal service by one family to provide personal comfort,
superb food and a great interpretive service in a wilderness area.
All you have to do is keep breathing and enjoy the wildlife. Dr.
Terry Bassett, Lethbridge, Alberta
Once again to return, and all time spent between visits seems so
immaterial and unimportant. Sheila Chapman, Yellowknife, N.W.T.
Our many satisfied guests will recommend this unique arctic retreat.
We'll be happy to provide references.
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