Kuujjuaq
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August 12, 2018
Slept in because there was nowhere to be in a hurry today. We cooked our breakfast in the bugs by a stream just
underneath the domes, and by 09:30 had packed up camp and moved our packs up to the airstrip. It was a beautiful day.
The ten people who had been stranded for the last 48 hours here were happy that they should get a flight today, which
was scheduled to arrive at 10:00, while our flight was scheduled for 15:00. Well 10:00 passed, then 11:00. Clouds
started to roll in. By 12:00, there was still no sign of an airplane, the sky looked downright nasty, and the first
few sprinkles of rain were felt. Finally at 13:00 the drone of a Twin Otter was heard in the distance. After circling
the airstrip it touched down and disgorged about ten passengers. I looked up at the sky, then over at Deb and said to
her "Get us on this plane else we are spending the night here". Deb went over and talked to the pilot, and then him
and the Parks employee had a long discussion, but in the end we were invited on, making for a heavy flight with thirteen
passengers. We sped off down the runway and were airborne in a moment. The ride was rough as the wind picked us up
and tossed us around, and then we plunged into a storm. The plane bucked and broncoed, and a few minutes later the
pilots put us down for an unplanned rough landing at the hiking cabin, where they told us that we would wait out the
strom here. About an hour later the rain abated, we gained another passenger from the cabin, and we taxied to the end
of the landing strip. The pilot backed the plane using reverse thrust of the engines until we were
well in the bushes, as
he needed every inch of this short runway with the heavy load. Engines roared as he kept the wheels locked, and then
suddenly we were speeding down the airstrip, launching into the air at the very last minute, and scraping the tops of
the trees as we climbed slowly higher. Another bouncy ride, and then we plunged into a second storm. The little
plane was up, then down, left and right. The wind was whipping the river below into white caps as we flew just above
the surface. It fogged in and the pilot brought us even closer to the ground. On more than one occasion the ground
alarm rang out in the cockpit as we all clutched tightly to our seats. One person got sick from the wild ass ride,
while another fellow burried his head in his hands and refused to look out. Debbie commented that she had never been
on such a rough Twin Otter flight, which is saying something as she has flown in a lot of them. This was in fact the
scariest part of this whole adventure! Fortunately as we
approached Kangiqsualijjuaq we came out of the storm and had a reasonably smooth landing. Everyone clapped and we all
got out of the plane for a minute, all happy to feel solid ground under our feet. Olivier met us and we chatted for
a while, the Innuit guides went to their homes, and the rest of us re-boarded the plane for a much smoother ride over
to Kuujjuaq. We hiked down to the hotel, checked in, cleaned ourselves up, and then went in search of beer and food in
that order. Unfortunately we discovered that nothing in Kuujjuac is open on Sunday, so we ended up eating left over
freeze dried meals in the hotel room. A somewhat anti-climatic end to our amazing journey.
Just a few mosquitos.
Waiting around the airstrip.
The taxi has arrived.
Passenger swap... is there room for us?
Waiting out the storm.
Hanging out at the can-you-swallow-a-truck airport.
Kuujjuac road hike.
Final camp... the Kuujjuac Inn.
The End
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