Frozen in time

On July 15, 1913, Mary Vaux hiked through spruce and hemlock until she found the long, white snout of the Illecillewaet Glacier. She had been there many times before, observing the ancient ice form, and as she wrote to her father that night: the “signs of recession are very evident.”

Vaux was obsessed with this glacier, nestled in British Columbia’s Selkirk Mountains, and she was particularly intrigued by its nonstop contraction. In a note the next day, now archived in the Whyte Museum in Banff, Alta., she again exclaimed, “The Glacier sure is very much changed, and has receded a lot.” Finally, on her last day trudging up and over the ice, Vaux once again wrote her father. “I have had two hard days on the glacier, but the work is all done now, and everything is in order.”

What exactly was the “work” Vaux was doing, and why was it now complete? Vaux was not just admiring the blue-tinted sprawl of ice; she was on a mission. Starting in 1887, she would trek thousands of kilometres almost every year from Philadelphia, by rail, horseback, ferry and foot, until she reached the Illecillewaet Glacier (Illecillewaet was named by the local Indigenous community and referenced the river before being applied to the glacier). When she finally arrived, the work would start. For a quarter century, she studied the flow and recession of the glacier, documenting its dynamics in detail and, despite not having a post-secondary degree, publishing her findings under her own name. Hers was the first formal glacier study conducted in Canada.

Changing landscapes, stormy waves, pure wilderness and 3,400 kilometres – this is what lay ahead of professional explorer Adam Shoalts on the morning of April 24, 2022.

For nearly two decades, Shoalts has been taking on the Canadian wilderness, recording his travels and sharing his stories with the world. In 2017, he completed a nearly 4,000 kilometre solo journey across Canada’s Arctic (documented in his best-selling book Beyond the Trees) and then in 2020, immersed himself deep into the ancient mountains of Labrador. Shoalts is a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society as well as the Society’s Westaway Explorer-in-Residence. Trained as a cartographer, archaeologist and historian, he is well-equipped to face the harsh elements that nature often throws his way.

In his most recent expedition, Shoalts travelled by canoe from Long Point on Lake Erie to the small village of Kangiqsualujjuaq along the Arctic coast of Ungava Bay while tracing bird migration routes. In this exclusive interview, he discusses what it’s like to travel solo, key moments from the trip and how this expedition stands out from his previous endeavours.

For millennia, Inuit across the Nunatsiavut and NunatuKavut regions of Labrador have relied on caribou as a primary source of food, land-based knowledge, and cultural connections, among other aspects of life. But now the population of the region’s George River caribou herd, once the largest herd in the world, is crashing, altering the lives of the people who rely on them.

The George River caribou have seen an extraordinary downfall – since 2001, the herd’s population has declined by more than 99 per cent, resulting in a total hunting ban issued by the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador in 2013. With this ban in place, Inuit have been unable to exercise their right to hunt and interact with the caribou as they have for thousands of years, with devastating consequences for communities across Labrador. From supporting social connections within and between communities to providing physical sustenance and nourishment to the people in the area, caribou are integral to the way of life. But now, individuals have been left to cope with a new reality: life without caribou.

One project aims to preserve the story of the Inuit connections with caribou in Nunatsiavut and NunatuKavut for future generations. HERD: Inuit Voices on Caribou is an Inuit-led research initiative that serves as a living legacy of Inuit knowledge. Led by the Nunatsiavut Government, the NunatuKavut Community Council, and the Torngat Wildlife and Plants Co-Management Board, it uses visual media to document, analyze and share Inuit perspectives on caribou. This project, which also includes support from a multi-disciplinary team of Inuit and non-Inuit researchers, has produced full-scale and short-length documentary films, as well as research material.
Join Canadian Geographic for a free screening of HERD: Inuit Voices on Caribou

We have a good chance of finding whooping cranes on our birding tour as there is a fine network of field observers scouting the area for these legendary birds. Along with cranes, tens of thousands of snow geese and Canada geese, with lesser numbers of Ross’s, greater white-fronted and cackling geese, are pouring through, as well as other waterfowl, shorebirds, raptors and passerines, especially large flocks of lapland longspurs with snow buntings and possibly northern shrikes.

If time permits and we have seen whooping cranes well, we will venture to Prince Albert National Park and the boreal forest, where we will have chances for boreal specialties like spruce grouse, pileated, black-backed & American three-toed woodpecker, Canada jay, boreal chickadee, bohemian waxwing, and occasionally Pine or evening grosbeak, or white-winged crossbill. We also have the possibility to see moose, elk & sometimes river otter.

Meet your RCGS Travel Ambassador: Myrna Pearman

Check out these other upcoming trips:

- Caribbean Mountains to the Coast with Marlis Butcher
- Patagonia Wildlife Safari with David Gray
- Grizzly Bears of Toba Inlet with Wilson and Charlene Bearhead