My Arctic Cabin

Sometimes we get a picture in our mind of a special place or a special song that will not go away.For me one of these special things is my Arctic Cabin. While living in the high Arctic I had time on my hands and decided to start a project which would give me pleasure and leave me with a feeling of accomplishment.

There was so much open space on Victoria Island that location for such a project became a problem. I wanted a place to go on the weekends and spare evenings where my dog could run loose and I could fish or hunt to my hearts content. I found such a place about 15 kms north of Ikaluktutiak on a rise on the shores of Grenier Lake. There was water everywhere but this location was a watershed lake/river and carried all the water from the interior to the North West Passage.

Materials were costly in the North so I devised a plan to accumulate wood and plywood from the local dump. For months I attended the dump and recycled timbers and plywood from packing boxes and piled them in my back yard. By winter time I had enough of everything to start my project. Local contractors called me to give me left over roofing materials and insulation in such quantities that I had to build a shed to take care of these valuable resources.

During the first freeze up I began to take these materials to my building site on my kamituk or sled. It did not take long before I had everything in place. I drew up plans for a 24 by 18 foot Arctic cabin. I waited for spring and began to build. Locals told me information vital for a successful build; air tight, well insulated, strong footings with a good small cook stove. I listened and was able to complete the first half by mid summer. I received some help from friends who came to visit me and the rafters for the other half were put in place before they returned home.

My friends had a few laughs over the construction and I wish they had returned to see the complete work. This cabin became my place of solitude. It was here I heard silence, the sound of caribou hoofs from a distance, the rush of muskoxen as they ran over the rocks and the quiet stealth of Arctic wolves tracking their prey.

I had time to sort out my mind and realize who I was and I found all that out on the tundra. There were so many memories stored in my minds eye from the few years up there that I only have to close my eyes to gain a panorama view of the way it was. When I moved from that area and travelled nearly 3000 miles to my next Arctic home I had the intention of repeating history and building a similar retreat there.

It never happened and that was a good thing, because no place I could build would replace my Arctic cabin and what it meant to me. Freedom... from stress and the difficulties I was encountering during those troubled years.