A Close Call

 
We were approaching a relatively small rapid On Day 9 of our trip on the Firth River, July 23, 2024, and I decided to not put my camera safely away but to simply hold it in my left hand as the rapid did not look too dangerous.
Suddenly the back of the raft where I was sitting struck a rock with a tremendous jolt.  I was headed overboard. My wife Ruth obviously thought I was a goner, as she did a dive to grab my leg. Fortunately, my right hand was clenched around a strong strap that ran across the raft so I was not ejected, but I was quite shocked by the force of the blow. You never know what will happen on the river. As the boy scouts say, be prepared.
The river was rapidly carrying us north, and the snow patches, even though it was the end of July, were becoming ever more frequent and larger. We eventually went ashore and found, however, that we were not entirely beyond the reach of civilization. As we climbed above the river, we passed a square metal structure the size of a small cabin. This was a water survey station. Sensors run from it to the nearby river, and data is streamed via Starlink to park headquarters in Inuvik hundreds of kilometres away. The pulse of the Firth is continually monitored.
From the meadows above the river we could see enigmatic Engigstciak, a hill that protrudes from the tundra far to the north. Humans have used it for more than 10,000 years, but more about that later.
 Closer at hand, a short distance down a cliff towards the river, was a spectacular rough-legged hawk nest with several large chicks. It was a sight to behold, and I took many pictures in the hope that one of them would be a good one.
The chicks were waiting for their parents to bring food. If they survive into adulthood, these chicks might live for as long as 19 years. Rough legged hawks are well adapted to the Arctic and have a dense layer of downy body feathers. Their name drives from their feathered lower legs, another cold climate adaptation. In summer they raise their young in the Arctic and feast on the plentiful rodents there. They have some special abilities to help them survive. One study suggested that rough-legged hawks use the ultraviolet signal of vole urine, which they can see, to identify choice foraging areas. In the winter they head south, although not that far south: just to southern Canada and the northern US.