Winter Caretakers Blog Volume 4
Happy New Year 2025!
January 5th and a good time to take down the Christmas Tree after our first holiday season in the sub artic at Ganglers! The peace and quiet and no holiday shopping was spectacular!
December brought a wide range of weather and temperatures, with lows down to -38 and highs at Christmas up to -4 ! We saw more sunlight this month, which made for some beauty days to enjoy the outdoors . The rapid change in temperature dropped a layer of hoar frost one day adding to the already beautiful winter wonderland.
With the lake frozen and plenty of snow for travel we also had visitors throughout the month, hunters travelling from the south on their snow machines in search of the caribou herds . Coming from Ontario , we have hunted for moose and deer, seeing the talents of the locals here was very impressive. Even better their kind gifts of fresh caribou made for some tasty treats ! Just like venison, there is nothing better than a fresh stuffed heart. Our first taste of caribou…delish! What a treat celebrating Christmas morning with “locally grown” steak and eggs !
The local wildlife have been active around our cabin as well. The whiskey jacks making their regular morning visits hoping for a snack, and the grouse are usual suspects popping out of the snow or from beneath the cabins when you least expect them.
. I discovered earlier in the month the pine Martens had made their way into the “hunt camp” shed, used for winter storage for both the lodge supplies and our own supplies. Helping themselves to a few items, it appears pine Martens are big fans of peanut butter and Jam, maple syrup, and finally they cracked into a bag of our dog food . A quick cleanup , stashing pastas, rice and cookies into containers , dog food into freezers , I thought I had them beat.
I think perhaps I upset the little guy removing his treasures after seeing him through our window shortly after, helping himself to the bird treats and peering inside to find the guilty party who stole his snacks. He continues to surprise me in the shed, finding cracker wrappers and still the odd peanut butter package, but our dog food is safe and so is the cute little marten.
To cap off 2024, we had two final visitors on December 31st, just as I was about to take the dashounds out for a stroll I looked outside the front door and stopped in my tracks ….”there’s a wolf outside” I exclaimed to Dennis . Sure enough , there were two!
Well over a month since we last saw them, they strolled and sniffed around d our cabin for just over an hour. Resting in the snow, playing tug’o’war with Dennis’ tarp, and letting us know they were back in town . Referred to as the summer pups by the Ganglers Team here, they sure have grown since fall !
Looking forward to a new year and new adventures , and thrilled to be starting it all off here at Ganglers Lodge !
Annette and Dennis
