Winter Caretaker Report’ 22/23 Vol. 8

Gangler’s Winter Caretaker, Chris Sowden, has delivered his second to last Winter Caretaker Report of the season to us. This month’s report features an awesome arrangement of Chris’s interactions with Northern Lights, caribou, bird migrations, and wolves! Chris is already seeing promising signs for a spectacular Northern Pike fishing season!

Spring is in the air at Gangler’s Lodge. The days are longer now and the sun doesn’t set until after 10:00 PM. I am awakened every morning by the sound of geese and ducks flying over. There is also more song birds showing up, like the Pine Grosbeak which has a brilliant orange head.

The caribou have begun their long migration north for the summer. They are very fat and healthy from all the reindeer lichen they have been eating. The abundance of reindeer lichen in this area provides the caribou with a great food source all winter long. They scrape away the snow with their hooves to reach it.The northern pike fishing has been great now that the water is starting to warm up beneath the ice. They will ferociously attack anything you put in front of them. I was even lucky enough to catch a master angler whitefish.

The wolves have been a common sight around the lodge. There is a large female wolf that is pregnant and she should be having her puppies soon. Sometimes I hear them howling in the distance at night while I’m out taking photographs of the Aurora.

The northern lights have been unbelievable! We’ve had a few major events this past month but even the average night here is spectacular. I was even lucky enough to witness the Lyrids meteor shower which lasted for a week.

-Chris Sowden