excerpt
he big male abruptly pulled to a dead stop mere inches from
where they stood – lather foaming out of his nostrils and mouth. With
a huge snort, he liberally sprayed them with all the lather he had built
up, turned majestically, and trotted back to the pair of cows he had left
behind.
On shaking legs, Ken and Michael walked back to the lake where they
washed themselves off, got back into the boat, and motored farther up
the lake. They made several more stops, once to become acquainted with
ptarmigans – birds about the size of chickens that were so tame they
could be picked up with ease.
While they were catching and releasing ptarmigans, Ken noticed that
the big rocks surrounding them formed giant circles. He was familiar
with tent circles but these were much larger and there were many more
of them. They counted more than forty. What were they? What did they
signify and who had built them?
When they got back to camp they told Keith about the circles. He was
curious enough to radio a helicopter flying in the area and hire it to take
them over the stone formations. Ken and the photographers took dozens
of pictures. They counted eighty-six circles that no one could explain. A
few were 12-feet across but most were as large as thirty and forty feet in
diameter with some even bigger than that.
More guests arrived a few days later, in several float planes and helicopters,
from Rankin Inlet and landed at the lodge. Several influential Inuit
and two of the current “bosses” of the Arctic were among the guests Keith
had invited to gather around the lodge’s big table and plan the best way
to attract tourists to the Arctic. Ken suggested they invest heavily in tourism
and be prepared to take a loss for up to five years while promoting
the idea of an Arctic adventure to southern Canadians. Again, he offered
to create slide shows and give talks in his studio; he suggested they talk to
the local airlines about discount rates and packages.
On the night before they left, the camp chef prepared a feast of caribou,
muskoxen, grayling, Arctic char, and lake trout. As they lay in their
sleeping bags that night, Michael said, “I hope we can come back here
soon.”
“So do I,” Ken said. “And I’ll bet we can arrange it.”
“I hope so.”
Libros Libertad 