Bear With Me

The Polar Bear Capital of the World.

 If you are a regular reader you may have noticed that I have a soft spot for train travel. If I could I would take a train over any other mode of transportation. My Travel Bucket List has a “Riding all the Via Rail offerings across Canada” option. There are four trips, Vancouver to Toronto (five days), Montreal to Halifax (2 days), Jasper to Prince Rupert (2 days) and Winnipeg to Churchill (2 days).

We completed “Vancouver to Toronto” leg last March and have the Montreal to Halifax leg booked for February 2026. See blog, April 2025 “Riding the Iron Horse with Gourmet Meals”

Photo: Blog April 2025

https://brettandnonie.blogspot.com/2025/04/

It was during my research for these rail trips that I learned all about the town of Churchill, the Polar Bear Capital of the World. It is not an easy place to get too. For our trip, it started in Kelowna with a flight to Calgary, then on to Winnipeg the start of our two night, 1,085 km train journey north to Hudson Bay and the small village of Churchill.

With a current population of around 700, Churchill gained life first as a Hudson Bay trading post followed by an American WWII military air base, a port for shipping Prairie grain and presently, the Polar Bear Capital of the world.

Our train consisted of a freight car and two older Via passenger cars for Economy class passengers. Reclining seats where passengers would be living and sleeping for the next two days.  There are 71 stops between Winnipeg and Churchill. Most are request stops for places only accessible by the train.

We had a stop the next day in the city of Thompson where the highway system ends and the train becomes the only land line. Locals, mostly indigenous, travel here by train, stock up on supplies then fill the freight car for the return home.  We were allowed off the train at some of these stops where we would find the train surrounded by ATV's quickly being loaded with everything but the kitchen sink. Large, Costco size packages of toilet paper seemed to be the largest commodity leaving the freight car.

In addition to the economy cars there were two Sleeper class cars of the same look and vintage of VIA's Canadian train.   The train is advertised as having a dome/bar car but on this trip we had a dining car instead. There are no gourmet meals served. The meals provided are for sale. They are  microwaveable meals similar to airplane food. The dining car served well as a replacement for the dome car as much of the trip is across the tundra and to be honest it is a little boring.  

There is an official bear season in Churchill. It starts the second week of October and ends at the end of November and is reputed to be the best time to see a bear. Churchill is blessed with bears by the fact of its location on the shores of Hudson Bay as it is one of the first areas of the Bay to start to freeze up.  Churchill is also home to a large Beluga whale population that come to the Churchill River every spring to start a family and in the colder months, the Northern Lights are the draw. 

Bears will travel from hundreds of kilometres to reach shores near Churchill to get out on the pack ice as soon as possible. Here, they will live for the next 6 months hunting seals and building up stores of fat. While on land, they eat very little, living off the fat they have accumulated so life slows down for the bears with lots of snoozing.  Sort of similar to what I do during the winter only I keep the fat on for the rest of the year. 

There are only two trains to Churchill each week.  When I was trying to book the train for Bear Season back in November 2024, I found all available roomettes already booked for October and much of November. At our age, two days in a reclining seat with 40 other passengers was not something we really wanted to do but would if we had to.

Returning to the Via website later in the week to book tickets, I found a single roomette available for a train on Oct. 5^th, just outside the Bear Season but close enough to take a chance. It was the most expensive roomette available as it was larger then the regular roomette accommodating three passengers. The bonus was that neither Nonie nor I had to sleep in the top bunk as two of the beds were at floor level so those nightly climbs down the creepy ladder to the bathroom were not necessary.

Photo: Blog April 2025

Next, finding a place to stay took on a challenge. There were no bookings available for our arrival on October 7^th but Booking.com had a listing available for the 8^th to the 10^th. I contacted the place directly to see to see if I could get on a cancellation list. I was contacted a few days later by the Bears Den Guest House saying they could accommodate our schedule. The breakfasts were sublime. The day we left, the Bears Den was fully booked to the end of the bear season.  

Photo: Booking.com 

Arranging a flight back to Winnipeg had its own issues as we could not book the flight outside of six months prior to our departure date meaning the earliest I could book was April 2025.  Missing the flight meant a return by train but only in economy as all the roomettes were booked. Two days in reclining seats with 40 friends. Ewww. At exactly 6 months from our travel date, at Central Standard Time, I was on line to book our return flight to Winnipeg. Success. 

The wrecked airplane in the picture is called Miss Piggy. Missed the tarmac in Churchill by a few hundred metres a few years ago. Perhaps the train might be a better option.   

There are two ways to see the bears besides walking around Churchill which is good as all the danger signage kind of freaked us out and we weren't armed.  

One option is by a 4x4 truck. The trucks are allowed to travel in search of bears on the limited gravel roads that run along the coast line from Churchill.   

Or a Tundra Buggy. The tundra buggies are not allowed on the coastal roads, instead they can use old military roads that crisscross the tundra.  

 Photo: wildlifediaries.com

 

Tundra in physical geography is a type of biome where tree growth is hindered by frigid temperatures and short growing seasons. 

Wikipedia

Photo: churchillscience.ca 

Once I had the travel and lodging logistics confirmed I could start to book our adventures. We were able to quickly book a full day 4x4 truck adventure through Sub-Artic tours. Shout out to guide and owner Leroy for a great day. 

If he saw another truck sitting in one spot location for a while, there was a good chance they had spotted a bear so he would carefully insert us nearby without interfering with the other trucks. 

Our day started with an email from Leroy to tell us he was picking us up early as they were releasing a mother bear and her two cubs from Polar Bear jail.  

The Polar Bear Holding Facility is a special building where bears that are considered troublesome or dangerous are isolated until they can be relocated. Before the facility was established, bears were considered dangerous and shot.  Wikipedia

The bears can be held in the cells for up to 30 days receiving no food during there incarceration. Their captivity is meant to impart a sense of danger in the bears creating a reluctancy for the them to return to town. 

The bears are transported to a site at least 40 km distance from Churchill. The relocation must be carried out by helicopters as there are no roads. The bears are first tranquilized then loaded into rope slings attached to and hung underneath helicopters. then gently dropped into their new home.  

 

Leroy shared a short video that was taken of the mother and cubs as they started to come around from the tranquilizer. It was emailed to Leroy from his cousin who was part of the team that stays near the bears and protects then from scavengers till they are fully awake.  This whole process does sound terrible but the alternative is death. 

I have attached a short video of the cubs being helicoptered away. 

In the background of this photograph are remains of a radar installation located on the site of a Strategic Air Command base built by the Americans in 1942 and later used by the Royal Canadian Air Force.  

The base was decommissioned and demolished in 1980. The runway is still in use along with some of the hangars for YYQ, Churchill airport.

The area was also used as a rocket research range. Established in 1954. It launched over 3500 sub-orbital flights used to study atmospheric phenomena and auroras. Local rumour has it they were trying to weaponize the Northern Lights.

The site has been repurposed and is now home to the Churchill Northern Studies Centre, The Centre focuses on environmental research and education.  I did not see weaponization on the Centre's syllabus. 

This guy was basking the sun but keeping a beady eye on all of us. 

These two juvenile brothers were working hard turning over rocks to find a snack. 

Thanks to Leroy and Sub Arctic Tours, our first day was a success. We could not have had a better start to our Churchill adventure.

Booking a tundra buggy adventure was a different story. I found them totally booked out for my dates. I contacted the companies to see if they could place us on a cancellation list. Early in January, we were contacted by Frontiers North and our adventure to the Polar Bear Capital of the World was complete, a full day tundra buggy adventure booked. 

Riding the  tundra was like listening to bagpipes, the first couple of hours are fun but after that you just want it to end. It was much like riding in a boat in rough seas with lots of rolling side to side and up and down. Remaining seated was the rule. 

Thankfully we spent a lot of time stopped, giving my stomach a chance to recover. 

It took over an hour to drive from the marshalling site to the area approved for the tundra buggies. There was already several buggies out on the tundra with their giant lenses fully erect. There were definitely bears in the area. 

We had us a "Polar Bear Jamb". 

We  had faced a similar jamb in another adventure. A Lion jamb. Guides were always keeping in touch so it didn't take long for others to show up at a lion sighting. No rules here on how close you could be but you did have to stay on the roads and of course in your vehicles.  I have attached a link below. 

https://brettandnonie.blogspot.com/2011/03/

This sighting found us watching a mother with her two young cubs chilling out on the shores of Hudson Bay. Cubs will stay with their mother for 2 1/2 to 3 years before venturing out on their own.  

Find a link below to a great website on Churchill's polar bear cubs. 

https://churchillwild.com/international-polar-bear-day-2025/

We were across a large pond about 300 metres away. My little point and shoot camera with the 40X zoom lens did not disappoint. 

The day passed quickly without another sighting. As we headed back to the yard. Our guide suggested that we take an alternate route that would bring us past the mom and her cubs again. We arrived and found mom and kids more active than in the morning. With in a few minutes of our arrival mom started to move towards the road we were on and with kids in tow.  

They kept coming till they reached the road where we were parked. 

To our surprise momma bear turned toward our buggy and kept coming with the kids a little hesitant, following behind. 

In a whisper, our guide told us to be very quiet, no loud noises and don't call out to the bears. Just enjoy moment. 

Before we knew it they were up close and personal. Whoa, our bucket list was filled to overflowing. 

Mom and the cubs seemed quite interested, sniffing out all the delicious scents coming from the buggy. When we had seen them earlier in the day there were 4 tundra buggies surrounding them and probably more found them during the rest of the day. I think that she finally decided the buggies were not a threat and it was time to check one out.  

It was at this moment, that one of our senior passengers decided that he should stick his head out the window and call out "HERE, BEAR, HEAR BEAR, BEAR" in a load gravelly voice. To be fair, the old fart was as deaf as a post and probably did not hear the guides instructions about not calling out to the bears. Momma bear decided she had seen enough. Nothing to eat here. 

 

We can leave tomorrow with no regrets. We could not have asked for a better ending to our adventure. 

Definitely in our top five. 

But it was not the end of our adventure. Churchill still had one more experience.  As we were loading the car for the airport the next day we started to hear the sounds of shot guns coming from two different and nearby locations. Seems the Bear Police were busy. They use special shot gun shells that make a lot of noise to scare away the bears that may be getting too close to town.  Perhaps we should have paid attention to those danger signs. It was a great send off. 

As I do my usual terrible job of proof reading this blog, I  realized I have not really painted a clear picture of Churchill and all it has to offer. Room for another blog, I think. Stay tuned.