Clendon Patrick was driving down the world’s longest seasonal winter road located in Ontario’s Far North this week when he saw a polar bear mother and her two cubs running down the road.
The Wapusk Trail is named after the Cree word for white bear, so it is fitting the majestic creatures are sometimes seen in the area near Hudson Bay.
Polar bear mama and two cubs on Wapusk Trail about 48 km from Weenusk First Nation. March 18/24 (Clendon Patrick)
“Normally, it’s this time of month they travel to the ice with their cubs,” Patrick told CTVNewsNorthernOntario.ca in a social media message.
“Once in a while, you get to see this spectacular sight and it takes your breath away. It’s good sign to see them.”
The incredible sighting happened about 48 kilometres from Peawanuck, Ont., which straddles Polar Bear Provincial Park.
“Polar bears are late getting out to the bay this year, by two or three weeks,” Mike Hunter said in a comment on Patrick’s social media post with the video.
“Normally, they’ll come out on last week of February … most years, they are all out on the bay ice by this time.”
The Wapusk Trail is usually constructed on snow and ice each January to give remote communities –normally only accessible by air — road access for a few weeks before warmer weather forces its closure in March.
Patrick told CTV News it felt like -41 with the windchill Thursday morning.
The Wapusk Trail is 752 km long and stretches from Peawanuck to Shamattaw and Gillam, Man., and has been featured on the TV show Ice Road Truckers.
Patrick also shared some photos he took of the northern lights on Tuesday night and the sunrise Thursday morning.
“Phone camera doesn’t do them justice,” he said.
“Beautiful land we live on and take care of.”
PHOTO GALLERY: Northern lights, sunrise and polar bears in Ontario’s Far North
