Two remarkable changes this year are the increase in our numbers, and that of the caribou. Never before has the staff dormitory been full in winter. And the past week we've had several parents and friends visiting, prompting all sorts of delicacies cooked, game nights organized, and sojourns excursioned. One benefit of a bigger crew is more day-off buddies, and a greater quantity of outdoorsy people. There's always a significant proportion of "indoor cat" coworkers -- unsurprising given the temperatures -- but this year I actually bump into people on the trails regularly.
Thanks to Jean-François's gregariousness, we've expanded our social circle north ten miles to the village of Wiseman (pop. 12). Coldfoot guides take tourists there to watch the aurora and chat with one of the longtime residents, a hunter/trapper/biologist/jack-of-all-trades. We also deliver their mail once a week, in the form of a social call with coffee and the latest local gossip and lynx sightings. Jean-François seems to have won over the handful of villagers with his appreciation of the beauty of the landscape and his Spanish shortbread cookies.
We've also been making friends with caribou(!) who for the first time in a long while are basically in camp. There's at least one group of twenty that have pranced back and forth dozens of times between the hills and creek to the southeast. I've seen them leap across the trail as I approach, fresh snow muting my skis, and encountered them pawing up lichen on a low broad hill. They wandered right up to the sled dogs the other night, about a hundred yards from the café.
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