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Dr. Ella Trussell

Ella Trussell is a retired professor of kinesiology from Sonona State University, California where she worked for 27 years. She came to the tundra with us while on a Sierra Club Outing in 1990. She returned again to visit during the autumn of 2007 - and had said this about her two trips with us:

"Hi Tom - I planned to get this to you last week -  But every time I sat down to write, the words just wouldn't seem to come. In case you can still use it, here are some thoughts on your bit of paradise."

Ellie Trussell contemplating at the camp table in the new Great Canadian Wilderness lodge on Whitefish Lake, NWT / photo by Tundra Tom

 

"When I was on the barrenlands in 1990 there was just the single headquarters and storage bullding and we camped in our backpack tents.  I remember waking up around 2am in the summer arctic dawn after we had seen the white wolves and their pups in the den on the esker.  I heard the wolves howl and the pups (in their adolescent voices) answer."

Wolf pups on the camp esker - photo copyright Terry Elliott

 

Common loon along the spring ice flow during Dance with Wolves 2007 / photo by Tundra Tom

 

 

 "Then somewhere on the lake a loon gave forth with it's wild and crazy call.  At that moment I made a promise to myself that I would return to this amazing place."

 

 

"It took me seventeen years, but I finally made it back to your Whitefish Lake Camp last September for the 'Dance with Caribou'.  It was a whole different camp with HOT WATER, sleeping tents with cots and even a huge lodge."  

 

Ellie, Jake and friend Janet Peterson warm up by the camp stove in the new lodge during 'Dance with Caribou' 2007

 

Camp esker during an overcast day / photo courtesy Ella Trussell

 

 

"But the esker hadn't changed.  It is still a little oasis surrounded by huge empty expanse of barrenland tundra."

 

 

"This time I was lucky enough to be there at the height of fall colors.  The barrenlands suddenly turned from brown to crimson with bearberry. The willows were golden against the white sand and blue water."

 

 

Crimson bearberry leaves during the autumn color change in late August / photo courtesy Ella Trussell

 

An excellent & rare photo of the aurora and moon reflecting off the waters of Whitefish Lake on the camp beach - 2007 / photo courtesy Ella Trussell
Click to enlarge photo

 "At night - the aurora played with clouds and full moon."  

"Musk oxen posed for us on a little rise, giving the photographers a once in a lifetime opportunity."  

 

A musk-oxen herd gathers a few ridges back behind the camp during 'Dance with Caribou' 2007 / photo courtesy Ella Trussell

 

Photographers, muskoxen and fall colors /  photo courtesy Ella Trussell

"But a major part of the experience was learning about the people who used to live on the barrenlands.  Your morning readings about the early exploration of the area, along with the extensive collection of books and journals lent a perspective to the experience."
  "This place is more than just a beautiful, incredibly remote area. People struggled to make their living here following the caribou across the tundra with their dogsleds and the few belongings they could carry."

"Their story gave me a real feeling of what the term "survival" means."

 

"Best wishes Tom on finding someone who will carry on your tradition..."

 

- Ellie

 

Hiking an age-old caribou trail worn into the side of the camp esker / photo courtesy Ella Trussell

 

Click here to learn more about the wolves trips that Ellie experienced in 1989

 

Click here to learn more about the 'Dance with Caribou' trip she joined in 2007

 

 

Great Canadian Wilderness Adventures
Musk-ox, Moose & Inuit History
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Still undecided? Click on any of the faces below, and let our past clients & trips leaders tell you about their trips with us to the Canadian Far North!


Barry Girard


George Nagel

Noelle Tufts

Steve Lybeck

Tundra Tom

Bob Gainer

Steve Barger
Photo copyright Art Wolfe Inc.
Art Wolfe

Andy Kammer
Martin Haefele


Dr. Ella Trussell


Brad Armstrong

Rita Marett

George Archibald

Chris Crowley
Andrew Macrae
Andrew Macrae
Bill Mullins a-smiling on the tundra - photo courtesy Beverley & Allan Morris
Bill Mullins

Julie Yamaguchi

Glen Grambo

Courtney Milne

Adele Curtis

Eric Peterson
Photo copyright Art Wolfe Inc.
Alan Weisman
Photo copyright Mountain Light Photography
Galen Rowel
Scott Schrader
Scott Schrader
Photo copyright Annika Brodén
Annika Brodén
Photo copyright Art Wolfe Inc.
Christian Heeb
Photo copyright of Bill Silliker, Jr.
Bill Silliker Jr.

Lonnie Brock

Dr. David Mech - photo copyright IWC
 Dave Mech
Lee Mann - photo copyright Annika Broden
Lee Mann

Jay Dickman

Terry Elliott
Photo copyright Art Wolfe Inc.
Dennis Fast
Allicia Kelly
Photo copyright Charlotte Richardson
Steve Maka

 

Come warm yourself by our fire.
Great Canadian Wilderness Adventures
Phone: 1-800-667-9453 (Canada & USA)
Overseas Phone: +807-662-4512
North American toll-free Fax: 866-416-5548
Email
: tundra@thelon.com
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