Fly-In Life

Sign near the airport

This is my first time living in a fly-in community. I have passed through fly-in communities during canoe voyages, but never lived in one until now. During a canoe trip on the Albany River, we stopped in Ogoki to pick up food that was mailed to us in cardboard boxes via Canada Post. I have finished canoe trips in Waskaganish, Fort Albany and Attawapiskat which has been in the news a lot recently. I had always wondered what life would be like in a fly-in community and I'm really excited to be finding out during my time in Old Crow.

The first question I had about living in a place accessibly only by plane was the food situation. When I arrived in Old Crow initially, I brought groceries with me from Whitehorse. Then I spent the next week and a half figuring out how to do a food order. Now to get my food I email a grocery store in Whitehorse with the items I would like. They charge it to my credit card (with an extra charge for delivery) and it gets flown in to me. There is also a charge from the airline, dependent on the weight of my order. The boxes are labelled 'frozen' and 'refrigerated.' 

Even massive machinery needs to be flown in

Another interesting thing about living in a fly-in community is that everything (that wasn't made, grown or hunted) in Old Crow needs to be brought in by plane. I was pretty surprised to see this massive machinery parked next to the airport when I first arrived. It was brought in by a Hercules plane and is used to maintain the roads that are in town. I would estimate that in town itself there are no more than 10km of roads to be maintained.

Windswept Porcupine River

Frequently hearing planes is something else I am getting used to. Planes can be heard a few times a day, taking off or landing from the Old Crow air strip. I hear them from the school, my house, or while cross country skiing on the windswept Porcupine River.

Standing on the Porcupine River with Old Crow behind me

Last night I had dinner at my neighbours across the street and they served caribou that she had shot herself. Pretty awesome and tasty, even though I'm usually a vegetarian! I think I will be a vegetarian with the exception for caribou meat. Mahsi Cho (thank you) for reading.

Warm Regards from Old Crow,

Haley