Split Pingo and Arctic Ocean from Ibyuk Pingo

Disclaimer:
The following Pingo images were taken in 2018.
Before my trip I was researching the Pingos and found no indication on the internet in regards to visitation rules. There also were no signs up anywhere locally or at the viewing platform once I visited.
I now see there are rules prohibiting the climbing of the Pingos from the base up, signed this March 2021 by the Parks Superintendent.

I have mixed feelings about that. On one hand I see excessive visitations by too many people [since it is marketed to mass tourism] may cause some wear or establish a trail. I was very conscience about not leaving any footprints or cause any damage and on one of the Pingos I found a large piece of plastic, the wind had likely carried up here, which I took back out.

Since it became a Canadian Landmark under Parks management, a viewing platform has been built in a location that gives a very panoramic view of the larger Pingos with no human structures visible. I’m not a friend of board walks and platforms in natural landscapes. They are in many ways eyesores to me as a photographer and aesthetically a small trail has much less impact. But in this location I found both rather well designed. To get to the boardwalk, one needs to organize a boat ride or have a watercraft to get to the Parks dock, which at that time was damaged and difficult to land on.

On the other hand I think it was [could be] an incredible experience to use these Pingos as lookout, just like generations of Inuk have done. The thing missing in these coastal regions are high points. So I can see why these Pingos had an importance for hunters to scan the ocean for game, ships, ice-conditions etc.
The lack of any high-points in Tuktoyaktuk itself, along the coast or the highway leaves something to be desired. Short of flight-seeing the coast from Inuvik, one does not get a picture of the beautiful Arctic coast.

The top of the Pingos are mostly sand with peat at some places and the sides covered by dense tundra shrubs, berry bushes, Labrador tea and some grasses on the top. I noticed some faint footprints in the sand on top, which obviously disappear with the wind/rain and annual thawing/freezing cycles these hills are constantly exposed to. The science behind these ice-cored hills is described in detail in a study paper by J. Ross Mackay:
Pingos of the Tuktoyaktuk Peninsula Area
t.ly/Xs9U

and this video by Stephen Wolfe:
Pingo Distribution, Tuktoyaktuk Peninsula Region, Western Canadian Arctic
geosympos.ca/?p=618

So these photos are very special to me, as I or others may not be able to document/experience these magnificent ‘ice-hills’ again without breaking the law. Drone flying is also banned within the Landmark.

2018 Road Trip to Tuktoyaktuk, NWT via Dempster Highway and the Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk Highway or ITH (Tuk Highway).

Some rights reserved

Taken on: September 4, 2018

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XF10-24mmF4 R OIS « less

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Camera: Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd - X-T2, f/11.0, 1/300 sec, 24mm (=36mm), ISO 800 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd - X-T2
Aperture:	f/11.0
Exposure Time:	0.003 sec (1/300)
Focal Length:	24mm (35mm equivalent: 36mm)
ISO:	800
Exposure Bias:	+1.33 EV
Flash:	No Flash
Exposure Program:	Aperture-priority AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Average
White Balance:	Manual
Sharpness:	Hard
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Aperture 3.6
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