Enjoy Polar Bear Provincial Park—if you can get there.
DEEP IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE
If you’re looking for a relaxing, mellow getaway, the first place you can cross off your list is Polar Bear Provincial Park in northern Ontario. The park, a whopping 23,552 square kilometers (9,093 square miles), is dedicated to the preservation of the area’s wildlife habitats—to the point that access is only by air, and all visitors need special permission to enter. In fact, the only remnants of civilization are a few unmanned radar stations left over from the Cold War.
The Canadian government established the park in 1970. Technically part of the Hudson Bay Lowlands, the largest wetland in North America, it occupies the space where James Bay and Hudson Bay meet. Animals of all sorts call the low-lying tundra ecosystem home, from geese and ducks to moose, beaver, and the occasional beluga whale—as well as the eponymous polar bear.
BEAR WITH US
Just getting to the park is itself an expedition. Potential visitors—of which there are no more than 300 per year—must fly a circuitous route to the tiny village of Peawanuck, on the southern shore of the Hudson Bay. Besides Fort Severn, it is the only community to be found within hundreds of miles of the park. Those visitors who have the wherewithal to clear the necessary hurdles for entrance are strongly advised to bring at least a week’s worth of extra supplies—not only to survive within the park, but in the event their departure gets delayed due to sudden inclement weather.
Even if you are willing to brave the potential polar bear attacks and frigid temperatures, those residual radar stations may be one dangerous item too many. There are seven stations in the park, each a hazardous site. The Canadian government has made some weak commitments to cleaning up the sites, but seem intent on burying most of the waste to save on cost. Despite these dissuasions, those who tough it out report some of the best trout fishing in the world as well as some stellar views of the Northern Lights. However, you may have to be willing to sleep in a teepee encircled by an electrified fence—one tour guide’s preferred way of warding off polar bears.
Shortest-serving prime minister: Sir Charles Tupper (68 days in 1896).