Temperature: 30F
Location: Committee Bay
Latitude: 67deg 40’ 16’’ N
Longitude: 87deg 41’ 48 ” W
Distance Traveled: 14 Miles

Another ordeal on the sea ice of Committee Bay today. We traveled 14 miles, but just nine miles in a straight line. It was really rough going this morning, very deep snow, sometimes up to thigh deep. It was foggy, white-out conditions - the definition of white-out this morning. At times it looked like we weren’t going to go anywhere, very discouraging.

We are now just about 8 miles from the shore of Melville Peninsula. We are anticipating our day off tomorrow for the PolarHusky education site, and will be traveling again on Saturday.

We’ve just about completed a 75 mile traverse of Committee Bay, which is part of the Gulf of Boothia. North of here there is about 200-300 miles of open water, so it is almost like one of the Great Lakes. There is a prevailing north wind, that blows across the bay and down to where we are, so we were almost in a perpetual snow shower. Last night it snowed about four inches, and today another six inches. I’ve never been in such deep snow on pack ice before. I had a hunch it was a local phenomena.

Later today, as we got closer to the east shore and in the protection of a large island called Wales Island, sure enough the snow level dropped considerably, to just about four inches. And we are now on a pretty good hard pack.

We often saw clearer skies to the north and northeast, which I had a hunch was the clearing over the land that direction. We have another 225 miles to go until Iglulik, and I was really sweating thinking that we might have knee deep snow all that way.

Another thing today is that the temperatures got up to near freezing, which is actually very miserable for us. Everything got wet, the sleds were sticking. When we stopped they would basically freeze into the snow. Warm weather is not really an ally here. Everything is wet in the tent. Ideally, we like about 20 degrees below Fahrenheit. I’m hoping the warm weather might also be because of the open water to the north.

We hope to be in Iglulik in about two weeks, and have another 75 miles or so of unknown terrain ahead of us. We have a large scale map, which doesn’t give us a lot of details. So there is a little adventure ahead.

Temperature: 20F
Location: Committee Bay
Latitude: 67deg 40’ 16’’ N
Longitude: 87deg 41’ 48 ” W
Distance Traveled: 0 miles

Today is a rest day. We are camped out on the ice on Committee Bay, just to the east shore of Melville Peninsula. We have clear weather, and I am looking out to the mountains to the east that we have to cross tomorrow. The dogs are stretched out on their lines like rugs in the sun, and they are having a very good rest. We are drying out clothing, tents and sleeping bags on our day off.

The education tent is busy cranking out the report that will be available online on Monday. They will probably be up late tonight as usual working on that. We can hear the little generator running.

It is a very comfortable day here. The temperature must be about 20 degrees Fahrenheit, with a little bit of a wind. In the tent today we didn’t even have the stove on. So spring has definitely arrived.

We will leave tomorrow on an exciting run, crossing the east side of Melville Bay. We have a large scale map, which doesn’t give us a lot of detail, so it will be interesting.

Temperature: 15F
Location: Committe Bay
Latitude: 67deg 36' 59
Longitude: 86deg 17' 16
Distance Traveled: 18 miles

A pretty exciting day for us. In the morning we had a visitor come into the camp, about five minutes before we were going to exit the tents. Timber, who is our bear alert dog, started growling. We looked out of the tents and about ten feet from the dogs was a large male polar bear. The tents were fairly close to the bear, and it was amazing how silent it had approached.

The bear was more curious than anything. It took a little bit to chase it away. We shot some flares in the air and shot the gun over its head and made a bunch of noise. The bear just sort of lumbered away, looking back, letting us know that this was his territory and we were on his territory.

There was really no danger, though there could have been if the bear was hungry. But this time of year they are pretty full, as there are a lot of seals in the open water.

I’ve been in a lot of situations where polar bears have been around. And the big problem with them is their curiosity. They are most curious about the dogs, and if you let them they will come bat the dogs around, or play with them. And that is when they start getting themselves into trouble. Although I never trust a bear, not even a black bear, and we always have the proper protection. A rifle, just in case their is a charging bear or a real emergency. I’ve never had much of a problem with a polar bear, other than its curiosity.

But I have had problems with grizzly bears, a couple of close calls in my life. And I am more afraid of the brown bears and the Barrenland bears than I am of the polar bear. But today was very exciting, especially for Aaron and Eric, for this was their first encounter with a polar bear.

That was the start of the day. We then traveled about eight miles across Committee Bay, the ice gradually getting better and better. Then we entered into a very narrow canyon. High walls and very steep snow drifts on either side. I am outside now because I couldn’t get any reception in the canyon. So I walked up to a knoll, and am looking down on the camp with the three tents, three sleds, and the dogs all stretched out. It is really quite a beautiful sight.

We have perpetual light now. The sun is about 20 degrees above the horizon, at nine p.m. There is a little bit of a high fog, kind of clear blue above it. The temperature is about 15 degrees Fahrenheit, which for us is very warm. There is now wind blowing, and it is an absolutely perfect evening. The dogs are very still, most of them are sleeping, though a few are up and kind of poking around.

We are right at a fork in this canyon, and we will try to take the smaller fork that goes to the northeast tomorrow. If we can’t get through it we are going to have a major problem. So tomorrow will be full of adventure. And if we can get through the mountains here, we should have pretty clear sailing to Iglulik.

Temperature: 10F
Location: Melville Peninsula
Latitude: 67deg 38’ 02’’ N
Longitude: 85deg 53’ 07 ” W
Distance Traveled: 15 Miles

The beginning of today was a great day of travel. We went through a number of really tight canyons, just incredible country. We had pretty smooth traveling, thanks to overflow, which is water that flows over the ice and then freezes. So it was almost like frozen lakes in these valleys. This smoothed things out, eliminating any rocky travel. We were also able to get around the ravines. The country was really stunning.

But then later in the afternoon we got stumped in one canyon. It was actually very beautiful, but also quite tight. There were heavy drifts, up to 20 feet high, and a lot of ice. It took us most of the afternoon - actually until 6 p.m. - to shovel and chop our way through. We had to unload the sleds, about half a load, to get through, so there was a lot of exercise.

I’m up high in an open area now, looking to the east, down the narrow canyon we have to travel tomorrow. These canyon walls are about 1,000 feet high, and extremely narrow.

The weather has been great. I actually skied today without a shirt for about half an hour. But the ultraviolet sunlight here is incredibly intense, and you can literally feel it frying your skin if you don’t keep it covered. The radiation is much more intense than in the more southern climates, where there is more water vapor and a thicker atmosphere.

Yesterday, May 1, we had a polar bear come into camp. One thing about polar bears is how silently they can come into a camp. This bear got within a dozen feet of our alarm dog - the one that is highly attuned to trouble - before we heard anything. The bear came from downwind, and kind of snuck up between some large ice blocks. It was a little scary how the bear came in. But I wasn’t afraid, I know their habits. The bears are most just curious, especially about the dogs.

But you do have to be careful when you are scaring the bear off not to make it mad. But it is usually there just out of curiosity. It feels like it owns the place. Even firing shots over its heard didn’t really scare the bear off. He would move away a little, then turn around and walk back. But not in a charging mode, I could tell from his position. But we did have our guns there, just in case there was an emergency. It would be rare that something like that would happen, but you do have to protect yourself.

Polar bears are kind of a yellowish white, not completely white. The color is sort of that of really old ice. They fit in really well to the surroundings, except for the black nose. It was actually kind of an exciting experience, to have a polar bear so close to us.

We are now very far inland, about 20 miles, so there is no fear of bears anymore. They will sometimes venture inland 10-15 miles, like on certain islands, such as Devin Island. But here we are on the large Melville Peninsula, which is about 100 miles across.

Temperature: 20F
Location: Melville Peninsula
Latitude: 67deg 37’ 52’’ N
Longitude: 85deg 14’ 07 ” W
Distance Traveled: 22 Miles

A good day of travel, but a very hot day. The temperature got up to about 20 degrees Fahrenheit, but it was calm. The sun was very intense, and really fried our skin. We had hats on to cover ourselves, but I traveled with just the bottom layer of my underwear on.

We traveled through canyons for the first part of the day, until about noon. Then we reached some very gentle uplands. There were low clouds and a kind of silky white light, very beautiful. We had lunch on the plains there, and then had very good travel the rest of the day. We went though an area that was not really a canyon, but a very wide track of land, undulating sort of like a scarf.

The dogs are happy, and we made camp very leisurely, and are sitting around talking. The good weather really helps. We still expect to be in Iglulik sometime next week, I would guess around Tuesday or Wednesday. We are expecting to keep traveling straight for the next four or five days, keep our pace up.

We are in relatively unknown country, and our maps are not that good. But we do have the GPS, which we have used a lot for our positioning. It is really exciting making our own trail, and we are savoring these moments. We know that in about another five weeks the trip will be over, and we don’t have too much more of this unknown terrain ahead of us.

We are really enjoying this springtime weather, but we are hoping that it doesn’t get too much warmer. If it does, the dogs will start overheating, and we will have to take many rest stops, or even travel at night if it gets too warm.

Temperature: 20F
Location: Melville Peninsula
Latitude: 67deg 35’ 53 ’’ N
Longitude: 85deg 35’ 48 ” W
Distance Traveled: 22 Miles

We had pretty strong white-out conditions this morning, couldn’t really see much of anything. Fortunately, we were traveling on flat terrain, and I led most of the day on skis, ahead of the dogs. We had a strong east wind again today, which made finding our bearing easy - just head directly into the wind.

The white-out was so bad it was almost like vertigo. But we were able to make about 22 miles. Later in the day the winds picked up a little more and the conditions cleared up and we could see the sun and more of the topography. It was a cold day skiing out in front, with some windchill. The temperature was only about 15 degrees Fahrenheit, but with a stiff wind.

Later in the afternoon we got into a gorge here that has crossed our path, and we are trying to figure out the best way of getting around it. And our large scale maps don’t really show a lot. So tomorrow morning we will have to do some scouting to see if we can get across the gorge and onto the other side so we can keep our bearing.

Travel is going well, it’s adventurous. The dogs are running great, they are in tremendous shape. The sleds are light, the food is a little low. Paul and I are relying mostly on the fish we have for supper. The problem we are having with the warm weather is that the fish are thawing out in the daytime. Last night we were going to try and fry up some whitefish and spice it up a bit, but once we got in the tent we both lost our appetites, and settled for peanut butter sandwiches. Tonight I think we are going to have some noodles.

Other than having no real source of protein, the food supply is good. The dogs are eating well, they are on full rations. They are putting on weight, and are really strong specimens of sled dogs. Dogs typically put on weight in the warmer weather like this, after having run all winter. You can see the muscles in their back legs. We are really proud of our dogs, and it is quite a sight to see them running as a team.

They are really enthusiastic. I’m skiing ahead a lot, and when the lead team catches up the dogs are all over me with excitement. It is nice to feel wanted by the dogs. I also have a good report with the dogs, because I am not a driver. If you are a driver, you have to maintain a certain amount of discipline with the dogs. Although there is certainly an amount of affection involved. These are wild dogs, and they will get out of line quickly if given the chance and take advantage of the situation.

While it was nice to get a break from the white-out later in the day, the ultraviolet radiation here is simply hideous. I came into the tent tonight and my face was just fried. It is nothing like a sunburn you might get in the lower latitudes. The ozone layer is very thin here this time of year, and we have to really cover our skin.

Temperature: 15F
Location: Melville Peninsula
Latitude: 67deg 34’ 08 ’’ N
Longitude: 84deg 00’ 34 ” W
Distance Traveled: 22 Miles

A bit of a rough day today. Starting off, we had to deal with a gorge in front of us, and it took about an hour to get down there. We finally found a ramp that went down, and took us to the lower lands.

We had stormy weather. The temperature got up to about 15 degrees Fahrenheit, but we had about a 30 mph wind, with snow. Very poor visibility. The windchills were low, not like in the Barrens, but uncomfortable. We had a lot of deep snow, and it was a day of tough going. The lunch break was windy and snowy and not very pleasant.

The weather lifted a little towards three o’clock, but then the snow picked up again. I am surprised by the amount of snow here. It has drifted, so on the lakes and some of the rivers travel isn’t too bad, but in the sheltered areas there are pretty deep drifts.

We are hoping for better weather tomorrow. We are on a lake system now, and are hoping to find a trail system that will take us to the next village. If so, we should be able to make 25-30 miles a day.

Morale is good, the dogs are running excellent. The sleds are light. There is a lot of dog food here, but the selection of people food right now isn’t that great. But no one is complaining. And there is still plenty of oatmeal and spaghetti and rice to eat.

Temperature: 15F
Location: Melville Peninsula
Latitude: 67deg 44’ 39 ’’ N
Longitude: 83deg 39’ 06” W
Distance Traveled: 25 Miles

It was a pretty good day of travel. We traveled about 25 miles and we were on land most of the way. We did find a trail, or remnants of a trail, around noon and we followed that off and on. It goes the direction of Iglulik and we’re still about 140 miles straight line to Iglulik, probably more like 175 miles, but we made the section now from one community to another. What we’ve been doing is following trails as far as we could follow them from one community, in this case Pelly Bay. Then we traveled about 100 miles through unknown country until we found a trail, or a remnant of anther trail, which leads to the next community. So we’re now on the downside heading into Iglulik and we saw a lot of caribou today. The weather improved a little bit it was windy against our face. It was an east wind and then we turned north traveling in the direction of Iglulik. The wind shifted, Murphy’s law, shifted then from east to north. It cooled off a little bit which brought clearing skies. It was a very moody day, beams of sunshine, rolling white hills. It’s really kind of a Zen like topography around here. It was a beautiful day of travel and so we’re camped here.

Temperature: 27F
Location: Melville Peninsula
Latitude: 67deg 44’ 39 ’’ N
Longitude: 83deg 39’ 06” W
Distance Traveled: 0 Miles - Day Off

It’s a day off for us and we slept in this morning. It was cloudy and pretty warm, about 27 degrees, the warmest day so far. The terrain that we’re in is really gently rolling terrain. With the clouds and the snow and real white out conditions, it’s very soft lighting very conducive to rest. There wouldn’t be really anywhere to walk to, usually on a day off we like to take a walk. But in this rolling country here, there’s really no where to walk to and it would be pretty easy to get lost here in the white out. So, we sat around the tent most the day, did some writing, our usual day off routine. The dogs have rested up good and we’ll be leaving early tomorrow morning. We’ll probably have about a 6-day travel here to our next village, Iglulik. Actually there’s another village called Hall Beach 95 miles from here. We’re expecting to be there on Tuesday night, probably only spend the night there and move on to Iglulik for Thursday. Iglulik is the cultural center for the native Canadian Inuit, a really fascinating village, a village I’ve never been to. It’s also the area where they had the Canadian Eskimo Dog. My breed of dog that I started 30 years ago. The mainstay of that breed were from Iglulik dogs so it’s really nice to bring the breed back after 30 years to their roots. We all are very anxious to get into town; we’ve been isolated for a very long time. Not so much that, but we want to mingle with the people and the great culture there. Record high for the expedition today, 27 degrees above zero, snowing.

Temperature: 30F
Location: Melville Peninsula
Latitude: 67deg 55’ 44’’ N
Longitude: 83deg 15’ 38” W
Distance Traveled: 20 Miles

We traveled 20 miles today. It was a foggy day in the morning, very typical spring weather in the Arctic. Once it warmed up, we had 30 degrees today, the warmest day so far. But when it warms, especially when there’s open water, [in the ocean with Hudson Bay here to the east there’s plenty of open water] the heat in the atmosphere absorbs moisture and you get these thick fogs. Generally you get a fog and then sometimes it clears off and then when it clears off you get more energy and then you get another fog after that. So foggy weather is very typical in May in the Arctic along with lighter snow. We had 4 inches of snow last night. The morning was actually kind of an artistic morning, very undulating country here. At times the 3 sleds were traveling and there wasn’t any distinction between the sky and the land. The sleds looked like they were traveling with a white screen in the backdrop. The colors were very vivid in the shapes, it was a moody weather. After lunch, it cleared off with deep blue skies and when these clear areas opened up it was almost like search lights on the rolling tundra. We met an Inuit family, or number of families actually about 3 snow mobiles, there was probably at least a dozen people. Each snowmobile pulls a Komatuk sled, a Komatuk sled is a lot like ours, a little bit wider. They had like a camper on top. The family rides in that, they sleep in it. They were having tea. It was almost like the old times when you would meet a group of Inuit on the land but in this case it was on snowmobiles which is the way that they generally travel. So they were from Iglulik, they’ve been traveling for 2 days and we spent about an hour with them around 3:00, had tea and we had their trail to travel on. The snow is quite deep here. Paul who is working for NASA taking snow samples. We had five feet of snow. Yesterday, on the day off, we had 6 feet of snow, so it is an area of accumulation. About 4 inches down there is a very hard layer of snow, like concrete. So there was strong winds blowing through here, probably in March. But with the May weather, the warmer weather, you get this gentle snow falling, almost daily. It’s Mother’s Day tomorrow and everyone’s on the satellite phones this evening calling their mothers. We’re all fortunate to have mothers and so we’re touching base with home tonight. Tomorrow is a travel day so we’ll be up at 5:30, travel for 8 or 9 hours. We plan to be in Iglulik on Thursday night, 5 or 6 days from now. It’s warm today, 30 degrees. Paul and I are sitting in the tent having tea. The gentle wind flapping the tent. Very, very nice mellow evening here. The dogs are growling outside. We fed them a fish head and a fishtail that we got from the Inuit hunters. A little scuffle here over the fish head outside. It’s 1,546 miles so far on the trip.