Day: 35

Thinking of Ely

Temperature: -15F

Location: Canadian Barrens

Latitude: 63deg 4’ 18’’ N

Longitude: 105deg 10’ 3’’ W

Distance Traveled: 24 Miles

We had another wonderful day today. When we got out of the tent in the morning it was 15 below, clear, and absolutely no wind. It was very easy packing up.

We had an excellent day of travel, making 24 miles. We’re gearing up for the resupply in the next two or three days. Our hope was to get into the Thelon river valley, and then up on the other side. Because of the good milage today we’re almost on the rim of the valley. By tomorrow mid-morning we should see the valley. The valley has some trees in it, and is notorious for its steep slopes. And it is important that we get to the valley and up on the other end before we resupply, as we will be adding about 900 pounds per sled. That is an enormous weight to be going up the far side of the valley, so today was really a wonderful day.

Light clouds came in around noon, but about 3:30 in the afternoon the sun ducked under the clouds, almost like a theater curtain. And then just about half an hour before sunset the sun appeared, casting these long shadows. It was just a beautiful evening. We had a halo around the moon last night. It was so warm in the tent that I went out and washed in the snow, came back in and dried off.

I got to bed late last night, stimulated by the wonderful day we had yesterday. And I couldn’t sleep too much. But today was another wonderful day. The dogs were in good spirits. It’s unusually warm weather here, and it’s very unusual to see a lack of wind.

I want to say hello to my friends in my hometown of Ely, Minnesota. The good radio station there, WELY, is following us on these daily dispatches, and I want to thank the people at WELY for taking us under your wing. I miss everyone a lot in Ely, and think about home quite a bit. Ely, by the way, is the dogsled capital of the lower 48.

We gave a talk at the school there before we left, with about 350 kids, and we asked how many kids had every dogsledded, and about 90 per cent of the kids had been on a dogsled. We are hoping that winter will stick around there so we can continue to enjoy the winters there.