Day: 41

Relaxing Travel Following Resupply

Temperature: -10F

Location: Thelon River Valley, heading to Dubawnt Lake

Latitude: 63deg 3’ 00’’ N

Longitude: 103deg 6’ 9 ’’ N

Distance Traveled: 20 Miles

It was a pleasant day to day. Minus 20 in the morning, but calm. It warmed up to around minus 10 at lunch time. We had a good day of travel, it was rocky in some places, with occasional patches of deep snow, but we were able to make about 20 miles. We are still in that large landmass between the Thelon River and Dubont Lake. There are very few lakes here, and it was an area of unknown that so far has been fairly good travel. We expected the worst here, with rocks and so forth with deep snow, but we got by pretty well with our heavy sleds. Its very flat, undulating country.

Tomorrow we will start descending toward Dubont Lake. It will probably take us a day and a half until we reach the big lake. But we are dropping in elevation, which is going to help us.

We are really enjoying the travel right now - it feels like springtime. 20 below weather is usually what you get at the end of April. Each day we are thankful for the nice weather, but I’m sure winter is going to come back.

The dogs are running really well. It’s been a really good workout for them. We have ample food, and are giving them more food, sometime doubling their rations. They are really getting strong, and the warm weather has helped them quite a bit. They are rebounding quite a bit, putting on weight and getting strong for the long travel we will be doing after Baker Lake. We’re anticipating being in Baker Lake three weeks from tomorrow, which is Tuesday.

We’re in the tent tonight, it’s very quite, no wind at all. We have just a small flame on the Coleman stove, which is keeping us toasty warm. It’s about seven degrees inside, so no complaints.