Day: 47

Meet Hugh's Polar Huskies

Temperature: -38F

Location: Dubawnt Lake

Latitude: 61deg 10 ’ 2’’ N

Longitude: 104deg 44’ 18’’ W

Distance Traveled: 12 Miles

We traveled 12 miles today on the large Dubawnt Lake. Hugh is going to take the dispatch here, so I am going to pass the phone over to him across the tent here, and hopefully we won’t get disconnected.

Hi there. This is Hugh Dale-Harris, and I’m doing the dispatch for today. We had a great day today. The morning was a little difficult, we had some large drifts, but once we got onto the open lake, things got pretty great actually. The drifts got a little smaller, and the team got into a good rhythm. We crossed a big pressure ridge, this jumble of ice, not too big, only a couple of feet high. It was really scenic.

I’d like to talk about my team a little bit. My lead dog is named Nuka, and she’s been a great dog so far. She has incredible spirit. She always, always, always wants to go. Incredible. Whenever we stop, no matter what the situation is, she’s always the first one to start barking, start slamming in her harness. She is such a great cheerleader. So that’s my lead dog. She usually runs on her own, but sometimes I will throw another dog up there to run beside her. And she can run with a lot of different dogs, so that’s another great attribute of hers.

And the next position back is called point position. Today at point I had Khan and Ia. Khan is a great dog, he is four years old. He can either be really into it, or sometimes is a little hesitant to pull. He can go either way. So it is a little bit of a risk having him up there, but today he did really well, was really encouraging. He really helps the team get going when he is excited.

Ia is a really smart, young girl. She is learning a lot about being up front in the team. She was really steady today. Next back I have Chuck and Suzy. They get along really well. They kind of get each other going, and it is super to see them work together.

After that, I have Reggie and Ginger. Reggie is actually Ginger’s father. And they are just so cute together. They are really big dogs, but they are so playful and fun. They are really good dogs to get going. If you can get them excited, they can get the team going.

And after that I have three dogs. I have Hershey, Gloria and Saami. Hershey and Saami are brothers, and I put Gloria in between the two. The get along, the three of them, but sometimes when Hershey and Saami are running, just the two of them, they can get really excited and distract one another. So I put Gloria in between the two, and that seemed to work out really well. All three of them are really strong pullers and have lots of energy, and that’s good to have right next to the sled.

So that formation that I just described, having two by two, next to each other, is called tandem hitch. We usually run tandem hitch, or sometimes a modified tandem hitch, where you can also throw in three dogs, like I just described with those three dogs in the wheel position, closest to the sled. Or even four, you can run four as well. So we kind of mix it up that way.

So that ways my team today. They did really, really well. Once we got into a rhythm, they were really steady, and that was nice to see.

Another thing we did today was cross the 102 degree longitude line, which means we are in Nunavut now. That was pretty exciting for everybody. We stopped and took a picture. I took Nuka out of the team and had her in the picture to sort of honor her as the lead dog.

Eric and I have been talking a lot on the sled, which you tend to do during these long days. We talked about a lot of things, and we talked about what we would be looking forward to at Baker Lake. It’s the simple things in life that you don’t have here that you look forward to the most. Eric’s top three were having a bath, doing some laundry, and watching a movie. Very basic things.

And for me, my top three were very similar. Having a shower, putting some clean clothes on, and seeing my family again. Seeing Amy, my partner, and my daughter Wynne. The thing I am looking forward to the most with Wynne is just reading her a story. She loves stories, I know a couple of her favorites, and I can’t wait to just sit down with her and just read her a story. It’s going to be so great to see them.

Out here things are very simple, you strip down to the basic essentials. And you realize what’s important in life. And those are the things you often take for granted or seem routine. But really they are the cornerstones of your life.

Anyhow, great day today, beautiful day. Not much wind on the Barrens here today. So I’m going to sign out, and pass it over to Will. Over and out from Hugh.

Over and out from Will here as well.