Day: 51

Open Water Ahead

Temperature: -34F

Location: Dubawnt River

Latitude: 64deg 40 ’ 4’’ N

Longitude: 100deg 29’ 50 ’’ W

Distance Traveled: 16 Miles

We had a fairly good day of travel today. It was actually fairly warm in the morning, minus 34 degrees Fahrenheit, without much of a wind. So it actually felt kind of balmy when we took off. But the wind did pick up later in the day. Some clouds came in, and we had a partly cloudy day. At the beginning of the day we could see the Dubawnt River, and steam rising off it about two miles ahead. When we got to the river we could see that it was a very good flow of water, very deep, very fast, very black, steaming water at 30 below. It was actually very dangerous water, and we kept away from it, once we got into the main channel. We went overland, covering about seven or eight miles, past a number of rapids, dropping about 70 feet. The river then flows into a smaller lake - that is, smaller than Dubawnt - called Canoe Lake, which is about ten miles wide.

We are camped about half way up Canoe Lake, on a small little island on the east side. It is an area we hope will provide some protection for the dogs if a northwest wind comes up. We’re taking tomorrow off, Friday, for the education report, which will go up on PolarHusky.com on Monday.

It was quite a beautiful day today, and seeing the river was really spectacular. Quite awesome to see this flowing black water, and pretty sobering to see the flow of the water. So we kept our distance. At Canoe Lake there was some current flowing into the lake, and we went way around.

But it was a pretty good day. It was partly cloudy when we made camp. We will pick up the river again about three miles ahead. And there is steam rising up from the north, so we know there is a lot of open water up there. But overall it was a pretty good day. Hugh and I are having our evening meal of spaghetti and whatever we are going to mix for a sauce. Thursday night is always a special night for us, as we have Friday off. We had a late dinner and drink a couple of cups of tea and so forth.