Day: 57

Rags to Riches Day

Temperature: -20F

Location: Dubawnt Lake

Latitude: 63deg 52’ 23’’ N

Longitude: 98deg 20’ 24’’ W

Distance Traveled: 16 Miles

Weatherwise, it was a real rags to riches day. It seemed last night around 4 am that we might be stormbound, as the wind was blowing really hard. When we got out of the tent in the morning visibility was sort of OK, but there was a real windchill. It warmed up to 20 below Fahrenheit, but the strong wind froze our fingers really fast. It was a difficult morning lashing the sleds and hooking up dogs. Once we got going the visibility gradually improved. Around 2 o’clock the wind died down a little bit, and around 4 o’clock the sun came out. By the time we began setting up camp around 5 it had turned into a beautiful day. It is minus 10 right now, which is almost a record high for us.

It is very warm inside the tent, and we don’t need a lot of fuel. We’ve got a high flame on the stove here to keep warm tonight.

It was a great day for wildlife. There were tremendous signs of wildlife, especially caribou. At one point we saw a herd of muskox to the north, and caribou were all around us. This area is really rich in wildlife.

We have one more day of traveling and then we will take our usual Friday off. Things are going pretty well. It was a tough morning, but it turned out to be nice right now, and is looking optimistic. The dogs are sleeping well in this warm weather without much wind.