Day: 102

Fast Travel On River Ice

Temperature: 0F

Location: Arrowsmith River

Latitude: 67deg 35’ 57’’ N

Longitude: 91deg 22’ 28” W

Distance Traveled: 28 Miles

We had a great day of traveling today - 28 miles. Good, fast river travel. There is a lot of blue ice on the Arrowsmith River. The ice on these rivers is polished by the wind and the snow blowing across them, very, very slick. This is typical of the Barrenland lakes and rivers, where the ice is constantly exposed to the abrasion of the snow.

The travel conditions are absolutely perfect. We had a high of around zero degrees Fahrenheit, with absolutely hard ground, no loose snow whatsoever. There are a lot of caribou around. We saw one herd in the hills of a couple hundred, from a distance they almost look like fleas running along the hillside. This is a lot of excitement for the dogs, one reason we made such good mileage. The dogs were really running downriver, looking for caribou.

We’ll be on the Arrowsmith for another day, and then we are going up another divide for about 40 miles, there is a lake in between called Frost Lake, and then we will descend into another river called the Kellette River. This we will follow down to the ocean. The Arrowsmith drops into a series of rapids and falls that would be very difficult to navigate on.

Things are going really well here. The crew is in good spirits, we are in expedition mode, traveling good miles. We should be in Pelly on Thursday, around 4 o’clock, if the weather holds. We are anxious to meet everyone in Pelly, Michael and the gang. Thanks again for the crew that brought out the dog food. We are anxious to talk to the school, hopefully on Friday.