Day: 105

Approaching Arctic Ocean

Temperature: 0F

Location: Edge of Arctic Ocean

Latitude: 68deg 8’ 50’’ N

Longitude: 90deg 4’ 26” W

Distance Traveled: 23 Miles

The weather wasn’t very good early on in the day, it was windy, and we had some snow overnight. It was also fairly foggy, with very low visibility. The wind was in our face, and the temperature was about zero degrees Fahrenheit. There was a bit of a windchill, and we couldn’t see much because we had parkas and ski masks on.

We’ve been going up and down a lot of rugged country, getting towards the ocean. We are about ten miles away from Pelly Bay on the Arctic Ocean.

We had pretty fast travel today, soft snow drifts. We had very hard surfaces up until the snowfall two days ago. Now we have drifts along the trails, but very soft. I’m actually hoping for a strong wind to pack this snow down. We’re hoping to make it to Pelly Bay on Thursday, and for four days the weather won’t matter much because we will be indoors.

We met a couple of friends from Pelly today, they came out to see us. Michael, who has helped us out greatly, along with his father, his older brother and his brother in law. They helped us bring up a cache of dog food five days ago. They met us on the trail today. I almost feel like a brother to Michael, we have talked so much on the phone, though we never met until today. We will be staying with the family in Pelly, something we are looking forward to.

Tomorrow at noon the German film crew flies in. They are going to do aerials, and then we will meet them on a lake out here we designated for lunch. Then they will follow us in tomorrow and the next day into Pelly Bay.

It is clear this evening, it cleared up with a northwest wind, which is a good sign. The barometer is rising. It will probably drop down to 20-25 below tonight, and we are hoping for good weather tomorrow so the plane can land.