Day: 125

Out Of the Canyonlands

Temperature: 20F

Location: Melville Peninsula

Latitude: 67deg 37’ 52’’ N

Longitude: 85deg 14’ 07 ” W

Distance Traveled: 22 Miles

A good day of travel, but a very hot day. The temperature got up to about 20 degrees Fahrenheit, but it was calm. The sun was very intense, and really fried our skin. We had hats on to cover ourselves, but I traveled with just the bottom layer of my underwear on.

We traveled through canyons for the first part of the day, until about noon. Then we reached some very gentle uplands. There were low clouds and a kind of silky white light, very beautiful. We had lunch on the plains there, and then had very good travel the rest of the day. We went though an area that was not really a canyon, but a very wide track of land, undulating sort of like a scarf.

The dogs are happy, and we made camp very leisurely, and are sitting around talking. The good weather really helps. We still expect to be in Iglulik sometime next week, I would guess around Tuesday or Wednesday. We are expecting to keep traveling straight for the next four or five days, keep our pace up.

We are in relatively unknown country, and our maps are not that good. But we do have the GPS, which we have used a lot for our positioning. It is really exciting making our own trail, and we are savoring these moments. We know that in about another five weeks the trip will be over, and we don’t have too much more of this unknown terrain ahead of us.

We are really enjoying this springtime weather, but we are hoping that it doesn’t get too much warmer. If it does, the dogs will start overheating, and we will have to take many rest stops, or even travel at night if it gets too warm.