Day: 145

Stunning Colors In The Sky

Temperature: 32F

Location: Baffin Island

Latitude: 70deg 14’ 44’’ N

Longitude: 79deg 59’ 13” W

Distance Traveled: 30 Miles

We traveled again last night on the night shift, a very beautiful evening. Crystal clear. The shadows at night are about 100 feet long. Beautiful lighting with the low, brilliant sunlight. It picks up the colors on the back sleds, the blues and the red of the sled bags, the oranges of the parkas, just extremely stunning lighting.

We are all still sort of suffering from “jet lag,” the eight hours of travel goes by like a haze. It actually goes by faster than a normal day. But we are slowly getting out of the jet lag, the sleeping is a little bit better, and our appetites are returning. It generally takes about a week to adjust to this traveling at night, but it is definitely paying off. We made 32 miles yesterday, one of the best days we have had.

We have about four inches of crust, absolutely perfect for travel. The temperature last night got down to around 5 above (Fahrenheit), sometimes we had a windchill. But it wasn’t that bad, and when the wind calmed down it felt very warm. During the day it is around 32-34 degrees, and we sleep very warmly in the tents. It is around 8 p.m. and we are having breakfast, getting ready to head out at 10 p.m.

It is another beautiful day, clear, the sun is very high, very brilliant. I remember six months ago, during the solstice on Great Slave Lake, the sun was only four fingers high at its highest elevation at 1 o’clock. The arctic is really a land of extremes. We no longer have a frost problem in the tent, no need for headlamps. We have plenty of light. We could read a newspaper in the tent, if we had a newspaper.

We are getting into a good travel rhythm. There is a DeBeers diamond exploration camp about one day’s travel ahead, so we are hoping to be there today. And I really want to check that out, and see what it’s all about.