Day: 150

Getting Wet

Temperature: Not reported

Location: Baffin Island

Latitude: 71deg 37' 56

Longitude: 80deg 25' 7

Distance Traveled: 30 miles

A good day of travel, covering 30 miles. We are doing our usual routine of traveling at night. We had cloudy weather most of the evening, and then around six in the morning it started to clear off, and is now actually quite nice out. There is fresh snow on the mountains. We haven’t been able to see the topography for the last three days, so it’s been really nice seeing the distance up ahead.

We had a little incident about an hour before we stopped. The lead sled was traveling up ahead, and we’ve had overflow water into a trough and then refroze. The front sled broke through the top layer of the ice, and sunk down about a foot. This is very typical, having this layer of ice over water that is not very deep. It was concealed by the snow, and quite hard to see. Being the first time we’ve encountered this kind of condition on the expedition, we will definitely be able to spot it the second time around. We had to unload that sled, the dogs couldn’t get it out on their own. It was a hassle getting it out, and everything got wet. And by the time we got it out it was time to camp, and we found a nice campsite about 100 yards away.

We are a short distance, maybe 20 miles from the coast. However, on the map there appear to be shoots and rapids on the river ahead. We’ve been a little concerned about area, and the locals have warned us about it. Especially with the thawing conditions, the rocks will be exposed. I don’t see any real river with rapids flowing down, but there could be some water flowing, just enough to make a real rough portage getting around it. Nothing life threatening, at all, but there is always the chance of putting a sled through, just part of spring travel.

Spring travel is usually wet, and I think starting today we will be wet. But on the fjord I think we are going to have good travel. There is still a good week of travel before the thaw hits the main part of the ice. The thaw first begins on land, where the rocks are heated by the sun. The surrounding 2/3 of the area is now barren, and these are areas of rocks and ridges that are blown clean of snow. This area will melt first, and the toughs and valleys later. The deep snow in these areas is still quite hard, and is frozen at night. And as long as the snow is hard, the travel is fast.