Day: 156

Relaxing in Pond Inlet

Temperature: 50F

Location: Pond Inlet

Latitude: 72deg 42’ 01’’ N

Longitude: 77deg 58’ 54” W

Distance Traveled: 0 Miles – Pond Inlet

We are in Pond Inlet, our first full day in town. The weather is gorgeous, clear, we can see glaciers across the fjord. It is one of the most beautiful locations for a village I have ever seen in the Arctic. It is extremely peaceful. I’m sleeping on the ice in the morning, in the tent, and it is very quiet in the morning. A lot of sea birds, sea gulls and a lot of other wildlife I haven’t been able to identify yet.

The days are a lot of hustle and bustle. It starts with four wheelers driving around. It is very warm in town today, about 50 degrees Fahrenheit, and summer is definitely on its way. And I suspected yesterday, this would be the front of the really warm weather coming in. Usually when you get a high pressure system like this you get a lot of melting down.

We had a team meeting today, and there was a little bit of a debate about whether we are going to be going on to Clyde. We will be making our final decision on Saturday, but I think we will probably be leaving from here. But we will try to get a consensus, and will know more on Saturday.

In the meantime I’ve been looking into charter flights. Normally when you arrive at a place like this with 30 dogs and all the gear, it would take three weeks using commercial flights, taking everything back piecemeal. From Iqaluit, about 500 miles from here, we could fly to Winnipeg. So I am trying to find a charter that is coming up full, and then we could fly the charter back from Pond at a reduced rate.

I’m working right now on coordinating how the team will be getting back, that is my responsibility. So we will try to determine our ultimate plans tomorrow, but if we finish here we will hopefully be able to get out within a week.