Covering Miles

We covered a lot of ground today - about 23 miles by dogsled and ski.

We are passing through some brushy areas with small trees. The deep, fluffy snow collects in these areas, making it difficult to get a dogsled through. The dogs bottom-out, like swimming in snow, and the sled starts to snowplow and tip over. However, none of these places slowed us down more than we expected.

The wind has changed from the northwest to an easterly gale, and we wonder what change in weather that may bring. The wind of 15-20 mph today dropped our windchills to subzero. The air remained in the teens or low 20s.

We saw more polar bear tracks in the snow today.

We pulled into camp at a little after 6 PM, and luckily we found a good spot out of the wind.

A frosty morning in camp.

We are sleeping in sleeping bags that can keep us warm down to 60 degrees below zero. The photo shows Amy waking up this morning after spending the night cozy in a dogsled bag. Behind her are some of our team waking up after sleeping under the stars.

The scenery is changing rapidly. As we move further north, the trees are getting smaller and smaller, and fewer and fewer.

The efficient traveling conditions allowed us to log many miles today. Our tired bodies were uplifted when we arrived at Hudson Bay, and its shining expanse of white flatness this afternoon.

Today we saw a white arctic hare that blended in with its snowy surroundings, and we saw a fox scampering across the tundra in front of us.

We pulled into camp at about 6:30 tonight. We are camped at an abandoned research station on the shores of Hudson Bay.

Most of the area polar bears have recently moved onto Hudson Bay to hunt seals. Tomorrow we will venture out onto the bay by dogsled to see what the ice holds.