 |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| Day
10 Monday 23rd. |
| Heavy rain all night. Caribou bull
cow and two calves skirt ridge above our camp lake during breakfast.
Loons chatter on the lake. Recharge mini DV. Download pictures.
Very old musk ox bones and skull south of Brock. Frightening
crossing of the Brock River, 3 times. With the dogs, my pack
and then with the dogs' packs. |
 |
| |
| Day
11 Tuesday 24th. |
| Fed Hansel more than enough and he begins to
bury it. Wet start, cold end. 2°C tonight. Saw golden eagle
this afternoon he had a huge wingspan. Caribou buck followed
us and came up close. About 40 metres away at times, chancing
his arm with Pingo. |
 |
 |
| With carrying less fuel than in
winter and falling temperatures I think about bringing the dogs
inside the tent with me to keep warm at night. |
| |
| Day
12 Wednesday 25th. |
0°C morning, first snow, didn’t settle.
Continuing to cover 10 miles plus per day now vital. I don’t
want to be chased by the devil (the cold). Being caught out
with stiff boots is my only concern. Phoned in co-ordinates.
Another good day covered 12 miles.
|
|
|
| The dogs look good and I feel fine.
Positive proof of all the nutritional advice from Nestlé’s
senior nutritionist Dr. Janet Aylot and Craig Bullen of PowerBar.
Recharge Iridium 9505 satellite phone and mini DV camcorder
from 12-volt solar charged battery. |
 |
| |
| Day
13 Thursday 26th. |
| Early morning snow flurries give
way to sun. Peregrine falcons squawk from rock faces opposite
my tent. They‘re flying around like pigeons, two adults,
three youngsters to-ing and fro-ing during hunting missions. |
 |
| |
| Day
14 Friday 27th. |
| Dull start gave way to brilliant
evening sun. First sighting of Amundsen Gulf and the Arctic
Ocean. I thought of Roald Amundsen making historic Northwest
Passage route discovery nearly a hundred years ago through these
very waters. Scattered sea ice shone bright in the sun. I think
of all the bowhead whales out there too. Saw loan grizzly running
like crazy upwind of us. My socks maybe? |
 |
| |
| Day
15 Saturday 28th. |
| It’s hard to understand the
hardship the ancient Inuit must have endured. I‘ve walked
past some signs of habitation and am in awe of their endurance.
While passing tiny tundra flowers with their petals still clinging
on, I at least know summer is hanging on by its fingertips.
No more 24-hour sun and the mosquitoes are long gone. There
is an anticipation everything from now on gets colder. |
 |
 |
| |
| Day
16 Sunday 29th. |
Phoned in with co-ordinates at
and co-ordinates heading to. Glorious sunshine, all day. The
dogs are doing well and have the extra energy to keep ahead
of me to hunt ground squirrels or follow fresh caribou trails.
Both dogs are smart enough to take the weight off their feet
when we stop routinely and rest. I check their feet and adjust
their packs during this time too.
When we cross streams, creeks or lake sides, Pingo and Hansel
lap water to refresh themselves. I pump water through my lightweight
water purifier. Wolves, caribou, bears and tundra foxes share
the same water as me. The high incidence of rabies in all
mammals here can only be passed on by physical contact but
waterborne dangers could happen if I weren’t to purify
my water. Being totally alone I don’t want to be tent
bound with a stomach ailment. |
 |
| |
| Day
17 Monday 30th. |
Good progress to get set for crossing the
Roscoe River. I’m anxious to see what and where we can
cross. Now camped on the beach. Icebergs floating everywhere.
On crossing the Palgrave River ready to make camp almost
immediately came across polar bear first year cub prints.
These prints are human like but, unlike a grizzly’s,
claws can’t be seen because of dense fur between its
toes. The trail seemed to identify that the cub sniffed and
nudged seaweed along its way.
|
|
|
| My immediate reaction was to consider
where its mother might be. No sign. A cub alone could potentially
take my head off with a single blow. |
| |
| Day
18 Tuesday 31st. |
| Woke to booming icebergs as they calve out at
sea. The splash is immense. Break camp and head out along the
beach. Come across colossal size whalebones. Find message in
bottle, with a note about ocean
current study and asking to report the find. Also see three
body shaped black bags. I think burial at sea and don’t
wish to investigate. Crossed the Roscoe River. No incident.
No Cessna 185 float plane can land on the ocean so I head in
land to a lake where a food cache had been flown in 3 weeks
ago for me. The cache is intact. I’d wired the cache beforehand
instead of using padlocks. Grizzlies tend to snap these off.
As we (Pingo, Hansel and me) settle down for the night I can
hear rapids from the Roscoe only a few miles up stream from
where I’d chosen to cross. |
 
|
|
| |
| Day
19 Wednesday 1st September. |
| Rest day, our first. Woke to a pleasant
9°C southerly breeze. Phoned co-ordinates. Conversation
also confirms smell of smoke from bush fires raging over 1,000
miles away down in the Yukon. |
 |
 |
| [<<
back] |
|
|
|
[more
>>] |
All
photographs copyright © Gary Rolfe