Team storm bound near Hope Bay
Hi, this is Glenn with the Arctic Voice blog on the 21st August. Our position is on the south side of Melville Sound 68 degrees 7 minutes 32 seconds North; 106 degrees 49 minutes 55 seconds West. We’re just near the entrance to Hope Bay and it looks like we’re going to be here for a few days. We’ve been here 3 days already. We’ve got exceedingly cold northerly winds, very rough sea we can’t move at all at the moment we’re pretty much penned down. We’ve spoken to the coastguard and the prediction is that this weather is going to stay with us for probably two or three days so we could perhaps have even 6 days when we’re pinned down where we are now.
We’ve managed to hike around the hills in the area and get a feel for the land. It’s very,very dramatic and impressive scenery – rugged mountain scenery. We climbed a mountain nearby yesterday and in the distance we saw lights which was rather a surprise because we’re in the middle of nowhere. Through the binoculars we could see what looked like an exploration or mining camp and these are the things that the elders have been talking about that seem to be affecting the animal movements in the area. So we saw one and there was a runway and helicopter movement and machinery working – it was a long way off but we could see it through the binoculars.
We’ve heard that there are 4 musk oxen stranded on an island not far from here sadly they must have come on the island when there was ice and now they’re very emaciated and on the verge of dying and there seems little hope for them. I doubt if we’ll see them because they’re not exactly on our route – just part of a sad aspect of life up here sometimes.
A few days ago when we came into this particular camp site we were on our way down the coast and we saw a wolverine just off the coast which was an amazing experience for all of us because it’s a very rare animal – I say rare animal but it’s a rarity to see it – so that was really quite exciting for us. We have about three days paddling left to get to the portage at the head of Elu Inlet then about a mile of land to carry the equipment across and then we’re pretty much at Cambridge Bay at that point. There’s a short crossing to Cambridge Bay. We’re debating at the moment given our time frame whether to paddle across the crossing — its about 12 miles. Or we may have a chat with some of the hunters we know there and get a boat pick up – we’re not sure yet.
Everything’s well. We’re all in good health – except Stephen has had problems with his wrists that virtually incapacitated him on one day. So he’s on some pretty serious drugs at the moment to try and solve that one.
Other than that we’ve noticed a distinct drop in temperature. Autumn is on its way. We had sleet yesterday. The tundra is starting to take on some beautiful autumn colours now and we’re just hanging on in hoping to get a break in the weather for the next three days for the portage. There’s a reasonable amount of food at the moment, fuel is ok. So that’s about it – thank you to everyone who’s reading the blog – we’ve had an huge amount of help from all sorts of people – I need the mention the Canadian Coastguard have been great, the RCMP have been great, all the hunters we’ve met have been fantastic – so the usual Arctic welcome which has been fantastic and we’re all in pretty good shape and looking forward to heading off. Love to everyone at home.
Julie making a welcome hot drink
