Dog days of Summer...

Thanks to the very generous Jake and Shari Gearheard I've been able to spend a few more days in Clyde River before moving south to Iqaluit. Jake and Shari put me up for the weekend and will be delivering me to the airport tomorrow (Monday). In exchange for taking up space in their home, I spent yesterday working with Jake to move his dogs from the "Summer" location to a location closer to their home.

Jake and Shari have 16 sled dogs, many they've raised from puppy's, that they train and use for various activities including racing in the Nunavut Quest - Jake took 7th place in the Quest last year. Jake and Shari had no dog sledding, or dog teaming in the north, experience prior to moving to Clyde 6 years ago, but have committed themselves to learning the art of dog teaming - raising dogs and puppies, care and feeding, building their own sleds, sewing custom fit harnesses, etc, etc. It is a huge commitment, but these two have really pulled it together and gone from novice to extraordinarily competent dog teamers.

This past Summer they kept their dogs staked out close to a lake north of town. A perfect location, close to water and away from other teams. Unfortunately, the close proximity to the lake gave rise to concerns that forced them to move their dogs to a new location. When you're only access to the dogs in the Summer is via 4-wheeler, a move of 16 dogs is no small project.

Jake and I started at about 10:30 Saturday morning by driving the 4-wheelers out to the dogs. The "trail" was a good bit of fun and my previous experience driving 4-wheelers was put to the test on the exceptionally rocky, and at times marshy, tundra, but I managed. Once at the dog yard we dug up the stakeouts for the dogs and then Jake unclipped the dogs - all of them. It isn't everyday you get to see 14 relatively large dogs, two were already at the new location, roaming free. We then proceeded to "shepherd" the dogs over the tundra and down to the shore of Baffin Bay and back across the tundra to their new location. The plan was to give the dogs a really good workout so they'd get some exercise and to settle them down before we got to the new location. It was a lot of fun watching Jake ahead of me on his 4-wheeler surrounded by the dogs, all following along with their master.

After arriving at the new location we dug in the stakeouts, clipped the dogs and then served them a dinner of narwhal meat and bones - watch your fingers here as these dogs were ravenous after the long run and the fresh meat was gobbled up quickly,

I've had a bit of experiencing working with dogs on two previous expeditions to Baffin and at the homestead of my friend John Stetson in Duluth. It was work orchestrating this move, but it was also a lot of fun seeing it all come together. The 4-wheeling along the tundra and the beach of Baffin Bay was a big highlight of my trip so far and I am thankful for the opportunity to help make it happen.

Tomorrow I'll be catching a 9:40 flight from Clyde to Iqaluit, but I'll try to sneak in another post before I leave.

jim

Photos: 4-wheeling on the beach with iceberg in the distance, two of Jake and Shari's 16 dogs, Jake shepherding the flock and more of that cool "arctic cotton."

"Camp Solitude" to Clyde River...

Ilkoo and his wife arrived about 11:30am on Thursday, the 12th, to pick me up and transport me back to Clyde River. Ilkoo is in his mid 60's, but moves around the boat like someone half his age. He and his wife were out camping up the inlet and it was fortuitous that he was so close and had the space for another passenger. I loaded my gear onto their boat, and before we left Ilkoo's his wife scoured the hills for blueberries and was able to find a large amount. I'd been munching on a few during my stay as well.

Our ride back would take about 3 1/2 hours.There was little wind, sunny, blue skies and temps in the upper 40's - much different than the weather two weeks ago on the way out. The boat was open with a small cabin/storage area in the bow and allowed for an incredible view of the inlet from all sides. Ilkoo hugged the cliffs in a few places to give a closer view of the waterfalls and glaciers. Photos do not do this area justice, but I tried.

After a quick stop at Ilkoo's remote cabin, we continued on our way to Clyde River. About 20 minutes further along the trip changed from a leisurely jaunt up the inlet to an exciting narwhal hunt. Many of the Inuit in the area hunt narwhal and seal as a food source; not unlike people in forested areas hunt deer and moose. Because Baffin is closed off from roads the only transportation in comes via a few cargo ships and the ever present airplanes making food prices extremely high and "living off the land" is a must for the people in the area.

The narwhal we were now searching for are not easy to spot - at least not to my eyes. As soon as Ilkoo had located the "lane" that the narwhal were swimming along we tied off the boat to rocks along the shore and he took up a position on a rocky ledge above with his rifle. The narwhal were fast and where they would surface next was impossible to predict. Even though we stayed at it for what seemed like hours no narwhal were harmed in the transport of my adventure.

We saw several other hunters in boats on our way to Clyde and all were anxious to get the word on where we'd seen narwhal. Everyone in the area is connected via short wave radio, which seems to work incredibly well to spread the word. Ilkoo was made aware of my need for a ride via radio message from Tommy, the guy who gave me a lift out.

We arrived in Clyde River about 4:30 or so and after I picked up a few things I'd left at Tommy's, I made my way to my home for the night. Shari and Jake Gearheard live in Clyde River and I'd first met them when I was here in 2007. Shari works with the National Snow and Ice Data Center and Jake works in community development in Clyde River. They were gracious enough to put me up and provided a dinner of homemade pizza - what a change from just a night before.

It took me well into the night to adjust to a soft bed and the buzz of ATV's outside the window, but sleep did come eventually.

jim

Photos: picking blueberries, on Ikloo's boat and the fantasy-land shoreline of the Clyde Inlet. My apologies for the lack of narwhal photos - they were beyond my telephoto lens.

Weather forecast for Clyde River area...

In case you're interested in the weather forecast for the Clyde River area, where I'll be traveling, see this link to the rss feed for weather in Canada.

jim

Arctic Cotton

Wandering around Clyde River today I could not help but noticed the large amount of "arctic cotton" (Eriophorum). I'd seen photos of these plants and heard people talk about them, but seeing them in-person was far more mesmerizing. They grow up out of the ground and have a stunningly white, cotton-like puffball on the top of stem. The puffball "points" downwind and appears to stay that way even after the wind dies away - kinda cool to see. They are very prolific in Clyde River and I'd be willing to bet that I'll see plenty more along my trek. See picture below.

Today I made the rounds around town and visited the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) and the Hamlet office to give them my emergency contact info, discuss my plans and route, and get the telephone numbers. All seemed to grasp the idea of why a person would want to travel through this country and that helped to removeany lingering doubts - very minimal at thispoint.

Today I'll also pickup some fuel (Naptha/White Gas) for my stove and transfer it to fuel bottles and a jerrycan for the journey that I start tomorrow. A gallon of the fuel up here costs $7.84 / gallon and I'll be buying two gallons. Although twice the cost of the same in the U.S., it is still affordable.

There was news that a pod of Narwhal were in the bay last night about 10:30. I was already asleep, but definitely would have been up to see this amazing site. It is my hope to see more narwhal and other marine mammal life when we boat up the inlet tomorrow. - with the exception of polar bear, of course. I have no desire to see a single one along the journey.

Hope you are all well. All my best,

jim

[Photo credit: Jim Paulson - ArcticScape Adventures]

First images from Clyde River...I love this place...