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Haunted?
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A peek in the tent on rest day. Paul is in his bag snoozing and on top of Mille's bag is the laptop computer. |
Date: 03.16.03
Position: 55.03N 83.11W
Weather Conditions: snow storm 4F/-19C Wind speed: 15-20 MPHIt has been a very eventful week on the trail. Every day something new has gone wrong. Yep, we are naming this week: "Haunted?" Today's rest day is very welcomed and most fittingly, to top off the extreme week that has passed, there is a snowstorm outside. We are not complaining as we do not have to travel plus it is nice and warm in our tent, so it’s not bad... |
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By looking at the barometer we can often tell if a storm is coming. |
Over the last 30 hours the barometer has been going down, down, down. You can tell by observing the bars... hopefully it will soon level out and more stable weather will come. That is actually how the week started as well. On Monday, when we were to take-off from Peawanuck, the winds were howling across the land at 30 to 40 MPH, gusting up to 60 MPH - and coming at us from northwest it was a wind with a bite. We therefore decided to stay in Peawanuck where we could be inside and the dogs were nicely protected in the trees. We went to the school, spending most of the day with the students there. Lipton went along and as usual he was a big hit! |
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Paul in front of the sled enjoying lunch in the sun on a calm day on the tundra. |
On Tuesday we woke up to a gorgeous day: minus 25 F(- 30 C), clear sky and just a slight breeze. It was perfect dog sledding weather (especially for what turned out to be ahead). As you may remember, the community of Peawanuck is in the trees and about 20 miles from the coast of Hudson Bay. We were told the best and shortest way to get to the coast would be to follow a wide path through the trees that is used a lot by the locals. It actually takes you out to the old Winisk community where the barge still comes in every year to unload the annual fuel supply. It definitely was a shortcut, but unfortunately the storm the day before had totally drifted the path so the Polar Huskies had to put it into four-wheel/low gear; plowing the heavy sleds through 3 to 4 foot deep snow. Let's just say we were sweating! It truly made us appreciate the hard surface - when we finally got above the treeline and reached the wind blown coastline it seemed like a blessing! We were also blessed by the weather gods and were able to enjoy two days of warm weather with high sun as we cruised the coast.Aside from the weather showing us mercy, we pretty much got hammered every other way and were seemingly haunted by bad luck. Most of it was minor stuff: Mille's shirt zipper broke, Paul's bowl cracked, Mille's handlebar rope broke on the sled, Mille's one pair of ski bindings cracked, Mille's bowl cracked, Mille's other pair of ski bindings busted and a tent pole split. |
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The broken bivy zipper -- hard to believe that something seemingly so small could have such an impact on the overall safety of the expedition! |
In the more serious department Friday night the zipper pull on Mille's bivy bag blew apart. We each have a bivy bag: a large 7 foot long "body bag" the shape of a mummy in which we have our sleeping bag system. It is obviously very important that our bags are protected and kept dry in order for us to stay warm at night but the bivy bags serve many more functions too. We each carry our bivy bag on top of the load of our sled for safety, in case something happens where we need quick shelter. Let's say we fall through ice and get wet, or we get hypothermic or we get caught in a major storm and are unable to set-up camp -- we can quickly pull off the bivy, get into the bag and be protected from the elements. Our bivy bags have two zippers, one across the top and a long one all the way down the side. Of course the one that broke on Mille's bag was the long, side zipper.If there is any kind of wind, snow - like sand - gets in everywhere. There was just no way Mille could travel with her sleeping bag system in that bivy. We took out our huge sewing kit to see if we had a new zipper pull that was the right size but none would fit. Very frustrated, Mille started looking at every zipper around. AHA! The zipper that had broken on her shirt earlier in the week actually looked like it was the right size! We dismantled that one and decided to save the project for the evening of our rest day. Temporarily we put Mille's sleeping bag system into Paul's bivy along with his. This is not a permanent solution because our sleds may get separated or we may loose a sled and then we are without any bivy and sleeping bag system. Mille was a bit concerned traveling without her bivy and went through the scenario in her head before take-off that following morning on what to do if we got separated -- especially since the storm was kicking up; creating exactly the conditions in which we could loose sight of the trail and each other. |
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A good dinner helps lift the spirit - here we have prepared "Pesto Pasta with Nuts and Bacon". |
We almost did loose Paul's sled too! Not because of weather but as a result of a crazy caribou chase. The show began with one lonely caribou wandering in from the left; crossing our trail. We were stopped, talking about navigation and the direction of travel when Mille noticed Reggie staring into the white. The wind was already blowing pretty well and visibility was fairly low. Paul was in lead with Aksel and luckily he was paying attention, looking to make sure no animal was going to surprise him by charging (remember we are still in the middle of polar bear country), when he saw the caribou. It kept coming our way, finally stopping right in front of Paul's team then running straight at them.The team went flying! The caribou turned and ran in the direction it had come from - the wrong way as far as we were concerned. To end that chase Mille's team, with Freja in lead, did a terrific job staying on Paul's trail and together we were able to regain control rather quickly. Our caravan then continued southeast. Following the confusion Aksel had a bit of trouble agreeing with Paul about which way we were going so after zigzagging we stopping again for Paul to straighten out the team. Thinking how we would now really get moving, he also decided to put his skis. Bang! Out of the white a group of 8 caribou appeared less than 50 feet to Paul's right, running top-speed straight across from his team. The team bolted, whipped Paul around and dragged him plus skis to the ground as he hung on to the tow rope with his finger tips. Mille, seeing this happen, sped her team after them so in case Paul lost his team, hers would be on their tail. Somehow Paul, using super strength, pulled his way up and secured the snow hook while yelling at the top of his lungs for the team to stop. Aksel sat down! The whole team landed on top of him, but the sled did come to a halt. Mille charging in, helped Paul up then ran into his team to stop any further action. |
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Hard at work with the needle and thread Paul is sewing up his ripped pants. |
Paul was hurting - but luckily he was not seriously injured, as he could have been. While he was trying to anchor the sharp snow hook on the fly, it was bouncing and slipping and as it jolted at the inside of his thigh -- he hit it with his hand at the last second. It tore open his snow pants but Paul avoided the spike hammering into his leg which could have been life threatening considering it was very near the large artery. Now he just has to get busy with the sewing kit to fix his pants today as well. |
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Mille sat with a zip-lock bag full of snow on her face for about an hour to avoid blisters from boiling water. |
You may think this is enough strange activity for one week. Well, we had one more serious accident. Thursday night, after dinner, we were making water on the stove. The water was boiling but we needed a bit more to fill all the thermoses so Mille lifted the lid on the pot while Paul added a large snow chunk from the tent vestibule like we showed on last week’s video. We are not sure what happened but Mille just saw a large splash of water coming at her and then felt burning pain in her face. She instinctively tore open the vestibule door, threw her upper body out and buried her face in the snow - and yes, she cried loudly in pain and fear.Mille reflected, "All kinds of thoughts went through my head. It is probably one of the only times I have instantly thought of evacuation and who could come in to take my place. I was terrified I would get large blisters and in turn it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to keep from getting frost bitten because the skin would be damaged and hyper-sensitive. It was around the left side of my mouth and in the corner of my right eye. I was very scared." Instantly getting snow on it to stop the burn, followed by an hour with a "snow pack" Paul made using a zip-lock bag and miraculously the only trace of the accident on Mille's face is a minute blister on one eyelid. |
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We cannot seem to get pictures of the northern lights with our small digital camera, but Roger from Fort Severn took this terrific shot of the church there...and a splendid display of northern lights! |
It has definitely been one of those weeks where we would get upset about "why THAT now had to happen" but then would come to appreciate that it was just minor, that we could fix it or that the outcome was not as bad as it could have been. Part of the beauty being on the trail is here you really get good at seeing the good in the bad and at looking at the bright side. If nothing else, you often get overwhelmed with the beauty around you - the greatness of nature - and it puts your "situation" in perspective. Like after a hard day when you go outside to go to the bathroom and you see the most incredible northern lights flowing across the sky. You just feel lucky to be there and your troubles become less overwhelming. |
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The church in Peawanuck has the shape of a teepee. |
Key to traditional Oji-Cree spirituality are the power and greatness of nature. When we were in Peawanuck we talked a lot with our friend Dominick about traditional beliefs and religion. The church in Peawanuck does not have a priest so to speak; instead the ceremony is performed by Dominick's parents. They lived on the land as nomads in a very traditional way until 1977 so their church services and interpretation have strong rooting in the traditional beliefs. The church is really of Catholic denomination with their bishop being in Moosonee but Dominick does not think this is a difficult balance as long as people stay open-minded. He was telling us how the shamans actually thought Catholicism was an "easy way" to exercise faith and therefore encouraged it! We have not seen such tolerance between the traditional belief system and the introduced church in very many places in the north. Often there is quite the battle of religions and beliefs in communities. Especially in these times of war talk, experiencing such tolerance was a refreshing change. After all, isn’t tolerance and "love thy brother" what faith is all about? Share your thoughts on tolerance, religion, peace - and war - in this week's discussion board and remember to join this week’s chat on "Tolerance", Thursday March 20th with US from the tent! We look forward to "chatting" with lots of you then! |
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This week’s Polar Husky Superstar, Timber, is HYPER and a super happy dog who makes for one great sled dog! |
When it comes to faith and keeping our spirits high, the loving company of our spirited Polar Huskies is most important for us to stay positive out here. They don't care what is going on in the world as long as they get to pull a sled during the day, have a nice running partner, some good snow to roll around in and get their food served at night! Our most spirited dog on this expedition has to be this week's Polar Husky Superstar, Timber. As you can read in his bio, he has had his hardships in life but Timber is always more than happy to see the sun rise. Literally he and Peto are the first to howl in the morning, getting everybody excited for whatever is ahead and he pretty much continues like that throughout the day. His tail is constantly wagging. When the sled stops, he immediately let's everybody know, LOUDLY, that it is time to go again - NOW! |
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This week’s other Polar Husky Superstars are Ruby and Reggie. They are both newbies to expedition life but are both truly getting the hang of it. |
Another loud dog whenever we stop is Ruby, our second Polar Husky Superstar of the week, who is truly enjoying her first expedition. She likes to pull hard all day, bark at any other dogs that are not pulling hard enough - according to her - and throw her body up into the air constantly when we are stopped to show the world just how impatient she is getting. We like to run youngsters next to ol' veterans so they can learn the ropes of being a Polar Husky, but on a rare occasion an oldie learns something from a "pup". This week’s last Polar Husky Superstar, Reggie, is a rookie at expedition travel, although he has been in our kennel for many years and has lots of miles under his paws. He is a massive dog with a huge chest yet in the past he has put a lot of energy towards being a brut instead of being the excellent sled dog he has the potential to be. We just changed the team around during this last week so Ruby and Reggie are now running partners and it looks like Ruby's great spirit to go, go, go is rubbing off. Reggie is very focused on watching Ruby bounce around and is getting busy digging in himself. Keep up the spirits! |
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