Storyline: Hiking in Nunavut August 1-12, 1998
August 10: Today we’ll walk part way back to our drop-off point and set up camp before doing a little exploring. It’s our last full day on Bylot Island, and I know I want to come back and see more, do more. We’ve only begun to scratch the surface. Maybe in a couple of years I’ll be back if it’s still accessible. It’s now 9:30am and the others are stirring time to start getting breakfast ready, so off I go.
Yesterday, after a short haul of a couple of hours along the beach, we set up camp by a creek that has the best water between here and our pickup point at the cabins—about 2-3km further along and in sight from here. We spent an hour or so frying up bannock (tastes like pancakes). I took a short hike to the summit of the big hill behind us while the last few pieces were cooking. The view, as always, was breathtaking. Our camp looked tiny below. Across Eclipse Sound I could see the sentinel icebergs off Pond Inlet. A seal (or is it two?) played just offshore and away to the southeast several peaks were awash in the sunlight that poured through a break in the clouds.
Jim and Tim headed off for a hike; they summited a mountain we had seen the previous day. Jim said that the rocks up there made him think of Stonehenge. They arrived back at camp at about 8:30, tired but elated. Michael worked on his stove; it wasn’t functioning as well as he’d have liked and needed cleaning. Marian and Lindsay went for a nap (Lindsay wasn’t feeling well) and I rejoined Bilbo Baggins, Gandalf, et al in The Hobbit.
Later, we had just finished dinner after returning from a short trip with Michael to a wonderful stream he had found, with miniature waterfalls over large rocks cascading into sandy-bottomed shallow pools—ideal for a personal clean-up. I’d had a little dip downstream from our campsite when everyone was dozing or reading in their tents, but I’d concentrated on waist down. Now I washed my hair and upper body. I still felt smelly, so at Marian’s suggestion, also washed my T-shirt. Marian and Lindsay both washed their hair. The squeaks and squeals they made as they poured the icy water over their heads had to be heard to be believed.
Back to today, my 10th day of the 12-day trip, or 9th of 10 excluding travel days. I didn’t sleep well last night. It’s the first time that’s happened this trip. I was up and had the water heating for breakfast at 8:30. Jim had already been out for a wash-up and was back in his tent warming up. The day started sunny. One of the reasons I woke was that I felt I was beginning to cook inside the tent, but it clouded over as we ate. Lindsay is still not feeling well. She has three or four different inhalers to take, and the first five minutes walking each day causes her all kinds of grief. She puts on a brave and cheerful face and soldiers on, but between Jim, Marian and Lindsay, they’ve decided to try and get Lindsay on an earlier flight home so she can see a doctor.
After breakfast and striking camp, Jim and Marian headed inland to see a sight of apparently naturally-formed initials in a hillside. Jim & Tim had seen it yesterday. The rest of us headed on up the beach towards our pickup point. As we set off, Michael suggested that he and Tim carry Marian and Jim’s backpacks between them on a ski pole. When that idea didn’t pan out as planned—the ski pole wasn’t strong enough—they slid the backpacks on in front of them and continued on like backpack sandwiches. I spelled Michael off for a while—about ½ the trip—with Jim’s pack. Tim carried Marian’s all the way.
As we boarded the boat, two visitors were just coming ashore. They carried with them a large amount of camera equipment and were planning to set up a base camp near the beach, then spend five days on the island.
Once again, the motors would not start. This time neither of them wanted to go, but after 20 minutes of work and a new set of plugs in one, we were skimming across Eclipse sound back to Pond Inlet. And it’s started to rain. Just a light drizzle that continues even now.
We were dropped off just below the campground. On the beach was a dead animal. It looked like a seal from a distance, but our guide’s son trotted up to it and was soon cutting away at its mouth—it was a shark! I didn’t know that they occurred so far north, but we were told it was a Greenland Shark and not uncommon. The guide’s son had removed some of its teeth and demonstrated to Tim and Lindsay how sharp they were.
We hurriedly set-up camp so we could keep things as dry as possible. Then we headed up the runway to town. There were a couple of T-shirts I wanted at the Northern Store (smelled better than mine, too!). Jim headed off to the airport to see about changing Lindsay’s flight and we all agreed to meet at the Co-op for fries. It was stifling in the restaurant, so I headed back to write up my journal, read more of The Hobbit, and perhaps sleep a little. I think that sleep is about to win out…
Join the conversation around our e-Table