Woke
up and enjoyed a typical, back home breakfast of eggs, bacon,
and toast with Sam and Dan, two of the other hunters. We all laughed
because we figured it would be
our last home-cooked meal until our hunt is over, or maybe ever!
Sam arrived late for breakfast because he slept in. He'd probably
still be sleeping if we hadn't pounded on
his door. He said it was the last good night sleep he was going
to get for quite a while. As for me, I didn't sleep very well.
I couldn't wait until this morning so we could get going.
David and Phillip
came to pick me up after breakfast. The sleds are fully loaded
and we're heading out onto the frozen sea.
We've been traveling
northwest now for several hours, stopping frequently to have warm
tea and banyo bread. Banyo bread is a staple of the natives here
and tastes kind of like our white bread at home. In order to eat
it, we have to dip it in our tea because it is frozen.
I've been riding on
the dog sled all day today. It's an open, flat sled with a square
box (where I sit) mounted on it. There's a little Coleman stove
in the box that we use
for heating our lunches, etc. David sits toward the front of the
sled and alternates between sitting and getting off and running
with the dogs in order to get them to head in the direction he
wants them to go.
The dogs are pulling
the sleds with ropes and harnesses made from bearded seal skin.
I can't believe how strong these ropes are! There are ten dogs
pulling me and they're all different colors and sizes. Sometimes
a lead rope gets caught on an ice chunk, pulling a dog into the
path of the sled. David has to stop the sled with his homemade
steel foot brake. This penetrates the ice when he steps on it,
and keeps the dog from getting seriously hurt.
When we take our breaks,
quite often the dogs will fight with one another or gang up on
one particular dog and David has to run over and settle them down
in a gentle way. Some of the dogs have their ears torn and pieces
of hide are missing.
Any exposed skin would
freeze in seconds, not minutes, out here! The homemade caribou
skins are keeping me very warm. It's almost like I'm living in
a protective shell.
The only outerwear on me that are commercially made are my gloves
and facemask. My goggles continue to fog up so I've stopped wearing
them. My breath is causing my
facemask to freeze rock-solid on the outside, but it's keeping
my face warm inside. I think if I take a deep breath, I'd probably
freeze my lungs!
There are all kinds
of pressure ridges out here and we're traveling through them.
It's neat. The tides and the movement of the ocean cause these
pressure ridges. The ice pushes together and up heaves various
sized pieces of ice, which come together and make these giant
pressure ridges. It's cold, but it's really neat! As we're riding
out onto the open ice, it seems like we're always going uphill,
but can never make it to the top. It just seems like a long, gradual
climb. When I turn around and look behind us, it looks like we
just came downhill. It's quite a phenomenon. I feel as though
we're riding in the middle of a giant crater all the time and
can never get out.
Saw a polar bear
I saw my first polar
bear today, but passed on it. They figured it was only about a
7' bear, but it's very exciting. I thought the bears would be
totally white like the snow,
but this one wasn't. It was almost a dull yellow color. I spotted
the bear off in the distance with my naked eyes. The bear didn't
seem to care whether we were there
or not. He kept lifting his head, looking our way, and then lifting
his head again. I think he was sniffing the wind to try and catch
our scent. He continued in the direction he was
going.
We're setting up camp.
We're setting up right in the middle of nowhere. The moon is shining
and it's so cold that the sky looks to be the colors of fire.
It's amazing. It looks just
like I'm looking into a flame--the blues, reds, and yellows are
just brilliant! The dogs are quiet. They're tired from running
all day. I'm looking forward to tomorrow. Hopefully, we'll get
on another big bear--just a little bigger than the last one.
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About
Ray
