We awoke this morning to a stiff wind wrapping around the island behind which we were camped and rattling the nylon tents. Elizabeth walked to the ice hole to fill the tea kettle with water as Abby lit the stove in the tent. It was cold enough last night that the ice hole had frozen shut with two inches of ice. Elizabeth had to cut it open again with her hatchet. When she turned back towards the tent, the wind had already blown snow over her tracks.

As we were waiting for the water to boil, the dogs started to bark excitedly. Jim looked out across the lake and exclaimed, “I think one of our dogs is loose and is out on the lake!” We all hopped out of our tents to see for ourselves. All our dogs were still on their tie-outs and we realized the lone animal out on the lake was a wolf. We were down-wind from the wolf and it couldn’t smell us. It started to trot towards us, curious about the barking dogs. The wolf then stopped in its tracks, turned and ran into the woods. It must have just caught our scent.

Traveling conditions today were cold. The temperature was around 0°F with sustained 20 mph winds and gusts up to 30 mph. We were traveling across big lakes with no wind-breaks. This combination of cold and wind made a windchill of negative 23°F. Exposed skin will freeze in thirty minutes. You can learn more about windchill and how to calculate it at http://www.weather.gov/os/windchill/index.shtml.

Even though we were re-tracing our route from the first travel day, our tracks had disappeared in the blowing snow. Elizabeth skied in front, using a map and compass to navigate. The three dog teams followed behind her, trying to stay close enough that the tracks of the team in front were still visible.

Eventually Elizabeth found a section of the lake were our tracks from the first travel day were still visible. The trail was faint, but it was enough for the lead dogs to follow. She no longer had to blaze the trail by skiing in front, so she let the first dog team pass her, grabbed on to the snub line, a rope that trails behind the sled, and was pulled on skis by the dogs. Being pulled by dogs while on skis is called skijoring.

Tully, one of the dogs, got ice balls in the hair between the pads of his paws. Ice balls are painful for dogs and Tully started to limp. Abby broke up the ice balls with a pair of pliers. After a few more miles, however, Tully was still limping so Abby put him in the sled bag for the rest of the run back to the Homestead.

We arrived back at the homestead with enough time to feed the dogs, unpack the sleds and clean gear before the sun went down. We celebrated with a sauna and a big meal.

This training expedition helped us practice our travel, camp and technology systems. Sending e-mails and photos via satellite from our tent in the middle of the wilderness was a success. We are looking forward to more chances to practice with this technology in the Ely cold before we leave for Baffin.