Location: Eureka
Distance traveled: Roughly 5 km
Day 62 of the expedition, our last day

It's our last day on the ice and while we have come into Eureka and had our first meal and shower the team felt that it was important to spend our remanding hours with the dogs on the ice. So after thanking the welcoming party who have flown from various parts of the world, we made our way back to the ice. We continued the celebrations in the group tent, that has served as our home these 62 days, and despite the festive mood you can tell that we are sad to see each other go our separate ways.

Eric McNair-Landry

Distance traveled: rest day
Day 61 of the Expedition, the last full day

Tomorrow we will wake, at a late hour of 8:30, and travel to an unexpected destination; civilization. To be fair Eureka, a small weather/scientific/military outpost of civilization, yet it has flush toilets, electricity and heating from a generator that doubles as a giant bassoon and internet access that is slightly faster than what our Iridium connection offers. For most of the team it marks the end of this expedition, some of us will be in new York, comparatively to Eureka the very center of civilization, in only three days. Sarah and I will stay back in our home town to unpack and prepare for our next expedition, possibly we shall stay on the fringe for a while longer by living in our cabin; the habitat for Hyndman. The dogs however will journey on with Matty McNair, my mother, southward, attempting to get as close to Resolute as possible.

In many ways I wish I could continue on with them, to spend more nights in the tent listening to the sound of the wind blowing the snow outside. Luckily in less than a month I will be back out on the trail with some of this teams members. I unfortunately, will not be listening to the sound of the wind on the tent as when traveling with kites, windy days are cherished. I'm not going to give away to much, but its happening on Greenland and will hopefully involve a small wind turbine! Hope to address you next from the worlds second biggest ice camp.

Have to go the wolves are back in camp!

Eric Mcnair Landry

Day 60 of Expedition
Position: Wolfcamp Slidre Fiord, Ellesmere Island, N 79° 56' W 085° 23'

We are now spending our last few days exploring the terrain between Slidre Fiord and the Sawtooth Mountains on Ellesmere Island. Because of the early spring thaw we are doing this by foot and on skis. There is simply not enough snow in the interior to travel with our three dog teams. We have heard from the metereologists and base personnel at Eureka that the Spring thaw was at least 3 weeks early this year. This is unfortunately another sign of a warming Arctic.

Because of our many wolf visits in camp, we had another three wolves in camp today, we are exploring two with groups where one is always in camp looking after the dogs. This is not a problem since we also can hike during the night under the midnight sun. Virtually the only difference between night and day is that it is slightly colder during the night. During our hike today we encountered lots of musk ox and saw numerous wolf tracks. One of the musk ox herds we saw had no calves unlike all the previous groups we have seen. It is likely that the wolves might have conducted a successful hunt on the calves of this muskox herd. It is not hard to see why the Inughuit of Northern Greenland who traditionally hunted on Northern Elesmere named this island Muskox Land. This beautifull land is truly the domain of this tough and sterdy animal. We have now only two days left of our expedition and we are all feeling both a longing to see friends and family at home and a sadness about having to leave this fantastic wilderness. I do not think that anyone who gets the privilege of experiencing these regions of the Earth leaves the arctic unchanged. This expedition countinues to make a great impact on me and I look forward to spending the upcoming time of my life to work on the protection of this very region.

All my best, Toby

Expedition Day 60
Position: Not Reported

Our expedition is nearly complete, it's safe to say that the hardest parts are over and that I will be returning with most of my camera equipment intact. Most of it at least... I can't imagine being one of the origional arctic explorers traveling with cameras that now would be in a museum, having to deal with the many situations that are hard enough with new improved technologies. It's hard enough getting the right exposure with digital cameras that allow you to see the photograph imidiately after you've taken it, imagine not seeing your film for a year or more after taking the image, wondering the whole time if your camera had some flaw that you wheren't aware of. The old black and whites that I saw while researching previous expeditions to Ellesmere Island where dark and grainy, hard to comprehend and didn't give a very clear idea about the hardships that people have to face in the arctic. What photographer really wants to set up a massive camera and change their film to suit the situation in a blizzard. It's hard enough now to simply change a lens without getting bits of snow inside the camera, bits of snow that mess with the intricate inner workings of the camera. A snowflake can ruin a whole roll of film. That said, it is also a pleasure to be faced with difficulties. The harder the situation, the more likely nobody has ever taken that image before. The benefits of modern technology make quickly responding to a situation so much easier, when the eleven wolves visited us last night, it was easy to pick up the camera and snap off a dozen images even though they disapeared nearly as fast as they apeared. I can't wait to get all of my photographs downloaded and to see them on a big screen that allows me to see the details, it's like opening presents!

In my time up here in the arctic, I'm sure I've learned a lot. Not just about photography, but about myself and about life. I don't think I'll be able to fully grasp what those lessons might be quite yet, but I'm sure they will come to me over time. I've found that the simple little comforts are the most exciting up here. For instance I allowed myself two sweet caramels a week, and would look forward to those little treats more than anything. Would they have had the same effect if I had been able to eat as much as I wanted? I doubt it. When we sit around the stove at night and dream about our favorite meals, and what we miss most from home, I find that these things are not really what I care about, I care most about the memories that I get to bring back with me, and the life lessons learned up here that I can draw on for the rest of my life.

Ben Horton, Expedition Photographer

Position: N 79° 56' W 085° 23'
Expedition Day: 59

This has been the day of my life. I am sitting in my tent with a big smile on my face. It has been a beautiful day from the start of. We ate lunch with the crew at the station before picking up some more dog food and travelling on. We camped at a nice spot as usual and while setting up the tents we all of a sudden saw one wolf, two wolves, three, four.......11 wolves right in our camp. Raven was running loose and was really close to one of the wolves. They where extremely curious and came as close as just a couple of meters from our dogs. We had to chase some of them away when they came a little too close to the dogs.

There was no aggressive attitude on the wolves and when we told them to back off a bit they did. We just ran towards them telling that they were a little too close. After sniffing around our camp site, they trotted down our trail.

It looked to me like there was at least 4 yearlings in the pack. I assume that the alpha female is denning right now, and will in some weeks show up with her new puppies of the season.

I am sleeping outside tonight with the camera ready, I have a feeling that they will be back.

Amazing to see the white wolf in their territory.

Sigrid