- Start of trip and Nome, AL
- Herschel Island, Yukon, Canada
- Sea Day, a surprise, and the Smoking Hills, Northwest Territories, Canada
- Ulukhaktok, Northern Territories, Canada
- Murray Island, Nunavut, Northern Canada, Canada
- Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, Northern Canada
- Citizen science and Borge Island
- Gjoa Haven, Nunavut, Northern Canada
- A busy day at sea — polar bears, musk ox, and plankton, oh my!
- Prince Leopold Island, Beechey Island, and Radstock Bay, Nunavut, Northern Canada
- Croker Bay and Dundas Harbor, Nunavut, Northern Canada
- Pond Inlet and the Inuit, Nunavut, Northern Canada
- Ilulissat, Greenland
- Sisimiut, Greenland
- Red Bay, Labrador, Canada
- Corner Brook, Newfoundland, Canada and end of trip
We made a brief stop this afternoon at Murray Island. If you Google this place, you will find nothing, and that’s probably not a surprise — there’s not much here. Apparently, the island was named after Gilbert Elliot-Murray Kynynmound, the 1st Earl of Minto, and a British diplomat and politician.. It was so named during the expedition of John Henry Kelly, an English businessman, and governor of the Hudson’s Bay Company for 30 years. If Kelly was trying to garner favor from Murray, he probably should have picked a bit more substantive an island. The islands we are seeing now are relatively flat or just minor elevation gain. From the distance they look pretty barren and dry. When we went ashore for a nature walk today, we discovered that it was anything but — most of it was marshy. And where is the water coming from that makes it marshy? You guessed it — melting permafrost. Before alarm bells go off, there is a seasonality to the melting and freezing cycle. Earlier in the year, it could have been snow melt, but not this late. In fact, they are expecting their first new snows in about three weeks. So it is seasonal melt, but it is much more than expected, probably meaning that the permafrost is melting at a more rapid rate here too. As we hopped from hummock to hummock, there were lots of tundra flowers and a whole series of wild berries including cranberries and blueberries. At the top of the hill, there was a nice panorama, especially back over to Victoria Island. Tomorrow, we arrive in Cambridge Bay — the big city!
I am a traveler and sometimes clay sculptor, following a long career working in consulting. My work allowed me to travel the world extensively and I was hooked. Today, I travel with my wife/best friend to explore new places, meet new people, and learn new things.
