Of course we had 24 hour daylight throughout this trip. Many of these photographs were taken at midnight, and now I can't distinguish them from those taken at high noon
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| At the Coast. This is our campsite at the Arctic Ocean. There were several ponds behind us, which various shorebirds would frequent. We spent 3 or 4 days here. We had ample opportunity to relax and explore. The plane was delayed by a day because it was backlogged by bad weather. Flexibility and patience are key requirements for travel in the Arctic. |
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| The Arctic Ocean.
The ocean was still mostly frozen, although there was considerable melting and there was
some open water near shore, especially at the mouth of streams. Unlike the eastern Arctic,
there's no icebergs here - just flat frozen ocean. We were somewhat nervous about polar
bears. We did have a shotgun with some heavy duty shells, noise makers, and a can of mace.
I'm actually glad that we didn't see any. Of course we had 24 hour daylight throughout this trip. Many of these photographs were taken at midnight, and now I can't distinguish them from those taken at high noon |
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| Rainbow. I saw this unusual, colourless rainbow one day. I'm not sure what caused it - perhaps ice crystals in the air. |
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| Hurricane-Proof Tent. There was a group of scientists doing fish studies at the ocean. These were the first people we had seen since starting our trip. They were there for most of the summer, so they tried to make themselves as comfortable as possible. One fellow built a pallisade of driftwood around his tent to help protect him from the elements. I'm not sure I could sleep at night, knowing there was a ton of logs over my head. |