The Trek Starts Here....
The guy on the left, Patrick, (‘Kabloona’) is modeling our basic day to day outer wear. The guy on the right, Charlie, (‘Inuk”), lives in Pangnirtung and is wearing typical garb worn by locals who are going ‘out on the land’. Except for the hats (which we bought for a great price of $17 on sale at the Northern Store in Pang as I lost my original hat in the Iqaluit airport), some notable differences. Well, Charlie was certainly the warm one during the hour skidoo shuttle (he dropped us off) but that seal skin would be a bit too warm for day to day sled hauling.
Our first campsite…Charlie follows the frozen Weasel River until the first rapids then says, ‘OK, this is it, out you get’ – I look at him, kind of in shock (mental transition has not kept up with physical relocation), and ask where do we camp? Duhhh, ‘over there’ he points. Patrick and I shoulder our respective backpacks, drag the empty sleds, and pick our way between a field of river rock. Beside the Crater Lake moraine is a small level area, clear of rock and out of the worst gusting winds. Camp number one! Charlie waves ‘see you’ and wastes no time departing back to Pang. We are alone. Finally after weeks of planning, a few delays and a false start, I am here. Wonderful
Dinner is served: each night, we relied on the same system of freeze dried prepackaged meals. Made by Trekking Mahlzeiten, these one pot specials were great, only needing to be mixed with boiling water and then sit for 5 to 10 minutes. The foil package never leaked, the complete nutritional breakdown was listed as well the usual ingredient list and cooking instructions (essentially, how much water to add). Patrick is vegetarian and they had a good selection of beef/pork free dishes. Great tasting and super convenient. Pictured above is chicken and curried rice. We sawed the spoon handles shorter to better fit in the pots.
Here I am decked out in MEC’s Fusion Hoodie jacket – well, I added the fur ruff (wolf), just carefully tacking it on to the hood with needle and thread. It was a new jacket to me and not field proven – although I generally like and trust the performance claims of MEC gear, this was the first soft shell coat I ever owned. Bought for its touted wind proof and breathable properties. Happily, I wasn’t disappointed but dang, when is MEC going to cut clothing to fit TALL women? Men’s medium needed for sleeve length but snug in those other womanly areas…