July 20-23 - Richard Collinson Inlet
In the winter of 2023 I went on training hikes in the Dubai desert in order to prepare for Victoria Island. I thought the sand was probably good training for snow. However, I never guessed I would find nearly identical desert conditions on Victoria.
Collinson Inlet is an enormous delta (70km long and 30km wide). It empties the water from much of the north western half of the island during the brief thaw. And then, it mostly dries out and reveals a large flat expanse of sand.
I hiked from Viscount Melville Sound to Collinson inlet over three days. The weather at Viscount Melville Sound changed dramatically the night I arrived. I awoke to strong cold winds, and frost on the ground.
I had hoped to hike to the base of the inlet, and then possibly traverse this, avoiding a long string of incoming rivers, in my packboat. However, as I approached the inlet the ground became increasingly wet and marshy, until I could no longer progress and had to retreat.
I headed further south, rising onto drier land until I could cross east. This meant I needed to cross at least one large river, and, I would need to walk on the flatlands in the delta. I wasn’t sure whether those flatlands would be hard sand, or (at least in places) the sort of deep mud that made crossing impossible.
As it turned out, the whole area of flatlands was a hard packed sand – it had been recently submerged in water, and was wet, but it was great ground to walk on.
I was amazed by the similarity of these lands to Dubai deserts. For many kilometers I could see only sand, and in regions with less water there were small dunes as well as spindly plants blowing in the wind.
