July 17-20 - Viscount Melville Sound
I walked for four days parallel to the Prince of Wales Strait. Due to the risk of polar bears, I stayed inland, but on the final day I walked directly along the shore. I saw one set of old bear tracks, but nothing more.
This shoreline reflects the dramatic seasonal changes on the island. Every 500m to 1km there would be deep, dry gullies cut out by the short season of thaw water. Then every 20km or so there would be large, cavernous deltas where water had recently flowed violently, but at this time in mid July only a small, shallow river at the bottom of the caverns was left.
Sometimes these deltas were easy to walk across, with hard sand or gravel. But at other times the mud would be more like a sinking sand, and I’d quickly have to retreat before losing a shoe or becoming stuck.
On one day I came to a river that carved a long chain of sandstone caverns as it meandered towards the strait. A deep river ran through the stone sculptures, so I needed to use my pack boat to cross. Although I was always nervous out on the water – I couldn’t afford to dump – this isolated beauty in the midst of such enormous territory made for one of the most striking moments on this trip.
I finished my trip to Viscount Melville Sound walking along the shore of the strait. It was an amazing day – there were no winds, the sky was blue, and the water was absolutely calm. Despite it being 15km (9 miles) away, across open water dotted with chunks of ice and small icebergs, Banks Island looked easily reachable. It gave me the (reckless) desire to pull out my pack boat and start paddling towards Banks.
