| Muskox.
I was out for an early morning walk, when I came across these three. I had to act
quickly, since they were trotting at a fast pace. By the time I set up my tripod,
managed to get focus, set an exposure level, and make a quick attempt at composition,
I only got two shots. I only had a 200 mm lens - 400 would have been ideal.
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| Seagull.
A view across Jones Sound towards Ellesmere Island. The amount of ice in the Sound
varied dramatically from day to day. Some days, it was almost totally ice-free, while
other days it probably would have been possible to walk to Ellesmere Island. Wind and
current could very easily move billions of tons of ice.
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| Ocean Ice.
The ice is back in Jones Sound.
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| Butterfly.
It never ceases to amaze me how much insect life there is in the high Arctic. On
my trips I've seen various beetles, spiders, moths, butterflies and even bees (not to
mention the countless numbers of mosquitoes). With only a few months of summer, these
little critters have to be amazingly tough to survive.
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| Cone Island.
Many years ago, when I visited Grise Fiord on Ellesmere Island, we hiked up to the top
of an ice cap that was the highest point for many miles around. From there, we had
excellent views of Cone Island, and Devon Island beyond. On this trip, I was lucky to
see Cone Island from the opposite direction, with Ellesmere Island in the background.
From this angle, its even more obvious how Cone Island got its name. Ellesmere is over
50 miles away, and yet it looks so close. Here's the other
view.
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| Scattered Bones.
We would often encounter these bone fields - usually from muskox. Some die naturally
(often from the effects of severe winters), and others are killed by packs of wolves.
Often, the vegetation is heavier in these areas, due to the extra nutrients introduced
into the thin soil.
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| Cotton Grass.
I always enjoy coming across large areas of cottongrass. It usually grows in wet areas,
and often there are many acres of it.
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| Ellesmere View.
Another view of Ellesmere Island across Jones Sound.
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| Sverdrup Glacier.
We viewed the Sverdrup Glacier both from the high plateau and from the coast. It
extends back from the ocean approximately 20 km to the Devon Icecap which covers
approximately one third of the island. We were cautious hiking along the coast,
since there are polar bears in the area. On one occassion we did see a bear about
a kilometer away - we gave it a wide berth.
|
| Red Moss.
This is only the second time that I've come across this type of red moss. The first
time was in Kluane National Park.
|
| Lichens.
One of the most ubiquitous "plants" in the Arctic, lichens are actually a symbiotic
relationship between a fungus and an algae or a bacteria. With some species of lichens,
you can tell how old they are by measuring their size. Thousands of years old is not
uncommon.
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| Cape Sparbo.
After hiking inland, we returned to the coast midway between Cape Sparbo and Cape Hardy.
There was a series of raised beaches, several miles inland from the current coastline.
The land is actually still rising after being depressed from the weight of the ice during
the most recent glaciation, some 10,000 years ago. These beaches made an excellent
landing strip for the airplane.
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| Sunset.
With 24 hour daylight, sunrises and sunsets simply don't exist during the summer months.
However, towards the end of our trip, the sun was getting quite low in the sky, and I
captured this scene in the Cape Sparbo area.
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| Ditto.
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| Rescued.
The plane picked us up just above Cape Sparbo. There are ancient raised beaches here
which are extremely flat and level - an ideal landing strip. The pilot however was taking
no chances. He had never landed in this area, so he made approximately a dozen low
altitude circuits of the landing area, as he looked for stray boulders and potholes. The
landing and takeoff were very smooth. These arctic planes all use the large balloon tires
to act as shock absorbers.
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