Arctic Adventure part 3 "Field camp"

After some breakfast and packing up our sleds Travis and I made our way back out to camp for a few days. This morning we had a little fog to deal with but since we already broke a trail to our destination finding our way was no problem. Granted I had my GPS on during the previous walk in so our track was recorded and if the trail had been blown over we still would been able to find our way. The weather up to this point had been great, somewhere around 0 to 20 degrees with very little wind. And we hoping it would stay that way.

The hike in was a little more strenuous, hauling all of our gear on the sleds, but we took our time and stopped for breaks about every hour to eat and drink a little bit. With the cool temps and hauling good loads the hike/snowshoe 5.5 miles in took about 4 hours. Upon reaching our destination Travis grabbed his binoculars and immediately began glassing the surrounding area. And just over the hill that we were going to set up camp a small herd, around 100 caribou, was milling about. They were approximately 150 yards out, quite out of range for either of our handguns, so we set up camp and hoped they would make their way a little closer.

In previous hunts for caribou Travis had discovered that caribou don't seem to be bothered by seeing tents or hearing noise but they do get disturbed with any type of motion. So we set up our tents well out of view of the herd.

After setting up camp and cooking up some food it had started to get dark and the herd of caribou had made their way over another hill further to the south of us closer to the Brooks Range. At that point we decided to hunker down and head for our tents for the night and see what the morning would bring. All around the little knoll we were camped on the snow had been trampled by caribou so we hoped that when we woke up that a few caribou would wander close enough to pick off with a pistol.

The photos today start off with the sunrise at my back showing how low the sun is in the sky with my shadow stretching off into the distance. And the next is the reverse standing in the same spot looking over the Brooks Range. The third and forth pic are of myself setting up my tent and of Travis next to his tent with caribou in the background. And the final photo is of the sun setting over the Brooks Range.

In the videos today I show the hike in and a look around our little home away from home.