Aerial view of the community of Kugaaruk by Trevor McCullouch. Listen to Paul's impressions of Kugaaruk.

We are going south. Warned by the Elders of Kugaaruk (Pelly Bay), we have altered our route to Igloolik. We are now heading for the bottom of Committee Bay to safely avoid a potentially hazardous crossing to the Melville Peninsula. The sun is hot and the snow is melting - no doubt about it!

Eric, Aaron, and Mille indulging in an incredible potluck spread at the local school. Photo by Trevor McCullouch.

We set out from Kugaaruk on Tuesday morning after a wonderful stay. In Kugaaruk, we were treated to a visit with the local radio station; a warm welcome by the mayor, who presented us with a beautiful certificate for reaching their community; lots of co-op shopping for exciting stuff we can't have on the trail (such as salad and cold chocolate milk); help fixing our equipment; a potluck with the teachers at the school; and kind hospitality!

Our host, Trevor, in his classroom at the Kugaaruk Illianniarvik School. Check out Trevor's classroom and notice the many cool drawings. How does this classroom compare to your own?

Eric, Paul, Mille, and Aaron were invited to stay with a local teacher, Trevor McCullouch. Trevor has lived in Kugaaruk for the past four years and loves teaching his eighth-graders. Like Hugh, he is originally from Thunder Bay, Ontario. As it turns out, Trevor's mother actually knows Hugh's mother. Small world, eh'!

Levy demonstrated how to build an igloo. Photo by Trevor McCullouch. Listen to Hugh tell all about it!

Hugh and Will were fortunate to be invited to stay with the Elder "Levy" and his family. As you might remember from last week's report, Levy owns the cabin on Frost Lake where we had our dog food cache delivered. He brought the food out there, and we later met him on the land where he made us a terrific cup of tea from the first snow! As soon as we arrived in Kugaaruk, he and his family opened their home to us in traditional Inuit style.

Mille is giving Paul his annual "spring buzz." Watch Vice Principal Amaiya as she tells us some of her fondest childhood memories.

We also owe Levy and his family a grand Qujannamiik (Khoo-yannah-meek: thank you) for all the translating they did for us during our stay in Kugaaruk. As we prepared to get back out on the trail, the usual "in-town-routine" included drying out our tents, sorting and packing our food re-supplies, fixing broken equipment, washing our (very) smelly clothes, doing the dishes (!), filling fuel, and collecting mail at the post office. Most importantly, we met with local Elders and hunters who travel on the land to get their input on the best possible route to our next destination.

Still depending on the land for resources, Inuit hunters closely observe the weather. This is John from Kugaaruk who we met a few days ago when he was out checking his fishing holes. His backpack is bursting with delicious Arctic Char!

While in Kugaaruk, we also met with Elders to learn about traditional Inuit life and talk with them about their memories, to see if they have noticed changes in the climate and/or on the land. This type of knowledge is called "Traditional Ecological Knowledge" or TEK. Collecting TEK from Elders in Nunavut's communities is one of the purposes of Arctic Transect 2004. We are attempting to get first-hand observations on whether or not the Inuit are actually experiencing a climate change living here in the Arctic - as many scientists believe is taking place. We are also recording the weather in many other ways. As you might recall from one of the earlier reports, we are collecting snow data samples for Environment Canada and NASA in an effort to verify satellite weather data. We are also recording daily phenology observations, which you can find in the Phenology Zone.

The Kestrel instrument for our phenology readings. Today's reading: Barometer/29.43, Humidity/25.8%, Wind-chill/-24.1F, Temperature/1.3F, Wind speed/23.2 MPH.

During the next two weeks, we will collect daily data readings, recording the barometer, humidity, wind-chill, temperature, and wind speed on the Kestrel instrument given to us by Minnesota State University - Mankato's W.A.L.T.E.R. Weather Lab. Our readings will be posted in Collaboration Zone 10. It would be incredible if everyone following along could also collect as much data as possible. If you then post your data in the Collaboration Zone, we can compare data worldwide!!!! Another great idea would be for all of YOU to talk to your "Elders" about any changes in the weather that they may have noticed since they were your age -- and then add this data to the Collaboration Zone as well!

Downtown Kugaaruk on a beautiful clear and sunny day. Check out main street Kugaaruk! Check out more of Kugaaruk.

As it turns out, the Elders of Kugaaruk have noticed many changes in the climate. They talked about how the seasons seem to be changing - meaning that what they know as "Break-up" in the spring comes earlier and "Freeze-up" in the fall seems to happen later. These changes have impacted the ice conditions in the Gulf of Boothia, which we had planned to cross by traveling in a fairly straight line from Kugaaruk to Igloolik. Before speaking to the Elders, we knew that we had to circumnavigate the polynya (an "Arctic oasis": an area of open water which never freezes surrounded by sea ice) to the east of Simpson Peninsula where Kugaaruk is located, but the Elders informed us that the polynya has grown significantly larger and has pushed its way deep into the bay. They warned us not to attempt our planned route.

The Elders told us to "follow your old trail south to the cabins, then take a left at Kellett River." Here we are, in front of the cabins!

Following their advice we set out from Kugaaruk and headed south down the trail, actually backtracking our steps for about a day. For the last couple of days, we have made our way overland toward Committee Bay, now following a traditional route south in the direction of Repulse Bay and safely avoiding a hazardous crossing to the Melville Peninsula.

A wall hanging describing the close connection between the Inuit people, the weather, the land, and the animals.

With this development in the ice conditions in the Gulf of Boothia, we decided that we'd better call ahead to our contacts in Igloolik to check on the ice conditions there where we need to crossover to Baffin Island on our way to Arctic Bay. Boy, did we have a major scare! At first we were told that the ice is already going out, which would be almost two months early! And if the ice were out, it would mean that we would be forced to end our expedition in Igloolik. To our great relief, it turns out that this is not the case. Though the Elders do report "different ice conditions than in the past," apparently the ice is still safe to travel on - as long as we can get to Igloolik and beyond sooner rather than later. Though it seems an odd contrast to what we have been looking forward to for the past 100-some-days, we are hoping for cold days ahead.

Despite our hopes for cold days, so far we have experienced mostly the complete opposite, enjoying gorgeous weather since we left Kugaaruk, with blue skies, intense sun, and hot temperatures - a downright heat wave! Even today, sitting in a light storm with winds whipping at 20-30 MPH, it is, as Mille put it, "not that bad out," simply because at just -16 C (+1F) it is, at the same time, very warm. Will explained, "This is actually not bad at all because the winds are hardening the soft snow we have been experiencing due to the warmer temperatures the last couple of days, which have made for mushy conditions and slower travel." Once the snow gets blown hard and colder temperatures move in, it will make for a crisp, hard, traveling surface. The sun melts the very top of the snow during the day and then freezes it hard at night. This is what we consider perfect spring conditions - or as we say, perfect "Polar Husky cruising conditions."

Aaron getting his mukluks ready for the day. One sure sign of Arctic spring is that the snow melts on our mukluks if we are not careful to brush them off.

Aaron also has some thoughts on the current weather conditions. He says, "I love traveling now. It is so much faster, and I really enjoy the fact that it seems like the dogs are enjoying cruising as much as we are! The sled glides easily on the slick surface and so do we, at times making it difficult to even stay upright because my skis literally fly ahead of the sled. It is a bit like waterskiing, and, just like in that sport, you have to be very careful with the intense reflection of the sun. Of course in this case, instead of reflecting off the water, the sun is reflecting off the snow. In fact snow has the highest albedo (reflection rate) of any substance on earth. I have never experienced it before - but the light is so intense that it hurts to take off my sunglasses. I am not normally one to wear sunglasses or to worry much about wearing sunscreen, since I easily tan. Out here, I am experiencing the severe danger of ultraviolet rays and have realized that sun protection is a must. That said - it has been great to experience dogsledding without a hat for a few hours the last couple of days, and actually feeling the wind in my hair has been incredible!"

Mille, covered up, yipping and yapping the team. Watch it in action! Watch Will explain how he and Mille have to completely cover their faces in order to block out the ultraviolet rays, as they both have very sensitive skin.

"Unfortunately, we learned some alarming facts about sunscreen while we were in Kugaaruk," says Mille. "Reading a recent article in the magazine Ontario Outdoors, we learned that most sunscreens contain at least one of six hormones, which, in studies on rats, proved very dangerous (i.e. causing enlargement of the uterus). The article was actually about how this is becoming a major problem for the Ontario fish population, which has been found to be very sensitive to these hormones. After we wear the sunscreen, we wash it off; the hormones then make their way into the water stream, as they are not eliminated during processing at water treatment plants. Testing has revealed that the level of hormones in the waterways is many times greater than that recommended in any health directives. These hormones then accumulate in the fish, causing trouble - such as fish with both genders (hermaphrodites)."

Mille, Paul, and Will applying all-important lip balm WITH sunscreen factor!

Paul chimes in that "aside from having an affect on the Ontario fish population, these hormones will ultimately affect Arctic marine life - even Inuit people. The hormones are in the water cycle. Even though they are deposited down south, the hormones will flow from the local watershed into the ocean, and all deep ocean currents north of Equator flow toward the Arctic Ocean. Here, accumulating through the food chain, they are then ingested by Arctic marine mammals. When an Inuk from Kugaaruk or Igloolik eats their traditional seal blubber dish, they are then, in effect, eating the hormones from our sunscreen down south." The solution? "Wear sunscreen without hormones," advises Eric.

Arctic beauty. Watch the incredible Arctic as we dogsled uphill!

It is amazing how everything is connected and how what we do - whether we are in Denmark, Minnesota, Ontario, Japan, Hawaii or New York - will affect the Arctic. Even if you do something in Australia, it will affect the Antarctic! Can you figure out why? This is an important concept to be aware of - and an especially timely one as Earth Day was celebrated this past week. Happy Earth Day to you all from our entire team!

Friends in Kugaaruk!

On that note, make sure to join this week's chat on "Global Warming", Wednesday, April 29th to share your thoughts about global warming, climate change, and YOUR weather.

This week's Polar Husky Superstar: Chuck - leading the way. Listen to Hugh talk about Chuck!

All the Polar Huskies enjoy the coming of Arctic spring, with its milder temperatures - especially this week's Polar Husky Superstars. Chuck, Elf, and Xena seem just thrilled about the changes taking place. All three of them simply love speed! Chuck earned his Polar Husky star as he made a huge leap this last week, doing a phenomenal job for Hugh, leading his team for several days. And he led with style, speed, and typical Chuck humility!

This week's other Polar Husky Superstar, Xena, is very easily excited and a little bit crazy, but she is all about business once the team is on the move.

Both Xena and Elf can be quite playful, sometimes even clowning around a little too much. But when it comes time to get the job done, they get right down to business. An extremely hyper young lady, Xena is always roaring to go, leaping into the air, smiling, jumping over and under any dog she runs next to in an effort to just MOVE that sled - and go as fast as possible. Even though she is probably the smallest dog out here, Xena definitely has a spirit and eagerness not matched by many.

This week's third Polar Husky Superstar Elf is a sweetheart and a favorite with most kids in the communities along the trail.

Elf is a bigger dog, but with a lean body, long legs, and the sweetest nature. He is simply built like a speedy running machine, much like his mother, Nazca. Yes, she is also the mother of Xena!